Buddy is our new puppy. He is a sweet little pug with lots of personality. So far, so good.

Today was dreadfully hot, so Matt and the kids decided to take a swim in the pool. Unfortunately there was not enough room for me:(

Dear 3 Readers,
I've been living in my head the past few weeks. Hopefully soon I will feel like writing. We have been enjoying our summer break, but the heat and mosquitoes are fierce. One morning next week I will take a break from the Today Show and fill everyone in on the latest happenings with the Bergen family. Until then, stay hydrated and remember Deet is your friend. Katy

Hayden was a little jealous that I put up a video of Josie and not him, so when I stumbled across this video that was taken a few months ago, I decided that I had to post it. This video is Hayden's interpretation of the classic dance move "The Robot." Feel free to laugh out loud and make jokes about my dirty house:)

Happy Hump Day! I had a particularly crappy morning and a substantially worse work day, but this evening has been down right peaceful. It was a movie and a dinner kind of night. The kids chilled and Lucas went to sleep at 7:00 pm, so the house was quiet all evening. Matt and I sat down together and watched the first 2 hours of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We still have an hour more to go on the movie, but I suggested we save the rest for tomorrow night. The Bergen family has a big weekend ahead of them. Friday afternoon we leave for Cedar Key to do a little Gulf fishing. My parents, brothers, sister, sister-n-laws, niece, and nephew are coming along too. This is a big deal for us because we have never gotten all our families together for a family vacation. I pray that it goes well. I am a little worried because for the last three nights, Lucas has vomited in his sleep. During the day he seems fine, but at night he becomes ill. I'm hoping that we can all get some sleep tonight. Bathing children and washing soiled sheets is not something anyone wants to do at 2:00 in the morning for three nights in a row. Today at work I searched my desk for toothpicks so that I could prop my eyelids open. No luck. My mood has been glum and my temper short, but I'm hopeful that this mini vacation will re energize my mind and body.

Matt and I bought Josie an iPod Shuffle for her 5th birthday. She has been in a constant jam session since Friday night when she opened her present. Matt, being the great dad that he is, bought all her favorite songs from iTunes and added them to her iPod. Josie is extremely shy and never lets Matt see her dance, so when I caught her singing and dancing to her favorite song "This is Real" by Demi Lovato, I had to get the camera. Unfortunately this video has no sound, but that is not important; it is the pure joy and raw emotion that makes this video priceless. Watch for yourself and try to think about the last time you let yourself be so free.

Things I'm loving right now:

Dove- Shine Therapy shampoo and conditioner
Jergens Sunless Tanner- smells bad, looks pretty good
Granola in my yogurt
wii fit-hula hoop
Deception Point- by Dan Brown
CVS Foot File- files my hooves nicely
Lysol wipes
Method Surface Cleaner
Texas Toast Croutons
Tonic Water, Vodka, Lime Juice, Crushed Ice- Thanks Leaa
Matt's real homemade Ranch- 1 c. mayo,1/2 c. sour cream, 1/4 c. milk, 2 tbsp. chopped onion,
1 tbsp garlic, salt, pepper, 1 tsp. dill (optional), mix, shake, chill, serve, yum
Yard Crashers- HGTV

Hayden has become slightly obsessed with wrestling. He doesn't watch wrestling at home, but he has somehow managed to acquire knowledge about the sport and its' participants from commercials, toys, and friends. His obsession got me thinking about what it would be like to be a WWE wrestler. I imagined myself inside the ring with worn black leather pants and a skin tight wife beater. My signature move would involve the use of my leopard print stilettos. As for a name, well, there would have to be some surgery done beforehand, but I was thinking "Southern Im-plantation." Yes, enhancements would definitely be necessary.

The countdown to my 29th birthday is on. I had a thought the other day. I've spent the majority of my 20's a.) wanting to be pregnant b.) being pregnant or c.) recovering from pregnancy. Seeing as how I am close to the thirty mark, I intend on spending this last year of my twenties preparing for the new me- the better me- the composed and focused me-the me who shaves everyday and gets pedicures-the me I always imagined I'd be by the time I hit 25. I guess age doesn't make you mature because at 28 I still think it's ridiculously funny to light my farts. Sometimes when I'm doing something unmentionable, I'll stop and think to myself- "Katy, your adoring husband is sitting right beside you. Yes, he loves you but he does not deserve to have this image of you in his head." So I apologize for my lack of manners and make false promises like-"I swear I'm going to try not to do gross stuff in front of you anymore. If you see me being unladylike, just thump me between the eyes. You have my permission." Good intentions, I know, but I never follow through. And because he is a good man, he doesn't thump me between the eyes, he just makes smart remarks which I definitely deserve. Being a mom came so naturally, I just thought being a lady would, too. So on April 15th I will blow out 29 candles and make a wish to finally become a lady.

I need to go to sleep. I've been up since 4:00 am because Hayden woke up with a fever of 105.7- terrifying I know, and guess what? I still went to work. I wanted to rush him to the ER, but Matt convinced me otherwise. Hayden has a tendency to run high fevers, but this fever topped all. After a dose of Motrin and some wet rags on the head, his fever came down quickly. Hayden has been sick since Saturday, so Matt stayed home today and took him to the doctor. The doctor did blood work, but we will have to wait 48 hours before we know anything. Dr. Jump suspected it was probably a virus, and he is most definitely right because tonight Josie started running a fever- JOY! When it rains it pours. So now I will stay home tomorrow, which means I will have to call in, and I hate calling in. The minute I begin to give my reason for not coming to work my voice gets all shaky and I begin to talk fast, which are the two biggest signs of a liar. But I never lie; I just feel like the person I'm speaking with will think my story is crap. Why does that bother me so badly? I'm not sure. I guess it has something to do with me being a compulsive people pleaser. But I will put my anxiety aside tomorrow and do my mommy duty; I will call my workplace and inform them that I will not be there because I have two sick babies that need their mommy- and that is the truth so help me God!

Long time no write. Much has happened and much is the same. Here are some of the highlights.
1) Bad guy who robbed our house- captured
2) Stolen lap top- recovered
3) FCAT- over
4) Matt's car AC- fixed
5) Hayden's 7th B-day- Alligator Farm
February was a difficult month. Matt and I were dealing with the whole break in drama, while at the same time I was stressing about FCAT. Fear gripped me by the frontal lobe and sent me into a month long wave of migraines and numbness. When your face goes numb after 2-3 glasses of wine, it's fun and relaxing, but when for no apparent reason the left side of your bottom lip feels like it has been injected with Novocaine, it is, well, not. Even after battling migraines for almost three years now, the numbness, muscle weakness, and speech difficulty send me into a near panic attack every time.

February is over and now March is drawing to a close. Summer is near and Spring Break is even closer- Yippee! We took a trip to the beach two weekends ago. The water was freezing, but the kids loved it. While they ran around like a flock of hungry seagulls, I sat in my beach chair fully clothed, wishing I had the confidence to at least take off my tank top and get a little sun on my chest. Each swimsuit season I look back at the previous year's photos and think, "I wasn't as fat as I thought I was." I say this every year, so by now you would think that I would just be like, "Live in the now, Katy, because next year you will be even fatter and you will look back at a photo from this summer and think- I thought I was fat, but I was pretty dope. So do it, Katy, take off that beach cover up and strut your cellulite and stretch marks because next year you'll be 15 lbs heavier and wishing your body looked like this. " Just like time, FATNESS is so RELATIVE.

Sooooo, Matt calls me at work and is all like, "We've been robbed." And I'm all like, "You're joking." And he is all like, "No. I'm serious, Katy."
Okay, enough with the reenactment, but that is word for word the beginning of our conversation on Thursday, January 22, 2009 @ 1125 am. The rest of that short conversation consisted mainly of boohoos and oh my gods. Unfortunately, I was standing in front of about 20 4th graders when I received the news, and I'm pretty sure based on my reaction that they thought someone had died. I reassured them that no one had died and quickly raced home. Luckily, not much was taken- our laptop, a digital camera, a ring, a bracelet, a Vera Bradley diaper bag, some coins, two boxes of bullets for the shotgun, and a package of slice cheese. I'm serious; they took cheese! The intruder(s) kicked in the french doors at the back of the house. We think something must have spooked them because not much was taken. It quite possibly could have been Matt that spooked them because he came home early from work. I was extremely worried that the thousands of pictures we had saved on the laptop were gone forever-POOF! Thank goodness that was not the case because we had saved them all on a flash drive over the Christmas holidays. Once I realized the pictures were safe, I felt much better. Crime is WAY up in our town. My sister-n-law's house was broken into today. She lives about 5 miles away from us. When she came home from taking her kids to school, she saw that her front door was kicked in. The burglar took 3 laptops and 2 guns. Cars and homes have been getting burglarized left and right this month, so everyone in town is on edge. Since I have no one to blame at this point, I'm going to blame the economy. Although, the jerk that robbed our house probably didn't just get laid off from his job, and he probably doesn't want a job. Karma- I'm a believer!

Matt is at a meeting, the kids are in their room playing, and I am chillin. Drinking coffee, watching Oprah, wearing sweats- chillin. Today was a great teaching day. My students took a Reading Inventory test and ROCKED IT! Days like today make me feel like I might be making somewhat of a difference in their lives. Often I feel like the lessons I'm teaching are some form of torture I am forced to inflict upon them. I sometimes feel the urge to shout, "I'm sorry," as I dip their faces into the tub of knowledge once more. But I refrain. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe there was a chapter about it in one of my college textbooks. The chapter was probably titled "Guiltless teaching: How not to be a pushover." Maybe I flagged that chapter with a sticky note; I think I'm due for a refresher course. Chill session- over:(

This morning was our first day back to work and school. Like always, as soon as I grow accustomed to the constant whining and moaning from my three precious children (by the way, it is always about food), it is time to go back work. Here is a snippet of what life is like for a working mom.

Suddenly their simultaneous cries sound like a sweet symphony, I pause to listen- eyes closed- my heart aches.

Although the two week break seemed plenty long, I still refused to tell Hayden the date because I knew he would immediately start counting down the days. I tried to explain to him that we only countdown the days for happy events, like Christmas, birthdays, or the last day of school. And that counting down the days for sad events (ex. going back to work) only drags out the misery. I think he got it.

We hopped right back into our morning routine- news, lunches, shower, coffee, dress, breakfast, hair, teeth, cartoons, news, load up, head out!!!! Lucas waved bye. Josie cried, and Hayden complained that his stomach hurt. Matt pouted, and as for me, well, I swallowed down an enormous lump in my throat and prayed that my stomach could digest it. Surprisingly, lumps of grief are easily digestible, as long as you take it down with a shot of reality!

Resolution, Shmezolution :(

Happy New Year!