Maddie's Supergirl Costume

I was getting a little discouraged cuz I was having so many problems finding this Supergirl toddler costume for Maddie... Apparently, it's very popular cuz it was sold out online and at the Party City near our house. Today, after church though, we stopped by a 2nd Party City and luckily, they had it in stock. Maddie is now in love with it and has been wearing it all afternoon. Usually extremely camera-shy, she even let me take some pictures of her wearing it. Enjoy~!


Nathan is also going to be Superman for Halloween. Once I get some pictures of him in his costume, I'll post them as well. I'll have to wait for the weather to cool down a bit because his costume looks uncomfortably hot. Unfortunately, here in Houston the weather doesn't really start cooling down until sometime in November. Ugh~! Last year, Maddie wore her polyester / synthetic / fleece monkey costume from Old Navy to go trick-or-treating at our neighbors' houses and was literally sweating to death...but of course, it was her first time trick-or-treating and she loved every minute of it.

Sorting Clothes

So, I finally came to the realization that I need to organize Maddie's closet. There are too many things hanging in there that are now too small for her and (sadly) she will never be able to wear again. The truth is that I have multiple large, plastic containers already filled to the brim with clothes she has outgrown. Today, I emptied two of them and started making piles: the first one for my sister-in-law, and the second for my ex-nanny who is expecting a daughter next month. Mind you, I've already performed this exercise once before, to go through Maddie's newborn and 3-6 month stuff for my sister-in-law. Unfortunately, Chloe was born in the peak of summer and Maddie was born in the winter, so the seasons don't match...

Anyway, while going through Maddie's clothes, I started creating a third pile (back in the container): clothes I didn't want to give away. Every outfit I unfolded brought back a memory...Maddie used to wear this to the park...Look how faded this is now, I remember how cute it was when I first bought it...So-and-so gave us this one when we visited CA...etc., etc. Before I knew it, the container was full again, and my other two piles on the floor weren't looking too impressive.

Maddie has tons of clothes. I mean, the girl has TONS of clothes. I really should just give all of it away since it's just taking up space in the closet, and we've already taken permanent measures to ensure that we will never have another daughter (or son), but part of me cannot bear to part with all her old dresses, denim skirts, and even pajamas (geez, they're just pajamas!). My conclusion is that everyone should have at least 2 children of the same gender...that is the only way to get your money's worth out of the clothes you buy (and based on the number of outfits we're talking about, I clearly spent way too much money on Polo, Gymboree, and Baby Gap). Unfortunately for us, all we can ever do with Maddie's old stuff is give it away. Granted, I know that giving it away is good and all that, but no one else will ever appreciate each of the outfits the way I would've had I had the opportunity to clothe my 2nd, imaginary daughter in them. For me, each piece has its own unique Maddie memory attached to it, but to anyone else, it's just used and faded...hence, back they all went into the plastic container.

This brings me to pile #4: stuff that's non-gender-specific, for Nathan. Once again, a very small pile. Sadly, I realized that my HUGE son may have already outgrown some of Big Sister's old stuff that I never had the chance to re-use (not being very successful in getting my money's worth here)...and some things looked like they needed to be worn TODAY or possibly never again... For example, the Stanford t-shirt from Cathy Eemo looked like it might fit Nathan now...wasn't Maddie like 18 months when she wore it?! How is that even possible?

Nathan is going through his clothes at rapid speed. He is barely wearing things once (maybe twice) before he outgrows them. I am seriously beginning to feel like buying him anything is a waste of money. I'm already starting to accumulate piles of his stuff that he's never going to use again...and so, back to this dilemma of having to give it away or (I guess) buy more plastic containers from Target. At least Maddie's stuff is all pretty well-worn. Nathan's stuff is practically new. So, while I can't seem to give away Maddie's clothes because there are so many old memories there...I feel like I can't give away Nathan's because they're all so brand spanking new. Clearly, Maddie and Nathan are it for us...no more little kiddies...so why can't I give their clothes away? What is my problem?! Am I just going to keep accumulating more and more old baby clothes in the years to come? Is pile #3 just going to get bigger and bigger, until it's literally just ridiculous? Help~!

Random Update

Maddie is adjusting to school quite nicely. She actually prances in by herself, greets the Principal with a handshake and a "g'morning," and sometimes even forgets to say goodbye at drop-off. Of course, getting the uniform on her is still somewhat of a challenge, but she's pretty much like that about any outfit I pick out for her. She usually knows what she wants to wear and doesn't want to wear anything else. Stubborn, strong-willed child!

As for my dad, his oncologist is saying everything is okay. They want to take a wait-and-see approach with those nodules / lymph nodes in his chest. I believe the plan is to take another PET / CT scan in 6 months.

Because it's fall, it's that time of the year again -- interview time. The past two years, I was interviewing students from 3 private schools in the area, but this year will be my first year interviewing students from Bellaire High. I just looked at my list of prospective students and there are already 41!!! How can that be?! Of course, these are just individuals who have expressed interest in potentially applying to MIT and may or may not request an interview, but even if half of them do...my gosh, that's 20 interviews! I think I did 8 or 9 last year and thought that was a lot, especially towards the end, when we got close to the deadline. Eek, 20+ interviews!? Kill me now.

Ha, I guess the upside is that since I'm no longer working, I will [theoretically] have more time to write the interview reports. Interestingly enough, I wonder if any of my prospective students will google me before their interviews to see what they can learn about me before actually meeting me. If that's the case, there is a possibility that they may come across this blog... Interesting...

Other than that, we're taking Maddie to the zoo today. She's been asking to go for some time now, and now that the weather isn't so blazingly hot, we're going to try it. Hopefully Nathan won't fry. We're planning to take the BOB though, so he'll have a big sun shade to hide under. BTW, if any of you are considering a double jogging stroller, the BOB Duallie is amazing! We have the one with the 12" aluminum wheels and it can literally turn on a dime. We've taken it to the Galleria, and it is 1000x better than the Maclaren Twin Techno (which we also own)...you really can push it with one hand (which is so important when you have two kids and undeniably, one always wants to be held). The two are about the same width actually, but the BOB is just longer and taller, so it seems much bigger. The truth is though, the kids are way more comfortable in the BOB, and the sun shades are great (and a necessity here in Houston).


Last, but not least...Nathan is teething! He has been slightly grumpier this past week and super drooly. We figured he was cutting teeth, and sure enough, yesterday I felt them poking through on his lower gums. Poor thing! But he's such a good boy, he's still pretty much happy and chill...he just wants to be held a little more these days, that's all.

Well, that's it for now...hopefully I'll have more interesting things to write about next time!

Mindless Drivel

I think I like thinking about stupid, useless things all day so that I don't have to face real-life issues head on. I avidly read celeb gossip blogs, shop online for clothes / shoes / whatever, watch stupid reality shows on MTV about spoiled rich kids (The Hills and Newport Harbor), and as mentioned in my previous post, plan my kids' birthday parties down to the most insignificant minutiae to pass the time. Maybe it's a protection mechanism that I've honed over the years. I am, by nature, a very non-confrontational person.

Friday, my dad is meeting with his oncologist. He recently had a repeat PET scan, post-radiation / post-surgery / post-chemo. His first PET scan confirmed the findings of his colonoscopy, but that was back in March 2006. His most recent PET scan showed 3 subcm nodules in his right lung (non-FDG avid) and two 1+ cm lymph nodes (also non-FDG avid). Rich is saying that the fact that they aren't FDG avid is a good sign, but the fact that they are there at all is not good (it may be nothing, but now we need to find out).

Best case scenario - they compare his first PET scan with this most recent one and see that the nodules existed beforehand (and remain unchanged), kind of like birthmarks or inclusions in a diamond. Yay, then we can celebrate! Worst case scenario - the nodules are new, need more tests, possibly looking at another round of chemo. Not good!

I don't how much more my parents can handle. My mom will go nuts, for sure. And my dad, he may break (emotionally and physically). Thinking about the "what ifs" can make a person crazy...hence, the mindless drivel...