The Tooth Fairy is Coming to Town

"It's gonna fall out, I'm not gonna cry, I'm gonna shout; I'm telling you why...the Tooth Fairy is coming to town."

Lorenne lost her first tooth today. It has been loose for about two weeks. We have been checking it each day. I checked it this afternoon and it was really loose but Lorenne didn't want me to pull it out, so I left it alone. We were reading a book when Lorenne gasped and showed me her tooth. It had come out.

I am so not ready for my baby girl to be big enough to lose teeth. But I just can't slow down the clock.

We'll have to see what the Tooth Fairy brings Lorenne tonight...

I Feel so Blessed

Most people know that I clean house to earn some extra money. I have been cleaning for Holly and Bonnie for five years. Holly is the mom and Bonnie is her daughter. I have consistently cleaned for Holly but took time off from cleaning for Bonnie when I had Michael and did daycare. It was last fall sometime when Bonnie's husband called and asked me to come and clean for them again.
You see, Bonnie had Lou Gherig's disease. It is a terrible debilitating disease that eventually ends in death. Bonnie wasn't the type of person to announce that she was sick. I only found out about her illness when I commented to her daughter, Becky, how good her mom looked after losing some weight. That is when I learned that Bonnie was sick. I was astounded!
Bonnie is the be-all, d0-all type of person. She took care of everyone around her. There were so many times during my time cleaning for her that she would have some little gift for me or my kids when I got there to clean. Particularly I remember the winter that I was thinking how much I needed a new winter jacket. When I got to Bonnie's she asked me if I would like a jacket. She had bought one for herself and then decided she didn't like the color on her. It was the perfect color of green for me and exactly what I would have picked out for myself.
Well, a few weeks ago Bonnie passed away. I knew it was coming but it was still incredibly hard. I was able to deal with some of my grief by helping Holly get ready for the funeral. A mom shouldn't have to bury a child. Fortunately Holly's memory is not good and so she doesn't even really remember that Bonnie is gone.
At the viewing Becky told me that I needed to talk to her after the funeral because her mom had left some things for me. I was completely blown away. I never would have expected her to leave me anything. This came after Bonnie's brother inviting me to participate in the family prayer and luncheon and to sit with the family during the funeral. I was thinking, "I am just the cleaning lady." I do care more about them than just being the cleaning lady...but still I was very overwhelmed.
Imagine my surprise when I learned after the funeral that Bonnie had left me her entire wardrobe. There are tons of clothes. More than any one person can really use. And there are clothes ranging in size from 16 t0 4. The disease caused Bonnie to lose a lot of weight. Bonnie was the type that if she liked something she bought one in every color.
On Friday I started going through all the clothes. I have just begun and I have brought home 6 laundry baskets full.
I obviously feel very blessed by Bonnie's gift to me. I love the clothes that I have found so far for myself. But what makes it infinitely more rewarding is seeing the faces of friends and family as I tell them I want to share with them what I was given. A lot of them are stay-at-home mom's like myself who spend money on clothes for their kids but never for themselves. Their eyes just light up at the thought of having something new for themselves.
I am praying to know who is in need so that I can share with them what Bonnie so generously gave me. I feel so blessed for having known Bonnie and for the lessons she taught me. When I grow up, I hope I can be like Bonnie.

Life is never dull...

Life is never dull with Michael around. Last night was a prime example of that.
I was downstairs when I heard Michael crying and Alex frantically calling for me. When I got upstairs I found Michael covered in poo. Lately Michael has decided that he is big enough to change his own diaper. Up until last night I had been lucky that he had only changed wet diapers. But no such luck last night. He was covered in poo. I hurried him down to the bathroom to start cleaning him up. Unfortunately Michael also has a weak stomach and threw up twice in the process of cleaning him up. So now I not only had poo to clean up...but now I had puke, too.
Again I was very grateful that my in-laws have a carpet shampooer. It came in handy cleaning up the carpet.
After the poo/puke disaster I thought it would be a quiet night. But Michael had other plans. When I found him later he had found two markers and had colored himself top to bottom. And he colored everything. If it weren't inappropriate to take and post pictures of it, I would have. Because when I say he colored everything....I mean EVERYTHING. Oh that story will make great blackmail material when he is older.