Houston, we have a problem...

• Bryan travels for work about every other week. He always goes to Houston, usually for a few days, but went just for the day this past trip. It was some sort of casual meeting which did not require him to wear his usual business dress, so he pulled on his "Casual Friday" jeans and a shirt and headed for the airport early Monday morning. About lunchtime, he called me from a Target's parking lot with a story about this man sitting next to him on the plane. Bryan claimed his seat-mate smelled horrible. He couldn't put his finger on the exact smell and it wasn't constant, but it was pretty bad. Needless to say, he was relieved when the plane landed and it was time to head to the rental car place. Now for those of you unaware of Texas geography, Dallas is in North (East-ish) Texas and Houston is in Southeast Texas very close to the Gulf of Mexico. My point is Houston is humid! That fact becomes relevant later in the story. Bryan continued telling me he'd spent his morning walking around a new property with the new tenants and some of the construction crew. Well, that man's smell, the man on the airplane, he started smelling it again. And, the longer he was in the humidity the stronger and more frequent the smell became. Uh-oh! So, while he was on a call (around the corner, all alone) he started smelling his clothes and found the offender. Those jeans, the ones he'd worn a few days before and not washed in between wearings. They hadn't smelled on Friday and he hadn't spilled anything on them. This is the point in the story where I wanted to die! I searched my mind for a recent time I'd forgotten the wash for a few days resulting in that horrible mildew smell. Nothing came to mind though. Bryan was understandably upset. He'd just sprayed himself down with Febreeze in the Target parking lot. I felt so bad for him. I also could not stop laughing. (Sorry, Honey. Everytime I said I wasn't laughing, I really was.) I'm laughing now just thinking about it. I really do feel bad about the whole thing. I mean, ultimately it was all my fault. I'm responsible for the laundry. He makes the money and I do the laundry. That's just our division of labor. I'm pretty sure I know what happened. Early last week, I washed a dark load mid-morning. After lunch I used some rags to deep clean the kitchen. I mean clean-it-like-I-never-have-since-we've-lived-in-this-house, so the rags were disgusting. Well, I'd forgotten about the clean clothes waiting to be thrown in the dryer and tossed the rags in the washer. About 10 minutes later I realized what I'd done and re-washed the entire load. Those rags probably needed to soak in something first and certainly didn't need to be washed with fabrics we actually wear. Lesson learned! It's just unfortunate my husband had to be a part of that lesson.
• If your daughter was thrown-up on at school and then kept forgetting to bring home the clothes she'd been wearing in the vomit episode, would you bother taking them out of the plastic bag to wash them? Or would you throw it all in the trash? Besides the smell, (Don't worry, if I end up washing those nasty things, I won't add in any of Bryan's shirts!) I have a major phobia of all the germs I'll release when I open the bag. Of course, this assumes I get my hands on said bag of clothes today and they don't marinate for another 9 days over Spring Break.
• Addi has been encountering her first experiences with mean girls. She told me a few nights ago that her favorite friend in her class, the one she sits with at lunch almost every day, the one she chose to sit with us when we joined her for her birthday lunch, the one she loves playing with after school, refused to allow Addi to sit by her at lunch that day. I tried to make light of it and find a reasonable explanation. Surely, B had alreaddy promised to sit by 2 other people. I'm sure she'll let you sit by her tomorrow. Addi said it had happened every day for forever and now when Addi asked, she was just told, "You know the answer." I can't even begin to describe the fury I felt boiling inside me! Instead of telling Addi she was better off without such a brat of a friend, I told her a couple of stories about times when I felt left out by friends. I wanted her to start to understand that everyone is picked on sometimes. We decided she would ask B the next day if they could talk and then she would ask B if there was something she'd done to upset her. I prayed and prayed for Addison. She practically ran out of the school building that day with a smile plastered on her face. Apparently another friend told B they could not remain friends if B continued her friendship with Addi. B and this other friend knew each other before school started and do lots of extracurricular things together. Addi was thrilled because she was allowed to sit by B that day. I felt like things weren't really settled. I mean, someone needs to tell B she hurt my baby girl's feelings and she can't just do what this other girl tells her, she needs to stand up for herself. Someone needs to tell this other girl that B can have more than one friend! That someone is not me, though. Addi was satisfied and hasn't had any more problems. Addi is my job. That's a tough lesson in mothering.
• Libby has been displaying, what I assume is, some major middle child behaviors. Attention, in any form, is demanded. She claims to be scared of everything. She claims to need help with everything. I'm trying to be patient, but there are times I get so irritated feeling like she's playing me. I don't want her to think she has to make up a fear to snuggle with me. So, I'm trying to be more available for her. If she asks for my time, I stop whatever I'm doing (if possible) to give her my time. I know she thrives on reactions, so I'm trying to not show any negative reactions. That's tough.
• I am feeling overwhelmed with life. Like all other moms, I have a never-ending to-do list, but I feel like I can't even get basic tasks completed each day. I am tired all the time. I think it's just from the mental worry. This next week is Spring Break. I'm hoping we can enjoy each other and feel refreshed by the end of the week. I am thrilled to get to spend time with all 3 of my kids. Addi and I are discussing turning the tv off for the week. I may take it a step further and turn off the computer as well. We'll see. Our 27 Day Challenge is ending today. We are going out to eat tonight! There was a little cheating and one exception made. Apparently Bryan can't find his way to a grocery store while in Houston and one day I couldn't wait until after I picked Addi up for lunch. Libby was at preschool and Levi and I spent the entire time out on errands. I'd planned on waiting to eat lunch until I picked Addi up (which is really just about an hour or so after I usually eat since I feed Levi with Libby and then fix my lunch during naptime), but I started getting the hunger shakes. I still had errands I had to finish, so I grabbed Sonic. The exception came on Saturday. I cooked so much for Levi's birthday party that I refused to cook (or reheat even) that night. Bryan and I had already talked about this, so that's why I'm calling it an exception instead of cheating! We'll probably do it again, but maybe we'll just do it for 2 weeks this time. Doing it for almost a month has made me want to eat out every meal for the next week. Which would kind of defeat the purpose, you know!?!
• Levi's doing well except he's having a hard time giving up anymore nursing times. We're down to twice a day and I've tried putting him to bed every night this week without nursing. He goes to sleep and then wakes up some time in the night inconsolable. Well, only consolable by nursing. I thought we'd give up the morning feeding first, but he is frantic in the morning to nurse. First thing! I am not going to push him right now, but he must be done by mid-April. I'll start worrying when we get closer our Savannah trip.