Jackson's Birthday!

Today is Jackson's 3rd birthday. It is now 2:38 p.m. CST. Three years ago he entered the world and our lives have been enriched and our pocketbooks emptied. Ok, so not totally. But you get the idea.

We had a little family party for him yesterday and he got some great gifts. The most fun was with the bubbles. They have battery operated machines now that blow hundreds of bubbles. The days of blowing bubbles with a wand till you pass out are over. Now the child can run and play in a cloud of bubbles of his own making. We got tons of clothes and art supplies and fishing poles and a few cars, of course. He had a great time. Today he asked me "what happened to my birthday? Where did it go?" I explained that today was actually his birthday and we had cupcakes at the Palace and he got another couple of gifts. But that really your birthday only comes once a year and you have to wait for it to come around again. He asked, "Can I have another birthday now?" He doesn't get it. He thinks birthdays are bestowed upon him by his parents. And why can't he have another one now?



I guess the lazy blogger has some updating to do on the last week. Don't you hate it when people refer to themselves in the third person? Marsha does. So she isn't going to write like this anymore.

My squirrel baby lived through the night in a box at my bedside. Both David and I got up in the night to check on him, making sure he was warm enough and still with us. In the morning Jackson and I took him to the wildlife rescue in Austin where a donation of $35 (not required) paid for him to be cared for and raised and released back into the wild when he - or she - is ready. In the broad view saving one squirrel probably doesn't mean much, but I just couldn't let him die. Didn't seem right and since I can spare $35 and the gas to get him there I took him in. I kinda miss him though. It is really nice to hold an infant, even if he is only a little bit bigger than your thumb. I guess I really do want another baby.

But could someone else do the potty-training when it is time? Cause this shit is hard. I am now bribing my son with all the premium bath products I can find and even then I only get a tiny bit of poop in the potty. The vast majority of the poo is made in his pants after he is put to bed. Where a boy can go in private with no one pressuring him - geez. I get it. I do. But dammit, he has to learn this. It is your ticket into society. No poo in potty, no pre-school. Sigh.


On Thursday I spoke at a charity skeet shooting event organized by my co-worker's husband. It was a real guys event. Skeet shooting tournament, auctioning of rifles, hunts, deer feeders and knives. And steak. Lots of steak. Proceeds from the auction went to American Cancer Society and they made aver $4000. I even helped with the auction by carrying around this gun to show it off before-hand. I didn't dress as the chemo queen. It just didn't seem like that kind of event. It was outdoors and attended by mostly men. But I kinda wish I had worn my costume because it was a tough crowd. No snickers at my lame jokes, no nodding in sympathy, no tears. But I think I did reach them because several of the old guys came up and shook my hand afterwards and thanked me for sharing my story. But I could have done better. It was windy and I had a hand-held mic. So I had to hold my speech in one hand and the mic in the other and when I had to turn pages the wind almost ripped them outta my hands and the mic got in the way. It was awkward. Not to mention that the man who introduced me saw that I had a speech in my hand and said "Aw, you don't need to make a long speech honey, you're pretty enough to just stand here and say hello." Totally threw me off. WTF? Perhaps my speech was not appropriate for the event, perhaps these manly men didn't want to hear a 'pretty girl' say anything. Perhaps I should have just carried the gun around and left it at that. I had a split second to decide how to respond to that and it threw me for a second. But I decided, No dammit! I was invited to share my story and I choose to share it in a prepared speech full of heart and witty truisms. So there.