Moms of Boys

Okay, so much for the New Year's Resolution of updating my blog regularly!!  Has it been that long??

To be honest, I've been overwhelmed lately with so many passwords and user names for my oldest son's college applications/College Board pages and my middle son's high school Blackboard and Span sites, that every time I would think, "I need to update my blog," I'd draw a a complete blank on my user name and passwords.  And yes, I knew they were listed in my desk in the bottom of a drawer, but the thought of digging through all those papers to get to it, made me sick to my stomach. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but sometimes you just get brain overload, and that's what was happening to me with all of my sons' stuff.

  Here are links to two great articles - one an article by NY Times reporter Lisa Belkin written in 1999 when she found out she was going to have another boy and one from Belkin's blog Motherlode, also on the topic of having another boy. Enjoy!

• http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E3D71E3FF936A15754C0A96F958260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=11

• great article by NY Times reporter/Motherlode blogger Lisa Belkin about wanting a daughter

  http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/mom-of-boys/

Happy Holidays, everyone!  And I wish you all a happy, healthy, and safe 2009!

We had a rather eventful Christmas morning. I went upstairs after we opened our presents only to find some strands of what I thought was wrapping paper. I was about to ask who had wrapped up something and left paper lying on the floor when I noticed the paper had chocolate smears on it -- and suddenly I realized Fenway, our 4-year-old long haired dachshund had eated the chocolate bar I'd placed on top of my mother-in-law's present!  And it was a big chocolate bar!

Hope you are all ready for the holiday season! As usual, I am not. Still have shopping to do.

Recently, I've been involved in fighting our high school reassignment; our area in our fast growing county was reassigned to anothe high school for next year, meaning that this would be the third different high school our students would go to in five years.  Crazy.  My oldest son started at one school and was reassigned the following year to a new school where he is now a senior; my middle son started his freshman year at the same school as my older son, but was reassigned for next year. Our group thinks we have things worked out and that the Board of Education realized that our reassignment had to be changed because our area has been hit with reassignment four times in eight years, while other areas have not been touched.  We'll see what happens.  But when you get involved in something like that, that is pretty much all you do for a few weeks -- emails and writing letters and phone calls.  Time to get back to my real job. 

I have to have my next book ready for my agent to submit to publishers in January!  More on that later.  

One holiday boy-related note -- each year I have each of my three sons pick out a gift for someone their age

Has it been two months again?? And I'd promised not to be AWOL again.  Promises, promises, huh?

Since I last wrote, my oldest son has started his senior  year of high school and is just finishing up college applications, while my middle son started his freshman year of high school and is (thankfully) making that tough transition from middle school very well (thankfully). My youngest, age 8, is in second grade, and though, that's gone okay, it's not been as smooth as I'd hoped and expected. He had the same teacher for K and 1st and was in combo class for two years with the same students; this year he has a new teacher, and the combo class kids have been separated into different second grade classes with only one of them in my son's class with him. So it is taking some adjustments.  

I've also been working on my next book, which means spending a lot of time on the computer. Since the back surgery I had in August, I've switched computer chairs and have been more aware of my posture while typing since I think bad ergonomics at the computer contributed greatly to my back problem. My back and left shoulder and arm feel pretty good, though I still have spasms in the shoulder from time to time -- just some mild jumping that reminds me to take it easy. Comes in as a great excuse sometimes though like when I recently played racquet ball for the first time with my good friend, Robyn.  Lots of fun, but a racquet ball player I am not.