a force to be reckoned with

yesterday, i was not a mama you wanted to meet in a dark alley.

i mean, not that you even go down dark alleys. but you get the point.

first things first. we had a doctor's appointment for the goo at 8:15 yesterday morning. in case you skipped over that, it was at EIGHT FIFTEEN YESTERDAY MORNING! goo has had some eye trouble. big h had this same thing when he was about her age. but a miracle occurred. and i'm not being silly. really. a miracle. we were all set to have surgery with big h and when we went back for our final appointment to schedule the date of the surgery, the doctor told us he didn't "know what you all have done" but he had never seen the eyes restore themselves the way big h's had. Jesus, people.

so i got both kids out of bed and headed to the car. we were the first ones there. (buz would've been so proud.) but shortly after we arrived, every other child in our metroplex came shuffling in. i was amazed how many children walked in those doors in such a short amount of time. nurse calls us back. asks us 3.4 questions. leaves us in the exam room to fend for ourselves. finally after 4 hours (actually probably only 10 minutes or so), the doc came in. looked in her eyes for approximately 68.5 seconds and said her strabismus was prominent in both eyes. he said the nurse would come in and give goo eye drops and he would check her again. nurse in, drops administered. we were told to wait in the waiting room for twenty-five minutes. in the course of those twenty-five minutes, two families with FOUR children arrived. one of those families was a family of 3-year-old quadruplets.

let's just set the record straight. i would NOT be mentally competent to take care of four children the same age. unless we had a nanny or four.

and at the age of three, they had several things that needed to be expressed. like who was pulling whose hair, who was hogging the doctor's office toy, who had the other's sippy cup. at this point, my nerves were slowing fraying.

went back to the exam room after being in the waiting room for two hours (or really just thirty minutes). waited five or eighteen more minutes before dr. eye-guy (as big h called him) returned. he took one look at her eyes with pupils the size of the rotating earth and confirmed that she would require surgery and he would have the surgery scheduler call me to set everything up.

and then we sat in the exam room. again.

no one told us we were "done." so we sat in there fifteen minutes (no exaggeration). finally, i felt like no one was going to come back in. so i walked out and just asked the receptionist, who by her attitude had just gone through a messy breakup the night before.

"are we done?"

(while laughing) "have you guys been sitting in there the whole time?"

hmmm...was i the only one who didn't find this humorous? and the nurse just kinda stepped out and gave me a folder with all the information i needed.

i mean, i knew we would probably be in for surgery. i loved this guy the first time. but apparently, someone has gotten himself a bigger practice. he has a great reputation. he's done this procedure a hundred times. he's very well respected in the community. but this is my punkin'. and i'll be honest, i wanted a little TLC. a little hand-holding. a little time for absorption.

we got in the car. i called buz and proceeded with the detailed version of the story, only to be interrupted with a request for the end result. sweet buz. he likes the details later. but i couldn't help it. i started crying. and not just a little cute cry with that lone, single, beautiful tear falling off my face cry. oh no, girls. it was the ugly cry. marino, you know what i am talking about.

and then the most amazing thing happened. from the backseat, i hear this sweet little voice, repeating over and over again, "mama, it's ok. it's going to be ok. big h's (real name) right here. it's ok, mama. i'm right here."

when i got off the phone with buz, big h said it a couple more times. and he said, "mama, it's always ok to cry when you're sad. baby is going to be ok. God will fix her eyes, and He will give her new gooder eyes."

seriously? eat him with. a. spoon.

our treat was going to be "breakfast hot dogs" (kolaches). so we drove all the way up there. we really wanted breakfast hot dogs, so we were willing to drive to the best place. we got there, and big h was out of the car between ours and the one next to us. i was getting my wallet out of the front seat, and then both of us were going to go around to get the goo. when all of the sudden...

the lady driving the mercedes SUV next to us (no offense to any of you who drive a mercedes) says, "hey!" i thought she was annoyed because she couldn't open her door because my door was opened. so i told her i just needed to get my wallet and i would shut my door.

"ummm...your kid is scratching my car!"

let's paint the picture of this lady. 45. lots of plastic surgery. size 2 on a bloated PMS day. high heels that would send me straight to the podiatrist for bunion correction. and a lime green way tight sweater that you could see from oklahoma.

"i promise he's not scratching your car."

"look lady, i swear to G--, if your kid scratched my car, you'll pay."

this was not the day to mess with me.

"ma'am, i promise my child is not scratching your car. i don't think he would know how to scratch a car even if he wanted to."

"well, i swear to G-- if he scratched it, you'll pay for everything."

she walks the perimeter of the car, probably noticing NO scratches and mumbles "i swear to G-- some people have NO control of their children."

oh people, if i didn't know Jesus...

walk in to get our breakfast hot dogs, and they are all gone. just spicy left.

seriously?

cinnamon rolls it was, and we decided to turn the day around.

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in other news, tomorrow is the OU/texas game at the cotton bowl. BOOMER SOONER! in support of our team, our family dressed for the occasion. big h wore his boomer sooner shirt and socks to school. one of his teacher walks the other side of the fence. as well as one of his little buddies. all in good fun.

people, what on God's green earth is my son doing with his face?

apparently, big h naps at school. every day.

speaking of school, here is the award-winning felt square.

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and my goo. can't you just see her as a 17-year-old driving around with her friends with her fashion sunglasses on her head inside the mall? hopefully without a scar from the MASSIVE scab on her forehead.

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and finally, i haven't gotten to say how incredible my trip was. it was so fun to be with my very best friend for SO LONG! we got to go out one morning and play at a park. don't you just want to eat her and her family up?

husband and four-year-old

her and her 17-month-old