Jul21

I Left My Heart in Utopia, TX…

Posted on by
Standard

Approximately 29 hours ago, I dropped my sweet, outgoing, and overly independent daughter off at her first “away-from-home” camp in Utopia Texas, about 90 minutes from home and far away in the beautiful Texas hill country and  from any state-of-the art medical facility.

Utopia, TXI swear, for the first time in my life, I did not cry at a cry-worthy moment when we left Olivia with her friend Claire and several strangers in her cabin. Don’t get me wrong, I love my children and would give my life to save theirs, but I don’t consider myself overly affectionate. I certainly underestimated how much I would miss her as we pulled out of the camp parking lot and headed home.

IMG_3944It started almost immediately, when Evan casually blurted out, “I already miss Olivia.” We humored him, but the truth is, I already missed Olivia too. And I almost lost it when my mind started wandering on our ride home and somehow fast forwarded to eight years, when I fully expect we will be dropping her off for her first semester at NYU (fortunately for her, it probably won’t be 96 degrees like it was in Utopia yesterday). As we arrived back home, I felt an uncontrollable urge to hang out in her room and assemble a doll armoire that has been sitting on her floor since Christmas 2013. Finished it tonight!

And, all day, whenever I had a spare moment, I thought of her… On my drive to work, I was wondering if she had a good night sleep – or any sleep for that matter. I thought about her as I read the paper and FullSizeRenderthe graphic reminded me of Doctor Who…

As I went to get water at work, I hoped she was staying well hydrated and that she changed her underwear. On my way home, I thought of her when I sang Uptown Funk at the top of my lungs. Now, I’m sitting  here hoping she is not thinking about us at all and that she is having the time of her life. And, I’m thinking a how amazing, courageous, grown-up, smart, confident, and beautiful she is.

 

Mar14

Poor Baby…(what have we done?)

Posted on by
Standard

We are a music-loving family. In fact, I would say music has a super important place in our family. We always have music playing during dinner. It is common practice for any one of us to be singing some song at the top of our lungs. My husband even posts a daily “Insidious Song of the Day” on Facebook.

Naturally, we have always had a tradition of singing to our kids before bedtime. Maybe we don’t sing “Hush Little Baby” or “Lullaby and Goodnight.” Maybe it’s more like “Part of Your World” from the Little Mermaid or “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” but our kids, particularly Evan, love it.

So, how do you know that you haven’t sung enough traditional lullabies to your kids? When they sing the following lyrics to “Rock-a-bye Baby,” like Evan did today:

Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree top
When the wind blows, the dreidel will cop
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
Into a pit and into some water

Epic fail!

Mar10

Who thought a blog from an over-committed, type-A, perfectionist mom was a good idea, and how long has it been since I blogged?

Posted on by
Standard

Wow. I kind of feel like I should be going to confession…”Bless me everyone for I have failed, it has been one year, eight months, and seven days since my last post, and, well, I’ve been really busy…” Busy working, sleeping, spending time with my kids, getting my hair colored, checking homework, drinking wine with friends, reading books while stretching “righty” with Evan, starving fevers and feeding colds, kissing boo boos, traveling with Olivia to Austin to see Rick Riordan talk about The Blood of Olympus (which was released on her 10th birthday), watching Chicago Fire and PD, visiting my sister and her family in Albany and Boston, volunteering, exercising (still not enough), updating Facebook, pretending to update Twitter, cooking, cleaning (still not enough, either), celebrating several holidays, petting dogs, taking O to theater practice and shows, watching Ev run at track, obsessing over Bradley Cooper, WARNING: SPOILER ALERT – explaining the truth about Santa, falling asleep on the couch while watching movies with my husband, visiting Boston again, and random other stuff.

Every so often, I admit that I feel guilty for starting a blog that was destined to die a quick and painless death at the hands of a blogger who is a self-admitted “over-committed, type-A personality, wife, mother, and full-time marketing executive who is just trying to balance this crazy life.” But, the truth is, I miss my blog. And, more importantly, my biggest fan misses it.

olivia reading blog 1

Several times, over the last one year, eight months, and seven days (and most recently as tonight), I have caught my 10-year-old daughter, Olivia, on the computer or ipad reading and cracking up. When I sneak up behind her, trying to bust her for looking at some crazy, maybe inappropriate website, I find her reading the totally appropriate and amazing posts in A Different Kind of Crazy. She loves to read about herself, our lives, our Santa, fallinadventures, and the funny things her little brother does and says, and the truth is that I love sharing and documenting them for her and anyone else who is interested in our boring but sometimes funny lives. Most of all, I want to prove to her that you can be busy and successful and still make time for the things you enjoy and the things that make you and others laugh.

So, in honor of my beautiful, funny, outgoing, amazing little girl, I am happy to announce (to be read in your creepiest Poltergeist-like voice) I’m baaaaaaccccckkkkkkk and looking forward to sharing our most amazing adventures!

Jul2

What happened to June?

Posted on by
Standard

July calendarAs the mother of a stroke survivor, each day in May, I participate in a Streak for Pediatric Stroke, where I do something every day to honor my sweet, little Evan. This year, I copied one of my friend’s ideas, since I thought it would be easy and less time consuming, and committed to selecting and posting a picture a day. As usual, my daughter Olivia also participated by drawing a special picture for each day in May. Problem is, May and June were super busy months…

Between field trips, end-of-school activities, the last day of school,  Kindergarten graduation, high school graduation, birthdays, pool parties, play dates, Mother’s and Father’s day, and 61 days of just life as we know it, I just finished my Streak for Pediatric Stroke tonight.

Better late than never, right?

May1

How long has it been?

Posted on by
Standard

Okay, so maybe it has been exactly 208 days since my last post, but what kind of over-committed, type-A, working mother of three kids and three dogs thinks she can write a regular blog. Oh, probably the one who named her blog “A different kind of crazy”!

Well, I managed to remember my user name and password and log in, so I’ll give you the condensed version of my 208 update. Since October 4, 2012, I have:

Celebrated Olivia’s birthday, drank some beer, adopted a dog (Jack), attended a high school football game to watch the band, celebrated Thanksgiving, drank some wine, adopted another dog (Jill), listened to Maroon 5, decorated the house, celebrated Christmas, left my job, celebrated New Year’s, took two weeks off to be with the kids over the holidays, nearly lost my mind, listened to Maroon 5, undecorated the house, started a new job, travelled to Houston with family for school fieldtrip, read a book, celebrated my Mom’s birthday, watched Happy Potter several million times, attended dinners and fundraisers, visited friends,  drank some wine, celebrated Valentine’s day, celebrated Nick’s 18th birthday, watched Olivia’s cheer competitions, went to Brownie meetings, watched Evan’s track meet, celebrated fiesta, spent some time with my sister and her boyfriend, planned summer vacations, watched some tv, exercised a little, slept, paid bills, answered email, built a diorama of ducks in their natural habitat, and I think that’s it.

Now that I look at my update, I don’t know why my house is a mess and I’m tired!