My laptop is home

No damage, a week at the shop and $75 later, but it's home. :) It's amazing how tethered we really are to the online world. It's not just the e-mail or all the regular sites I visit, but the little things like wondering what the temperature will be tomorrow and not being able to just go and check accuweather.com. We are so wired these days. Brendan was so excited when he saw the laptop and immediately asked me for "a site" (which he didn't get to his disappointent). We saw the ENT yesterday for his 1 year post-surgery check-up (and his ears are fabulous!!) and they had renovated the office, and wow!!!! It was like a playroom/arcade in the waiting room, and there was a huge console with Nintendo, Playstation and other computer games. You'd assume this was meant for older kids, but Brendan was right at home there.





And I'm probably going to be getting a new desktop soon. We have one now that's probably about 9 years old that Brendan just plays around on, but that isn't worth a @$#%#. I was probably going to get a new one when Brendan started, but figure I might get one now, one of the $299 deals from Dell. It would have been nice to have had it to work on when the laptop was being repaired, and Brendan would probably put the computer to good use. Really bizarre when you consider he's not even 4 yet.

Laptop hell

Or is it purgatory? Last Thursday, a certain 3 year old knocked my arm while I was holding a glass of water. Some of the water fell on the closed laptop but must have seeped into it because it wouldn't turn on. I brought it into to be repaired on Friday and today get a call that they've run diagnostics and nothing is wrong with it, that it turns on and off just fine. Aaaagh!!!!!!!! I guess I should have just listened to my mother who told me to let is sit and "dry off". I'd probably have gotten the same result, had my laptop with me, and not have to pay them for time and labor. And I can't even get it back until tomorrow since I'm leaving work in a half hour to take Brendan for a check-up with the ENT. The only good thing about this has been without the internet access at home I have been getting to bed earlier.

On a happier note, the weather has been beautiful this week. It started in the low 50s on Monday and will be close to 70 on Friday. Brendan and I got a chance to take a walk after work the other day, the first time in many months. He asked if he could take his Leapster with us so he could play Numbers on the Run. I told him no, it had to stay at home. He told me he got a card in the mail that said "Please play numbers on the run or you'll get sick". I asked to see the card but he told me it was already gone, lol. The ironic thing is I think he's getting the cold I'm getting over and he has a runny nose.

How could you not love this face?

Yesterday I asked Brendan what he wanted to be when he grows up and he said "nothing". I asked if maybe he wanted to be a doctor and he said "No, I'll be a boy." I told him he'd be a man when he grew up and he said "I'll grow up, but I'll still be a boy." Isn't that most men's ambition?

What a week

A funeral on Monday. I find out at the funeral that my former boss has been in a coma for a week and it doesn't look like he'll come out of it. My friend whose wife's funeral I attended on Monday, on Thursday his mother tells his father in the morning that she feels weak. He takes her to the hospital and they think at first it's anemia but it's actually acute leukemia and she's bleeding interally and they're having trouble stopping the bleeding. She's not doing well and isn't likely to live very long. And today my mom trips and falls on the step leading to the walk in front of her house. She broke her nose, split her lip, cracked her front teeth and really scraped up her face. Knock wood, it could have been worse, she could have fractured her skull, but she's in alot of pain and she's 65 and a fall like that is really rough. Did I mention that I also have a horrendous cold. Not that it even registers on the scale of the other things, but it didn't help any. I'm keeping my fx for a better week.

And on a totally different note, it was DI weekend with a cover story in the NY Times Magazine about Single Mothers by Choice and then a segment on 60 Minutes about donor siblings connecting through the Donor Sibling Registry.

I really disliked the article in the Times. It was really sensationalistic and focused mainly on two women who were both in the thinking/trying phase, how they searched for a donor and it seemed to conflate the search for a donor with their search for a mate. One of the women actually carried a picture of the donor in her wallet. Geez, like this is representative of SMCs out there? I actually recognize these two women from the SMC e-mail groups and had trouble believing that alot of what was written was accurate, but then one of the women proudly posted to one of the groups about how pleased she was with the article, so it must have been fairly accurate, at least about her. I wondered especially when it noted early on that in addition to the Single Mother by Choice moniker that SMCs also like to be called "Choice Moms". I'm a SMC and have been a part of the SMC world (e-mail groups, message boards, blogs) for years and have never heard anyone use that term before. But what really disappointed me was that the article really had little to do with the being a single mother, it was really just focused on the sex and dating lives and donor choices of a few women. The one mother that it did profile got scant coverage other than to note that she was unusual in that she also had a boyfriend, not the father of her kids (she was pregnant with her second child through DI). I would love to see an article that delved into the reasons women really choose to be SMC, what the ramifications are for our lives and our children's lives, how our children are faring, how we fare in life. But I guess an article with a title on the cover of "Looking for Mr. Good Sperm" isn't going to go there.

After reading the Times article, I was dreading the 60 Minutes segment. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a fairly well-balanced piece that explained the whole concept of donor siblings. It showed nice well-adjusted moms who are expanding the concept of family in ways no one anticipated. I loved that the moms profiled were a lesbian couple and a SMC. I was a little leery when they actually tracked down the donor, but he seemed like a really nice guy and I loved that he said he didn't consider himself the father of these children. Overall, very good. I wonder if there will be an onslaught of people checking out the Donor Sibling Registry. Of course I'm sure they'll be surprised when they're expected to fork over $40 for the privilege of joining (a fee that was very conveniently raised just a couple of days before the 60 Minutes piece and that of course wasn't mentioned in it), that they soon may not even be able to view the listings of those who haven't paid the fee or that under new fiat no one is supposed to even post to the Yahoo group anymore for matches. I would love, love, love to see another group or site take up where the original Yahoo group left off, where people just posted for matches and there wasn't a self-appointed guardian of the information taking $$ off of people. I also wonder if it's legal to appropriate information listed on the Yahoo group and then place it in a database without the consent of the members. If I was a lawyer.....

Art a la Brendan

Some of Brendan's artwork from an extended drawing session after dinner last night.

Mickey Mouse



Our house (with tree, sky, sun and grass)



And my favorite, Spongebob playing hopscotch

Disney addicts already

My name is Laura and I'm a Disney addict. Just had my first trip there since I was in high school and already we're heading back. Yes, I've already booked another trip back to Disneyworld. We're going in December. It should be so nice, hurricane season is over and it won't be hot. The crowds pretty light and the parks and resorts will be decorated for the holidays. We're going to stay at the Polynesian this time. I know Brendan will be thrilled since before we even left he had started telling me we'd go back when he was 4. He's also told me we'll got to Disneyland when he's 5 (and 82 and 85, lol). I would actually love to go to Disneyland but considering it's a 5-6 hour flight, I don't know if we'll do that even when he's 5. But maybe, um, another trip to Disneyworld instead.

But you know what, after this week with so much loss, I just figured why not. It's not going to bankrupt us, and I want to enjoy the present, you never know what the future might bring.

Depressing day

On Saturday, my friend Abe's wife died. She had been battling cancer for 6 years. Two times he's gone into remission and then the cancer recurred again. This last time it showed up next to her spine and they operated 5 weeks ago. She never really recovered from the surgery. A week ago she was having trouble breathing and they readmitted her and she went onto a respirator. She never came off of it. She was only in her 40s. Her younger daughter is only 17. My heart just breaks for him and for the girls. The rabbi during the service said that Abe had told him that although they'd only had 10 years together that they were 10 such special years that it was if they'd been married for 50 years. I don't know what's more heartbreaking, to have that kind of love and lose it, or to never have that kind of love.

Then at the funeral a former co-worker told me that our former boss is in a diabetic coma in a hospital in Ft. Lauderdale. Apparently a week ago he had been supposed to fly to DC to join his partner. He never showed and his partner had the management company of their building check on him and they found him unconscious in their apartment. He's been in a coma for the entire week and it doesn't look good. He's only 56. He was such a good man, and especially good to me. He retired in 2003 with our other boss and it was such a loss here. They were both such good, kind and compassionate people. Our other boss was diagnosed with lymphoma within months of retiring and is battling his second recurrence of it now. And now Jonathan in his coma. It's just all too much.

Disney travelogue

Before it all faded into memory, I sat down and wrote out a little travelogue from our Disney funfest. Actually my parents encouraged (i.e., urged) me to do it since they wanted to know all the details from our trip. In case you want to know all the down and not so dirty details of our trip, you can read and see all about it (I put lots of links to pics) here -

Our Disney Adventure

Back from our Disney Adventure

Ww had the best time!! Brendan was so wonderful on the trip. He was an ace on the plane. With the exception of one morning at MGM when he was a bit of a pill and a random tantrum in the hotel hallway one morning, he was just so well-behaved. And we both had such a good time. We met the characters a zillion times which was Brendan's highlight everyday, especially when he'd meet Minnie or "his favorite friend" as he called her.

He was actually a little fearful on some of the Magic Kingdom rides and we didn't do anything that was really scary. He had us ride Dumbo 3 times in a row though, he loved that. He also really loved the Indy Spee dway and we rode that one a few times too. He totally loved the parade. Animal Kingdom was so fabulous. We did the safari first thing and I swear we saw more wildlife in 15-20 minutes than I've ever seen in my life. At one point a giraffe walked in front of our vehicle and we had to wait until he was done eating from a tree in front of us to move. It's such an amazing park. MGM was not a good time for us though. He was in a pissy mood to begin with before we even got there. Also I didn't realize it was ESPN weekend there and it was really loud and crowded. By lunchtime I just decided to take us back to Magic Kingdom for the afternoon. We had been going to go to Magic Kingdom on Saturday, but since we'd been back already I decided to go to Epcot on Saturday. So many people said don't bother when you have little kids, that there's not much for them, but Brendan loved, loved, loved it!! It was by far our best day. He had the best time in Innoventions with all the computer and tech stuff. I had to drag him out of there. He loved the Living Seas with the aquarium. And he loved visiting all the country pavilions. We toured each one and he loved seeing everything and going in the stores. It was such a good day.

The photo junkie that I am, I took hundreds of pictures, literally. If anyone wants a gander -

http://photobucket.com/albums/d167/smcmommy/

The password is - disney

:)