We have had quite the past couple of weeks.  My oldest daughter was being baptized on Oct 10 so we had family coming in from out of town.  Of course, Brett was gone Sunday through Wed late, my aunt arrived Tuesday and his parents arrived Thursday, not to mention it was a regular school week.  I had to finish the sleeves on P1′s dress and try to have the house in some semblance of order.

Well, that part all came together and the Baptism was wonderful.  P1 was so thrilled and I got to have some sweet and tender moments alone with her ~ something that is a bit of a rarity.  So we carry on with the festivities and Monday we were all set to go to the Texas State Fair - something I love but that we had not done in like 6 years.  RAIN.  Ugh.  If we did not have the kids or we did not have the extra guests, we would have forged on, rain or shine but with both, well it was more than we were interested in taking on.  Instead we went to the Dallas World Aquarium and had a nice time indoors.

Oh course, since most of it simulates a tropical rainforest, it was anything but cool.

While we understood the meaning behind the signs, we found these especially humorous.

This was a really sweet moment between my Mom and P1.

There was NOTHING sweet about this fella…brrrr…gives me the shivers just thinking of him.  But yes, they are well cared for here and live pretty comfy lives.

This was another sign we found especially amusing, and with Brett’s Dad standing next to it, it was all the funnier.

Here is little Miss Sunshine herself.  She had a great time because she could get out of her stroller and walk with the big girls.:)

One of the last things we saw/did was walk through this beautifully kept plexi tunnel.  Only problem?  There were many different species of sharks happily swimming along on the other side.

We finished this day with a late lunch/early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory…yum!  But here is where the un-fun begins – P1 started getting sick that evening and just as Aunt Penny flew out, another guest came to visit.  That’s right – In-Flu-our good buddy Enza. (Please tell me you got my lame attempt at humor…something had to be funny about this)  That’s right, P1 had the Flu.  Ugh.  Luckily Brett was off on Tuesday too so I could still go to the very fun and cool Mom Select & Logitech Mixer.

I had never had the chance to meet Maria Bailey before so I was eager to do that as well as see a couple of friends, especially Alyssa from Keeping the Kingdom First.  We had met while traveling to General Mills and you just can’t not love Alyssa so it was good to see her again.  As for Maria, she is all about empowering Moms and helping them to make their lives simpler (sound familiar except on a much, MUCH larger scale?)  so she had arranged with Logitech to have some of the DFW Moms meet in Las Colinas and learn all about the fun, new Logitech Webcam Pro 9000.  Not only did we learn how to use them but we each connected up with a Mom in another city to brainstorm about a designated Mom topic, with our answers to be later posted in Pregnancy Magazine and/or their online media.  I got to talk to Shannon who I had met before I know and discussed ways to handle Toddler Tantrums/Meltdowns.  To find out what we said, watch for it in an upcoming post.:)

Of course, when our buddy ‘Enza’ visits (Influenza that is), she likes to stay.  And stay.  And stay.  I was next to go down, followed by P2 and now the Daddy has it.  4 out of 5 of us.  P3 is the only one who has escaped it thus far and I have high hopes that it will stay that way (She had a shot and she has a sturdy set of immunities).  The biggest bummer to me was this caused me to have to miss out on the Mommy Blogger Chevy thing at the fair.:(  Bummer!!

As for why being a Mom can suck sometimes, Mom’s are often the ones who have make the kid take the yucky medicine (“M-o-m, it tastes GROSS!”  That’s right, it is not candy, it is medicine), tell them when they have to miss an event (
But M-o-m… we wanted to go to Movie Night at school!!”  Sorry but your friends and your friends mother’s would not like it if you shared our visitor Enza with them), Moms are often the ones who have to decide what they can and cannot eat if they have been throwing up (“But M-o-m, I promise I won’t throw up THIS time!” Well the past 5 times you have eaten Mac and Cheese while you are sick you have thrown up Mac n Cheese.  Sorry), and even been the one to have to tell them that no, they cannot go outside to play even though the weather is gorgeous and their sisters are jumping on the trampoline (“M-o-m…that’s not fair!  P1 and P3 are out there playing!  That’s right and when you are well enough to go to school, then you too can play outside.)  Ugh.

Sometimes being the Mom just Sucks.

These images were taken using the AWESOME Olympus STYLUS TOUGH 8000!

Thanks to Maria Bailey and Logitech who gave me the Webcam 9000 and headset.  No other compensation was received for my time and the thoughts contained herein are completely my own.