A Quick Service Announcement

Elliot (and Fred's elbow in the back) wanted you to know that the Seckman Picture Pages have been updated. If you can handle the sheer awesomeness, check us out here.

The Windy City: Highlights

Thursday, April 15
1:55 pm Driving in and out of traffic and on and off of various roads:
Elliot: I not take a little sleep, mommy. I not.
Mommy: Well, it's nap time so I think you should.
Elliot: No. I not.
Mommy: Whatever.
(Five minutes of silence.)
Elliot: Where are we?
Mommy: Omaha.
Elliot: Oh.
(Two minutes of silence.)
Elliot: ZZzzzzzzz

8:10 pm Elliot has to go potty. Crap. We're on a toll road and not near our exit. But not close enough as he whimpers just a bit in the back seat. I did what any mother of a just-trained preschooler would do. Pulled over, put froggy potty on the shoulder and made him go. He thought it was the coolest thing ever to have cars and trucks whizzing past as he was ... well, whizzing.

Friday, April 16
9:20 am We arrive at the Brookfield Zoo. My dad swears that it opened at 9 but the lady that took our money informed us it didn't open until 10.

11: 15 am When presented with two options, Elliot chooses food over any more animals. THAT, my friends, is the gene he got from his mother. Because he asked nicely, and I was in vacation-mom mode, I let him eat a cinnamon roll for lunch. My dad and brother learned first hand what sugar does to a tired 3 year old - hello, restaurant entertainment.

5:15 pm Shoveled in dinner (thank you, again, momma, it was DELICIOUS) like any girl with an upcoming birthday and her FAVORITE cake sitting on the counter waiting, waiting, waiting for her to come take a slice. I know we all say our momma's do something just perfect? Well, my mom makes THE BEST German Chocolate Cake icing. Seriously, it's the best. My dad and I fought over the pot and spoon when she finished icing the cake.

6:10 pm Failed Attempt #1 to get Elliot on the Harley.

6:11 - 6:25 pm Failed Attempts #2 - #427 to get Elliot on the Harley.

Saturday, April 17
3:15 am I am woken up in the middle of the night by a small voice.
Elliot: Mommy! Mom! Mommy!
Mommy: (Jumps up, looks where his bed was on the floor.) Elliot?
Elliot: Mommy!
Mommy: Where are you?!?
(Out shoots a little white hand from under the bed.)
(Oh. Em. Gee. He rolled under the bed.)
Mommy: (Trying not to laugh) Oh no - are you stuck?
Elliot: Yeah, mommy, I stuck! Halp me!
I pull him out and he lays right down - I lay down laughing.

10:25 am Garmin mis-directed us and now my mom and I are driving around while it tries to come up with another route. I give my mom a lecture about the "good ole days" and how people got along fine by READING DIRECTIONS instead of depending on a stupid little machine.

11:15 am We've looked through the quilts at the festival/expo and decided to walk through the shopping area. Commence pushing, shoving, nudging and being stepped on. I'm sorry Chicago. I love you, your city and your fun things to do - but some of your people? Their momma obviously didn't teach them any manners.

5:45 pm Driving to dinner and my Check Engine light goes on. Grandpa's hopes are up that we won't get to leave the next morning.

7:15 pm It's nothing. And it's cleared.

7:17 pm Grandpa's crushed; we're leaving as planned.

Sunday, April 18
5:15 am WTF, Elliot? Why are you UP?

3:35 pm After a late start, we get even later with Elliot requesting four potty breaks in 2 hours. On request #5 I call his bluff. He goes on a tirade about me being mean, him being the boss, wanting no music and so on and so forth. This ended with me BLARING the radio until he nodded off. I was, my work friends, Rethinking My Reaction, because what I wanted to do was pull over and leave him on the side of the road. Without froggy. And with a note that said FREE.

6:35 pm Following a pit-stop at Auntie D's to catch the end of a baby shower, we made it home. Home to Fred and dinner on the table. My favorite place. Home.

Heading Out

Elliot and I are heading out to Chicago and staying with my parents for a couple of days. The main reason for the trip is to attend the Quilt Expo with my mom and to just get away for a couple of days.

I'm 90% sure it'll be a good weekend. 90% is knowing that Elliot and I will be fine, and have fun, once we get there. That last 10% (it's a small number, right?) is the actual trip. I see it going one of two ways:

1. Elliot sleeps for a bit, zones out a little, reads books and has a dialogue with me about the things he sees along the interstate. Fine and dandy, other than the onslaught of children's music.
2. Knowing we're essentially only driving through Iowa, he's going to get bored talking about barns and cows and will revolt. The second we get out of the car for a potty break he'll tear off through the fields screaming 'Freedom! Freedom at last!' and refuse to come back. He'll then show up at Fred's desk at work telling him what a horrendous experience it was and how he 'not loves' his mommy any more. Then I will cry.

If it doesn't go swimmingly, I plan to blame my dad. He's the one that begged me - via 837 text messages - to bring Elliot along.

Just Like 'Oklahoma!'

(Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain.)

What good is an umbrella in Nebraska?
How many legs do fish have?

None.

On my rainy walk to the office this morning I whipped out my umbrella. I walked 5 steps and it jerked me over a bit as a wind gust caught it. I hunched down a bit and moved the umbrella to directly over my head. Already thinking this is soooo not going to work today.

Then it flipped inside out. Dear Lord Baby Jesus.

I work downtown. Where there are many cars. Where many people drive these cars and are most obviously seeing me with an inside out umbrella. And making fun of me.

I look like a complete loser. And, I look like an even bigger loser because I walked this way for a bit hoping (and cussing under my breath) for it to un-inside out itself. I would have laughed at myself had I been driving by at that moment. I mean, really, who can't get control over their umbrella?

Well, me. Apparently.
%^#(@&*!# umbrella anyway.

Oh Boy

There are a variety of reasons I'm happy to have a little boy.

Reason #847:

A $56 bikini for your 2 year old daughter. Don't believe me? Yo.

(Im)patiently Waiting

We're kind of in a holding pattern over here at Chez Seckman. We sold our house and have to be out by May 14. We bought a house but can't get in until June 14.

Anyone else super good at math?

We are hoping our buyer will 'rent' to us for that month in between but haven't heard back. I was hopeful we'd hear something Monday... nothing yet. I do subscribe to the believe that "no news is good news" and would like to think it can pertain to this situation. Maybe he's thinking about it? Calling a friend for advice?

It's sort of like plucking daisy petals.
Are we homeless for 30 days? Or not? Homeless? Not?

Then it happened - my phone made that little 'dinga-dinga' noise to let me know an email has just come in. YES! Finally! Wooooot! AN ANSWER!

Or not.

It was just another #*(@&^%!! forward from that old friend of mine. The one that doesn't communicate with anyone other than by sending these stupider-than-stupid forwards. The forwards that I don't even click to open and instead hit delete.

Gahhhhh.

(Picks up another daisy)
Homeless?
Not?
Homeless?
Not?

Longest 2 Months of My Life

In two months from now, expect to see a different me.
A sullen-yet-understanding me.
A sad, sad version of me.
A distraught-by-the-loss-of-my-first-"girl-crush" me.

We were told a few weeks back that the Medwick family would be uprooting from this fine state in middle-America and landing on a beachier part of the country: South Carolina.

I put on my brave face and immediately responded with a laugh "Hey! At least now we have somewhere cool to vacation!" Chuckle, Chuckle, Chuckle! While on the inside, I am screaming Noooooooooooo! and holding back the tears.

Kelly is one of my best friends. She wins the award for "Longest I have had a friend in a single location" thanks to all of my moving around.

I interviewed for a job at her workplace and after my meeting with the powers that be, she was informed that they found her a new best friend and were going to offer me the job.

They offered, I accepted and BFF's we became.

We've spent the last 8 years doing EVERYTHING 3 months apart:
She started working there, I showed up.
I got engaged, she got engaged.
I got married, she got married.
She bought a house, I bought a house.
She got pregnant, I got pregnant.
She had her baby, I had my baby (both boys!).
She found a daycare, I quit ours and moved to her daycare.
I moved daycare, she moved daycare.
We put our house up for sale, theirs will be up any day.

I will miss my BFF. I will miss the original Girl Crush. (What is a girl crush, you ask? Well, if I ever were to decide to... uh... be interested in girls... she'd be it for me. Easy Peasy.) Through our friendship, our spouses have become friends and our sons are the shining example of solid friendship at a young age. We'd do anything for them; they'd do anything for us.

Well, except stay.
Because I've already begged and they said no.
Selfish Jerks.

So it's NOT an April Fool's Joke?

I got an email at work a while ago telling me that all of the phone lines through our monopoly-of-a phone carrier are out. Broken. Not working. No one can call to or from land lines.

Bwahahaa ha haaa!

Wait, what? It's real? But it's April 1st.
So, it's a joke right? What? It's not? I'm speechless.

Thank goodness Zack Morris got it right by publicly toting his mobile telephone back in the day or we'd all be stranded and phone-less. Imagine a world with no cell phones... imagine a world with no Zack Morris and that's where we'd be.

What's next? Y&R is going off the air?
Don't you dare, CBS. Don't you dare.