When I came home from work today, Fuller greeted me with alligator tears and loud wailing. Damon came around the corner and answered my unspoken question with, “We are having a battle of wills.”

Apparently Fuller wanted his sippy cup and he was not going to get it until he said “please.” Any time you offered the request, “Fuller, say please” it was answered with an even louder wail as if the world would end upon Fuller’s uttering of the magic word.

Fuller did not want to say please and the battle had gone on for an hour.

I was encouraged to be on Damon’s side and insist that Fuller say “please” in order to get the cup. Since I was just getting home, I wasn’t really ready to pick sides so I thought I could gain some middle ground. I sat down at the computer and double checked the sign language for please.

I showed Damon the sign and the accompanying video. Damon laughed a little and said, “That just looks like the sign for tantrum.”

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In the tradition of three-day weekends, we usually have a choice: go to Lake Martin or stay home and work on a major project.

Since the living room project was brought to a standstill due to an unfortunate change in product status (special order versus off the shelf), we were hoping the rest of the ceiling panels would be delivered by now and decided to stay here and carry on. Fortunately for us, on Thursday we got the call that our order was here and we are now on day three of Project Living Room: Git r Dun.

I painted the ceiling panels on Saturday, a two and a half hour project (complete with a smidge of sunburn). D worked on constructing the beam segments (complete with a lot of sunburn). Around 5 pm a storm blew up, so we wrapped up a little early, pawned Fuller off on the Petersons, and went to see X-Men.

Sunday was church in the morning. That afternoon, while Fuller napped, I painted the rest of the moulding and D made a quick trip to Lowe’s. He got home just as a storm rolled in so we got everything under cover and then decided that it was a good time to go ahead and put the panels on the ceiling (they were really in the way).

After the panels were up it was about 6 pm and Fuller was up from his nap. D had a lot to do that only he could do, so Fuller & I received sanctuary at the Wilhelms where we swam and had dinner. When we got home at 10:30 (Fuller had fallen asleep around 8:30 in their pack-n-play), D was still working hard on staining the beam segments. While we were gone he had finished the moulding in the dining room and the lower cove moulding in the living room.

We all got to sleep in this morning (Fuller was worn out from swimming yesterday evening)! Fuller didn’t get up until about 8:45. While he had breakfast and watched Sesame Street, D & I snapped a chalk line and put up the beam segments. Now I have one project to finish- priming and painting the door moulding for the kitchen/ dining room entry. I caulked earlier, while Fuller played and got a steady stream of PBS children’s programming.

We are taking some pictures as we go, but I will wait until we are closer to being finished to post them. And you know, if you are in the neighborhood and actually know us, you are welcome to come by and tell us what a great job we did. (You are not welcome to come by and tell us what a crappy job we did.)

The other day Damon tried to use a British accent and what he said was a British slang term. Not being familiar with what he was saying, I questioned the word he was using. I thought he either misheard the word somewhere or was doing something he can be quite good at- making it up.

Well, it has been on my mind thesee last few days and this morning I finally remembered to do a google search.

Damon, I am ready to conceed that I was wrong:

tosser Noun. An idiot, a contemptible person. Also, occasionally spelt tossa.

you are strangled in your sleep by your own hair.

I don’t talk about it much, but I have awesome hair. When it is pampered by just the right products and lovingly stroked often by the hair brush it gives that “great hair” vibe.

And then there are times when I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get comfortable because my hair just won’t find a place to be still. It gets in my eyes (even when they are closed), wraps around my neck, tickles my ears, and even bothers Damon when he is trying to slumber next to me.

So, in short, it is time to get some length taken from me.

And maybe I will rest peacefully tonight.

I know that inside, I’m a nerd. But, I realize this. So, I do a pretty good job of hiding it and end up coming off as just “weird” or “eccentric”.

Some of the folks I know, are bigger dweebs eccentrics than I am. So, by comparison, I see myself as actually kinda cool.

So…

Am I the biggest dork in the world because I secretly wish there was one of these in Chattanooga?

Our family has been in a little bit of a funk lately. Just the dulldrum lifestyle of the routine has gotten us down a bit. But recently we started to do something as a family that really helps get us outside, moving, and enjoying each other.

We ride bikes!

While Fuller and I were in Florida, D spent some time working on one of the two bikes we purchased sometime last year. He installed a child seat on the back of the blue bike and did something with moving an extra gear from one bike to the other.

Fuller loves going on bike rides. However, he started out hating his toddler helmet. When we would bring out the big yellow hat, Fuller would run from us, crying big alligator tears until we got him strapped in and moving. But we have been going on so many rides now that when we put the helmet on Fuller he just goes and stands next to the bike.

Damon does the riding with Fuller duty. For one thing that is the bigger bike and D has much more strength than I do. When they started out riding together, Fuller didn’t understand that his feet were suppossed to stay in the little foot rests. When D’s feet would cycle around his heel would knock Fuller’s toes. But again, now that we have been riding quite a few times, Fuller’s feet stay where they are suppossed to stay, even if for a little while.

I ride the smaller bike. I am out of shape and still haven’t lost the last 10 pounds of baby weight, which, when I do I will still be classified as overweight so maybe we should be doing something about that too.

Right now, we only ride around our neighborhood but gang, listen. You really don’t know how hilly St. Elmo is until you ride a bike around the neighborhood. We ride to church and it is uphill the entire way. And if we wanted to ride to Blockbuster or Mr. T’s, it really is uphill both ways (uphill until the church and then coast until the light, uphill back to the church and then coast home).

These neighborhood hills really show how out of shape I am in. But D, he knows I am trying and that I need to work on my shifting technique, so he doesn’t mind slowing down while I huff and puff toward Ochs Highway just so I can spend some quality time with the family. The exercise is just a bonus.

The first time I ever heard of Patty Duke Syndrome (PDS) I was reading the Nancy Kennedy book, Help! I?m Being Intimidated by the Proverbs 31 Woman! She was recounting her brief stint with the syndrome that she defines as the point in a woman?s life when she becomes ?overwhelmed with the need to dress themselves and their female offspring in matching attire.?

I really don?t have any memories of PDS striking my family personally (oh wait?), even though I think I can recall seeing it hit other families at some time. Usually it strikes around a holiday (Easter or Christmas) when families are aglow with the spirit of the holiday and pretty clothing is a must for the family portrait that will be taken at some point during the merriment.

Nancy tells the story of her experience where she worked on her secret plan- taffeta dresses (complete with butt bows) for Mother?s Day. She and her daughters wore the dresses for about five minutes, exactly how long it took her to realize she caught the dreaded PDS and the cure was to tell her daughters to go pick out their own church outfits.

I laughed all through the chapter, thinking the idea of going overboard with the dressing a like was so silly and over the top that it would never hit me.

But never, in all my life, would I ever think that it would strike my husband.

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01_Day

Originally uploaded by sillyred.

This picture is of our friend Day. Actually, his first name is Zach, but his name tag said, “Day.” And he only became my friend when he so nicely mixed my ice cream at the Cold Stone Creamery.

When I brought up Mother’s Day to Damon, I told him that I didn’t want to go out to eat (too crowded!) but definitely wanted to go out to have ice cream. (I also asked to renew my flickr pro account. Yeah Flickr! Happy Mother’s Day to me!)

So Sunday afternoon, after a nice lunch of hamburgers and potato salad, and a nap for Fuller, we got in the car and headed downtown.

After picking out our special creations we sat at a table enjoying our ice cream. Fuller shared what we got (a buy one get one free coupon helped) and loved every bite. He also loved rocking out to the music overhead. Captain and Tenille really made him boogie in his seat. (Yes, love will keep us together.

Afterward we walked across the street so Fuller could get some play time on the playground. Since Fuller mastered the slide at the mall Fuller decided to take the bigger slide a few times. He still goes belly first but it is much faster and he definitely needed someone at the bottom to catch him. Except that one time when someone didn’t catch him and he ended up face first in the mulch. It didn’t really bother him. But the pieces stuck in his hair made me giggle.

The day was rounded out by another ice cream outing. Our friend Leah is leaving for a new life in Virginia and a goodbye party was held with her favorite food- ice cream! Fuller enjoyed exploring the house but we had to make our goodbye quick since he was so close to bed time.

When I put Fuller to bed last night I sang “Jesus Loves Me” to him. He sang along in his non-verbal way and smiled at me. Just those few moments of his singing and smiling made me so happy to be a Mommy.

To all the mothers who have young ones growing in their womb, may you be blessed today with a chance to enjoy a few winks.

To all the mothers of newborns and infants, whose sleep cycles are interrupted by the need to feed, may you gain a few extra REM cycles yourselves.

To all the mothers of toddlers, who run from place to place, climbing and exploring and showing us the world anew, may you also get your afternoon quiet time.

To all the mothers of pre-schoolers, who have only pricked the surface of gaining knowledge of the world, may you roll out your own mat and lay your weary head down for some rest.

To all the mothers of children learning the subtle intricacies of the three Rs, may you finish with the homework help long enough to close your eyes and wake with all the answers.

To all the mothers of teens who do know all the answers and want more for themselves everyday, may you trust their judgment long enough to close your bedroom door and dream a little while.

To all the mothers who do their mothering via phone calls and emails, sporadic visits and letters, may you rest knowing you did your best.

To all mothers everywhere in whatever stage of life, may you be blessed with the perfect Mother?s Day gift- a nap.

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DSCN4971

Originally uploaded by sillyred.

I know that you really, really want to see our pictures from the weekend, so I got them up. I will edit titles and tags tonight while watching Lost, but for now, you get pictures.

We also set up a Flickr Pool where Austina, Sarah-Ginny, & I combined our pictures for your viewing pleasure. Look at it like three times the Fuller.

Enjoy!