Going Batty with the Bates

moving back

MamaChris — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:58:57 +0000

OK, apparently I can’t make up my mind. I’m back over at blogger!

Runny yolks

MamaChris — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:35:32 +0000

So I work in the oil & gas biz and the I support a facility on the gulf coast. We sustained damage during Hurricane Ike and were done for about two weeks, so I only was producing product for about two weeks. I’m having to split numbers between the production period and when we were down which involves a lot of number crunching. It’s fun (note sarcasm here). Add to this issue here that my counterpart is no longer with the company, and I’ve got my workload cut out for me this month and even the next few months.

So I arrived at my mother’s house yesterday to pick up W and G. My brother and sister-in-law were there as well to pick up my nephew, J, and my niece, A was there too. My mom comes up to me…
“I was going to ask how it went today, but I can see it in your face.”
“Yeah….”
“You look fried!”
“Oh, I’m beyond fried. I’m telling you, the yolks are broken and the yolk is running out.”
“That good?”
“Yep.”
“So when are they going to start looking for someone?”
“Supposedly pretty quickly, but you know how these things go. It takes forever, and then I’ll know about it as the bring the new person onto the floor.”

Don’t get me wrong. I love my job. I really do. It just seems like when I encounter a challenge, I really get challenged. So bake me a cake of Hurricane Ike and make it a two layer with an upcoming turnaround (down for scheduled maintenance) and then ice it with co-worker has been axed, and it’s not as tasty, know what I mean? Oh, well! I do feel bad for co-worker though. Co-worker just bought a new house and this is a really bad time to lose your job. Co-worker will end up on co-worker’s feet though…I just know it and will be happier, too, I think.

On a lighter note, my new bed arrives tomorrow, so I am leaving at 3 to meet the delivery guy because B is in T town for training tomorrow. You can’t beat cutting out at 3 on a Friday and something new to boot.

Finally…pics of the kittens

MamaChris — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:01:29 +0000

So we had to acquire a couple of cats since we moved out onto the 30 acres. We figured it would be better to get kittens so we wouldn’t have a cat and dog tangle. Hermione seems to taken to the kittens, and for the most part, leaves them alone. So here are a few pics…

Hermione…the loving lab

Jenny…Jenny has a caramel colored nose

Luna…Luna has a white nose

I know these aren’t the best quality as they were taken with my camera phone, but hey, it’s all I had handy at the time.

Mommy guilt

MamaChris — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:40:55 +0000

So here I am closing the books (thankfully I won’t be here late tonight…but that’s going to make for a LONG Monday) and Miss G is having a rough day at Memaw’s. She’s cutting her sixth tooth, and she’s just not a happy camper. Memaw called at 2:30 today to see how late I was going to be running. I could hear her whimpering in the background. I talked to her over the phone and she called down, but as soon as the phone was taken away, she started getting fussy again. Talk about making you feel guilty.

I thought I was done with school??!?!

MamaChris — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:47:15 +0000

So, as parents, we spend the first 18 years of our life scrambling to get out of school so that we can either (1) enter the workforce or (2) go to college. If you chose option 2, you then spent those undergraduate years waiting somewhat impatiently for that light at the end of the tunnel where you get that piece of paper called a degree. You either decide you are done with school or, like me, decide to get that Masters degree, which may or may not be of future benefit to you. Finally you are finished and you can actually say, “Yes! No more homework! No more tests!” Then you have children.

M is in the first grade. The child started bringing home homework when he was in Pre-K. The amount has progressed to where he now has reading, math, and spelling Monday – Thursday. And since he is young, that means that B & I now have homework as well. Yes, that’s right…as a parent you now have homework AGAIN. It seeps back into your life. You can’t escape it. UGH!!!

M must read to us every night, and we have to log his performance into a log sheet that goes back to his teacher the next day. We must guide him through his math homework (notice I said guide as he must answer the questions and we provide assistance and guidance to help him arrive at the correct answer). We then quiz him on his spelling words by having him use them in a sentence, spell them out loud, and have him write them for us on command. By the time we finish homework, eat dinner, take baths, etc., it’s now time for bed.

You know, I don’t remember having this much homework when I was his age. If I did, I feel for my parents. It’s exhausting. Don’t get me wrong, I love it that M is reading well above grade level and that he is so smart and intelligent but I am longing for the days where he can do his homework on his own and I can be there to answer questions. However, I’m beginning to believe that day may never truly come until he has went off to college.

On other fronts, my sister-in-law got back to me about the time of my nephews’ games. It was just as I feared. We do have a conflict so I have now pushed his party back to a Sunday. So, I fixed the invitations to reflect the new time and sent out the ones that could be sent out via email. I just need to print the ones that I will need to mail and get those ready to go out tomorrow. I can cross that task off my to do list for this month. Now I need to go around and look at John Deere cakes to see where we will buy the cake, because this mom is NOT domestic and doesn’t do homemade cakes (although I did bake coookies the other night, but it was with cookie dough I bought through a fundraiser at work). The hardest part will be getting the house clean before the party. UGH! I’m getting tired just thinking about it….

I’m looking for volunteers???

Friendly reminder!!!

MamaChris — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:43:29 +0000

It’s October 1st and it’s now Breast Cancer Awareness month. Be sure to do your part and fund mammograms by clicking on http://www.thebreastcancersite.com and while you are at it click on the other sites as well-Literacy Site, Hunger Site, Animal Rescue, Hunger, Rainforest, and Child Health. Thanks in advance!

They say it’s your birthday…and other random thoughts

MamaChris — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:44:42 +0000

Well, it’s October 1st which means that the countdown to W’s 3rd birthday has begun. We finally settled on a theme!!! Since moving out on to the 30 acres, W has really become fascinated with tractors, trailers, and trains. Ok, the trains probably threw some of you for a loop. W has always been fascinated with construction equipment, so it is no surprise extension that construction equipment also extends to tractors. He is also fascinated with trailers because of the towing of the tractors, ATVs, etc….and this also includes livestock trailers now. His like of trains has really come about because we pass by the power plant on the way in and there is a constant barrage of trains entering the power plant with coal and leaving with…you know, I don’t know what they are shipping out. Anyway, this birthday party will not be Superman or Spider-man or Star Wars or Iron-man or whatever is the rage of the moment. We are going with a John Deere theme!

I bought W this toy at Walmart that had a Ford truck like dad’s, a trailer like Pepaw’s, and a tractor on it since he has been doing so well at potty training. He has to make sure he takes them every morning to Memaw’s now. After commenting to B about his excitement over the tractor and such and the shrieking and wailing that occurs if they fall in the floorboard on the way home, we decided we definitely needed to go with farm life or tractors or something similar for his birthday. We landed on John Deere. So…for the relatives…if you are looking for something to get W that he’ll love just hit Atwood’s and hit the toy aisle there and you won’t go wrong.

So I have the invitation ready to go out because I like to get those out on the first, but I’m waiting on my sister-in-law to get back to me on when her two boy’s football games are those two days. I may just have to send the invites out and hope they can come. That will completely suck as W just loves those two boys.

Off the birthday subject….

We have the batch of new college recruits starting here at work. My company brings these kids in at the beginning of June and moves them through the company where they go to classes about the different divisions within the company and then they place them into their new positions at the end of September. Well, while my immediate group didn’t get one this year directly, we did get a new one into the overall group. I tend to be a step-in-and-help kind of girl, and they were trying to set him up on instant messenger yesterday and it wasn’t working. I got him set up, but I had to ask him his birth date for the Yahoo form. He disclosed he was born in 1985. OUCH! Geez, that made me feel OLD! I AM NOT OLD! I’m just inside the dirty thirties, but 1985 hit me hard yesterday. I thought, sheesh, in three more years, these kids are going to be born at the same time I was entering middle school. They won’t know the true 80s. I’ve already ran into this with my younger counterpart here who hasn’t seen some of the 80s movies, but good gravy!!! Let me reiterate…I AM NOT OLD!!!!

Well, I am off to the library to see if I can procure a CD for the boys to listen to tonight. (We let the boys’ listen to books on CD after lights off…) They’ve went through all the books on CD in our house at least 3 times and I know they are growing bored with them. I might even pick one up for myself. It’s sad when that’s the only kind of reading you can fit in.

9/27/08 game

MamaChris — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:39:00 +0000

Well, we played Sapulpa White this weekend and we lost 0-18. We are doing really well at defense. We just can’t seem to get the offense working like it needs to be. Luckily, we have a bye this week, so maybe we’ll get a little more time working on offense before our next game against South Tulsa. Here is a pic of M from last week’s game.

G’s 9 month checkup

MamaChris — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:55:32 +0000

OK, so I really try to make sure that I get my kids’ checkups on time, however, it never fails…they always seem to get sick right before they are due. So then you wait until they are well or the time is right and then it’s a month or so later…but I digress.

So, Miss G had her 9 month checkup today. She’s doing well and is right on track developmentally–actually she’s ahead. She now weighs 21 lbs. and is 29.25 inches long. I never keep track of the head circumference…horrible of me, I know.

We are at that phase were she’s no longer interested in baby food (thank heavens) but she’s still not sure of the texture of other foods so she gags on them. Here goes 6 months of mashed potatoes and applesauce, etc for dinner. (insert grimace here)

She’s walking along things with one hand and just isn’t quite sure about letting go yet. She’ll walk behind her walker so it’s only a matter of time now.

I scheduled W’s three year old appointment for next month. Goodness, they grow so fast!!! Before we know it, I’ll be posting a few pics of Miss G’s first birthday!

Those first words

MamaChris — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:46:00 +0000

It’s not often that you actually get a chance to get a video of your child’s first words. This is not G’s first word, but it’s definitely very recognizable and was used in the correct context before this video. Enjoy!