Discovery

Day two of the Torres Family back-up vacation was even more amazing than Day 1 for many reasons:

- It did not involve air travel, which is always an added stressor - with or without small children.
- Both of my small children actually took naps (huzzah to theme park-induced exhaustion!)
- My oldest boy was relatively well-behaved for the majority of the day (save a near eye-guaging incident at Cinderella's Castle involving Sleeping Beauty and a plastic sword. Why on earth would they think it was a good idea to give a non-foam weapon to a small child at the dinner table? Yes, I realize that the idea was to balance out all of the oozy-gooey girlyness of a dinner with all of the Disney Princesses with a bit of testosterone for the boys. But swords? Now that's just dumb)
- While my baby was a cranky bastard due to his never-ending teething spells (how many damned teeth do we have again??), he turned to me more tha once throughout the day, planted a huge smooch on my face and cooed "Love you!" (which, in Victor-speak sounds like "love loo", making it all the more sweet).
- I was actually able to focus my mind on taking it all in and enjoying the ride (both figuratively AND literally) for an entire day. And I am almost ashamed to say that I have NEVER enjoyed my family for an entire day (OK, so both my husband and children worked my nerves once or twice over the course of the day, but at least 13.5 of our 15 waking hours were cool).

Today marked a turning point in my life. Really. Instead of focusing on schedules and discipline and pre-school readiness, I let my kids be kids. And we had a BALL. I learned that if you fill the day with enough things that they actually enjoy, instead of just the stuff that you think they SHOULD be doing, they behave (at least most of the time. Remember, teething and 3), take a solid nap and willingly go to bed at the end of the day.

I know that I can't throw schedules to the wind once we return to real life, but I hope that the post-vacation me will be a kinder, gentler version. One that can stick to a schedule when necessary (like workday mornings), but try to infuse a bit of fun and flexibility into to rest of our family time. I am making no grand proclamations here. Just an observation. My family works well when we have fun together. My kids are cute when they laugh. I feel more like me when I let them play rather than watching the clock like a hawk.

So, I'll do more of that.

A new light

I realized that today was out first real family vacation. True, our kids are veteran flyers. Both have been to California, Puerto Rico, Texas, Maryland and throughout the tri-state area since they were around 6 months old. But these trips were always for business (I am a lunatic and travelled with baby-in-tow at least once a month for the first year of each of their lives. I was a hard-core nurser...) or to visit relatives. Not that visiting relatives isn't a vacation...but I digress. This was the first time that we actually headed out on a family vacation with JUST OUR FAMILY.

It dawned on me as we boarded the tram to the baggage claim in Orlando. Victor was sleeping and Angel's eyes were wide with wonder at all the "cool stuff" (pronounced "tool tuff") in the terminal. We were making memories, real memories, together as a family. I knew that all the drama of the past week would shortly fade into my distant memory as I watched my little boys smile.

The hotel - BIG HIT! Wild animals roaming free across the savannah right outside our balcony. Lots of rope bridges to run across and cool African masks to run away from screaming in terror..well, at least that part was fun for mommy. We spent almost 2 hours in the hotel pool ? I melted as I watched Victor close his eyes and open his mouth in pure joy his lead him around floating on his back in the pool, and watched Angel jumping with reckless abandon into the water with Daddy.

After dinner (a little rough since both kids were exhausted from the travel and swimming), we went up to the concierge floor to do a final check before the morning activities. Victor was fast asleep in the stroller mere seconds after we left the restaurant, and Angel made a new friend the moment we walked onto the floor. As I confirmed meal plans and safari reservations, Little A sat in a rocking chair in front of the fire pit, watching Bolt with his new "best friend".

Germany would have been an experience, but this is awesome. And it's not just becase we're in "The Happiest Place on Earth" it's because I'm finally taking the time to SEE my kids, and not just keep them on schedule. I marvel at the intelligence in Angel's eyes, the sparkle in Victor's smile, the wonder of discovery and new experiences. My children are beautiful, f'ing gorgeous kids! I don't take enough time to just loom at them. They are little miracles. Literally.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Take two

Bags are packed. Kids are in bed. All we have to do is get on the plane in the morning.

I've heard that song before...let's hope it ends the right way this time around!

Check that. I actually do believe that things happened the right way on this family vacation. True, the past 10 days have held more random misadventures than your average B-movie, but I truly believe that most things in life happen for a reason. Germany would have been a fantastic vacation...in about 10 years. OK, maybe 5. But really, a six-hour time change, touring castles and army bases with 2 kids under the age of 4 who still only eat 5 foods? Who were we kidding?

I think the lesson here is that I need to learn to make the best decisions for my family and screw hurting other people's feelings. I knew from the beginning that this trip was not a good idea, but I went along with it because I didn't feel like I had the right to say no. Fortunately, God intervened (thanks, Big Guy) and we were able to avert what would have most likely been certain disaster and I didn't have to be the bad guy!

So, tomorrow we embark on the 2010 Torres Family Vacation - the remix. A kinder, gentler, more kid-friendly plan to be sure. I think that things will work out this time. At least I'll get to spend more time with my family.

Are we there yet?

I do believe that this is the longest vacation of my life...and I haven't even left home yet.

Don't get me wrong - I am THOROUGHLY enjoying time off from work and the opportunity to laze around in my PJs until the ripe-old-hour of 9am (UNHEARD of in the Torres house!) I enjoy deciding where we are going to go at the drop of a hat, tickling my kids until they have to pee and chasing them around the house until they scream "Stop it, Mommy!" Most of all, I'm just enjoying the opportunity to truly focus on my family.

But I gotta tell you - it's EXHAUSTING!

Not the same kind of exhausting that I feel from the hustle-and-bustle of getting dressed for work, getting kids ready for school, feeding breakfast, whisking to the car, throwing them at the daycare lady then hauling ass to the 7:32am train...then starting a full day of work, hauling ass for the 5:03 (or 5:27, 0r 5:47 or 6:13 or...) train, feeding, bathing, reading, fussing to sleep, working out, cleaning house, going to bed type of schedule. That's just CRAZY.

But really engaging with your kids - ALL day, for 7 days straight? That's a WHOLE different level of tired.

While I am enjoying spending the time with them, I can't help but want to sneak off and read a work email or write a Power Point presentation. Not because I enjoy that stuff, but because I'm actually GOOD at it. And while it seems that my kids are enjoying having long stretches of unproductive time with mom and dad, they're still whining and throwing things at me a good amount of the time.

The good news, is that I expected this.

After the debacle that was Christmas vacation 2009, I lowered my expectations for this vacation. VASTLY. While, yes, I have proclaimed more than once that I expect a blessing from this trip and that my family will be "transformed," I know that miracles can come in small packages and transformation happens in incremental rather than exponential steps.

I still think that I'm a better executive than a mom, but I'm working on it every day.

And FINALLY starting to enjoy the journey :)

Oh...by the way, both kids passed their follow up at the pediatrician this morning with flying colors, so barring any weapons of mass destruction discovered on Long Island we should be off to Disney la-la-World on Saturday.

Just another day in the life of a BadAssMama...

Staycation mode

Today has been relatively mellow. While there have been the occasional meltdown (my children are, after all, 1 and 3), there has been no plague of locust, ebola virus outbreak or itchy rashes. One vomiting spell (thank you, Victor, for making random vomiting followed by peals of laughter your new pastime), but other than that, it's been a pretty quiet day.

After breakfast and playtime in PJs, we spent some quality time in the children's room at the library followed by lunch at Applebees. The kids are still fighting nap time tooth-and-nail (clearly a sign that the colds are dissipating), so Angel drove around with them for 2 hours (still works like a charm!) while the BasAssMama found time to sneak in a mani-pedi. I dropped off the lifetime supply of shelf-stable organic milk that we planned to bring with us to Germany at the food pantry at our church and came back home to play with the boys after nap.

Then, something amazing happened. I spent the rest of the afternoon PLAYING. Nothing educational...well, at least not overtly (play IS a child's work, you know). We put all of the animals from Noah's Ark onto a flatbed truck and pretended that it was a school bus. Then, the animals had to go home because it was nighttime (Victor even supplied the snoring sound effects). The next "day", the animals got back on the car carrier and went to the farm (with the Fisher Price See and Say providing the sound effects this time).

We took a quick break for dinner then adjourned to the basement to play vroom-crash with the cars and trains, followed by a rousing game of air hockey. We'll be heading upstairs for bath, story and bedtime shortly and for the first time this week I intend to be in my bed mere seconds after the kids are in theirs!

Off to the doctor tomorrow to see if we are clear to fly on Saturday. Trying not to hold my breath....trying to enjoy the time with my family, wherever we end up.

Tomorrow, it will be the bowling alley :)

New day

Day 3 of our almost-vacation has arrived. It's starting off well! It is 7:49am and we are ALL still in pjs :)

Victor woke up a bit before 6, but woke up with a pleasant, "Mommmmm? Daddy? Baba!" rather than his standard blood-curdling-early-morning-primal-scream. He promptly requested Wow Wow Wubbzy and set relatively still in our bed for 20 minutes. Then, Little A announced, "Daddy? I wake up!"

We're eating breakfast and playing with iPads. There has been minimal activity on the tantrum front, and the 1-2-3 Magic model seems to be taking hold. Angel actually stayed in the time out chair and apologized for throwing his cup on the floor!

Just a short post to start the day....vacation mode in full effect. Talk to you later tonight.

Turning point?

Today, Torres Law turned the corner from 7 days of bad stuff to the first day (of what I hope are MANY days) of good stuff. We stayed in PJs until 9am (a miracle given that the day breaks around here at 5:30 most mornings), had breakfast and crashed toy trains on the track until around 10. Then, it was off to run a few errands. Remember - the plan was to be out of the country for 14 days, so we had absolutely NO FOOD in the house, so clearly a BJs run was in order. We also had to head off to JFK to give Delta our doctor's note about Angel's ear infection so we could exchange our tickets without the $400 per ticket penalty.

First stop of the day, JFK. I knew things were looking up when Victor actually fell asleep in the car. He hasn't napped in 3 days, so it was a welcome relief for ALL of us. He's a cute kid, but a cranky bastard when he doesn't get his sleep! There were only 2 people working behind the counter at the Delta desk, and one was on what looked to be a very involved phone call involving a land line, a cell phone and 7 or 8 people with enough luggage to last for a trip around the world. After about 20 minutes, it was my turn. The agent asked if I was a passenger on the noon flight to LA. I wasn't. But, 6 other people were. She asked if I would mind waiting. I honestly had no place to be, so for what was probably one of the first times in my life I did NOT pitch a fit about losing my place in line. She thanked me and told me that her name was Flo, and she would help me as soon as she got these folks on their flight.

I called Angel to let him know I would be a minute (he was circling JFK with the boys since Victor was still asleep). Little A needed a bathroom break, so I brought him inside with me. After hitting the potty, we stopped at Starbucks for a chocolate chip muffin and some water. We hopped through baggage claim on one foot then ran back upstairs to the ticket agents. After a few minutes, Flo was ready for us and thanked me for my patience (again, something that rarely happens - my patience, I mean, not a thank you from a Delta ticket agent!)

I explained the saga of the past few days and presented the ER doctor's note. Flo apologized that no one on the Delta customer service line (I explained that I'd called no less than 5 times yesterday) had offered to comp my flight change to Germany based upon the unforeseen medical emergency with my child. She then asked me if my family would be open to go to Germany later in the week IF she could get the fees waved. I called Angel. We both paused....and politely refused her offer. This was truly a test. She was offering us a beautiful opportunity, but we felt like at this point we should keep our little family getaway in the continental US or risk calamity #8. The boys were still not 100%, and we just didn't want to run the risk.

Flo said that she understood, and apologized for the inconvenience. I explained that it really was no issue at all - all of the customer service representatives that I dealt with yesterday were polite and helpful. She told me that as a 22-year Delta employee, she felt they did not go far enough to help in our situation.

So she did.

Not only did she put us on our preferred flight (in first class) to Orlando on Saturday, she put the remaining several thousand dollars credit from our Germany tickets as a refund back to my American Express. These were non-refundable tickets. I looked her square in the eye, thanked her with all of my heart, and went skipping out of JFK on one foot with my little boy.

Her kindness allowed us to cover the full cost of our mega-fancy-all-inclusive-last-minute Disney excursion. All paid for with the money we'd already spend 3 months ago on plane tickets to Germany.

After that, the day just seemed to be a little bit brighter - in spite of the 60 degree weather and rain storms. The boys were cute and funny at BJs. We got a cart with the cool double-steering-wheel-car-thingy on the front, and they spent a full 30 minutes playing nicely before they began to beat the living crap out of each other (while laughing hysterically, I might add). They were sweet and relatively cooperative at lunch, and afterward both took naps. 2 hours late, mind you, but still...full naps.

That was day 2 of our almost-vacation. Both boys are still coughing and a bit snotty, but seem a little better than yesterday. Let's hope that they get a little better tomorrow. Can't think about making it onto a plane on Saturday just yet. My job was to set the plans in place...we'll worry about getting there later. I just want to make it through tonight.

At the end of the day, I repacked our luggage - making the necessary adjustments for a 9 day trip to Florida vs. 14 days in Germany. I made the final arrangements with the folks at Disney and stocked the house with groceries so that we wouldn't go hungry while we were here, or have to run around like lunatics once we get back.

Now that all the busy work of preparing for the back-up vacation is over, I'm really looking forward to BEGINNING my vacation with my family tomorrow. We don't have to be out of town to enjoy this time together. The kids are out of school. The parents are off from work. We may not be in a hotel, but we can relax and enjoy ourselves as a family.

So, I lost 2 days scrambling and planning. Tomorrow, I intend to enjoy life...

whatever it might bring.

Lemonade

"Thanks for taking a 'making lemonade out of lemons' attitude because...um...you're usually NOT a lemonade-type of person"

That, my friends, is the quote of the day courtesy of my husband.

In my quest to salvage our family vacation, I found that it would cost a small fortune (check that -the equivalent of the GDP of a small fiefdom) to re-book our tickets to Germany for later this week even with Delta's oh-so-kind offer to waive the change fee if we supplied a doctor's note. So, we're going to Disney World.

I took a quick peek online and found that for less that the cost of 1 of our 4 tickets to Germany, we could have an all inclusive vacation at some crazy-premium Disney resort with roving wild animals on a savannah for 10 days. I am going to stop extolling the virtues and value of a Disney vacation, given that they are my main business competitor and may likely minimize my opportunities to give my children an Ivy League education. But, in this instance, they kind of rock.

So, now that the kids are up from their sorry-excuse-for-a-nap, we are off to the Disney travel magic store (they have a much snazzier name for it that some brilliant marketing MBA made up, but I can't think of it right now) to book this puppy for Saturday or Sunday. I figure Angel will be done with his antibiotics and we should be good to go by then. 7 or 10 days...we'll decide when we get there.

Change of plans

A funny thing happened to my family this morning.

Well, in all actuality it wasn't funny as in "ha, ha," but funny as in a tipping point. Little A woke up screaming that his ear was hurting. 45 minutes and 1 emergency room visit later, our fears were realized - we had our first ear infection. Ever. The morning of our flight to Germany.

So, we are not going to Germany today.

I didn't cry. I didn't yell. I think that I'm in shock, really.

But, I made a commitment to see my family changed over the course of this vacation and I am going to stick with it. I'm not sure what we are going to do over the next 14 days, but I do know that we are going to enjoy it as a family. If things clear up and the doctor clears Angel for air travel by Thursday or Friday, we may still have enough time to salvage at least part of the trip to Germany. If not, we'll drive somewhere.

All I know is that we are going to enjoy our family time together.

And I am going to keep my commitment to blog every day. So stay tuned, and keep us in your prayers, happy thoughts, meditations - whatever floats your boat. Clearly, we're going to need it!

Just another day in the life of a BadAssMama....

Faith

What was I thinking?

That was the only thought flashing through my mind for the majority of this week. You see, this is the week that will go down in history as the week that Torres Law took down Murphy's Law. In other words, the week when all hell broke loose.

We are getting ready to embark on an EPIC family journey tomorrow. Epic in that it involves:

1) International travel with 2 kids under the age of 4
2) International travel with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law
3) Two 9-hour flights
4) 5 cities in 2 weeks
5) 14 days of unadulterated, uninterrupted family time

Despite my initial misgivings, I was becoming downright giddy about this trip. I have never had the pleasure of devoting 14 entire days to spending time with my family. Away from the temptation to just check one more email, or to just fold or straighten up just one more thing before I play/dance/laugh/fill-in-the-blanks.

In the past few weeks, I realized that the HORROR I initially felt at allowing my sister-in-law (well, let's be real - allowing anyone but little-old-control-freak-me) to plan our entire trip was completely misdirected (well, considering the business-class seat for my baby, maybe it wasn't a TOTAL misdirection - but I digress). I was actually taking a 14 day vacation without lifting a finger to read a travel guide, contact a travel agent, review hotel listings, activity planning. NADA. All I had to do was show up with kids and husband in tow and prepare to make with the merriment.

And then all hell broke loose.

On Monday, I felt a tickle in my throat that became an all out wildfire accompanied by chest tightening and wheezing by Tuesday night. I stayed home from work Wednesday (even though it was my last week in the office before a 3 week absence - yes, I was THAT sick), only to have my 3 year old sent home from daycare by 4pm with a fever. On Thursday, my husband stayed home from work to help me since Angel still had a fever and I was down for the count. I ran out to run a few errands (yes, I was sick but I'm still a mom!). I called home just to check in- my husband cracked his wisdom tooth on a cookie (really?) and we had to rush him to the oral surgeon to have it removed. By Friday morning, I was feeling a bit of relief from the cold and Angel's fever had passed. We dropped both boys to daycare and attempted to pack for our trip. By 1pm, I took a break to grab some lunch (since we were going on a long trip, I made it my life's mission to have absolutely zero perishable food in the house). I had barely pulled the keys out of the ignition when the daycare called. Victor just vomited. Everything. Everywhere. Off to the pediatrician. On Saturday, he vomited in the back of my car on the way to the mall for pre-vacation haircuts.

Today is Sunday. The night before our trip. It's 10:05. The house is quiet. Nothing apocalyptic has happened today. I'm hoping that it's a sign that we are free and clear to get on the plane tomorrow afternoon.

It's funny. I was so anxious for so long about this trip for so many reasons (it's too expensive, the boys are too young, how will they nap/eat/run/play, what if someone gets sick?). Once I actually got excited about it, Torres Law kicks in.

A weaker soul may have buckled under the pressure.

But not the BadAssMama.

I take it as a sign. A sign that the universe has an immense blessing waiting for me and my family in Germany. All of these random calamities happened while we were still at home - well in reach of our comfortable doctors, surgeons, pharmacies and humidifiers. While I saw my children in discomfort, I was also able to see that they were still laughing and playing. While there may be boogers (LOTS of boogers), it's just a cold. They will be fine. We will be fine. I will be fine.

Once again, I believe that my family will experience a wonderfully transformative experience in Germany. We will come back changed for the better. 14 days - family time.

I've updated my iPad subscription to include international access - mainly to allow my son to obsessively watch Thomas the Tank Engine videos on You Tube, but also to allow me to chronicle this epic journey both for my family to enjoy and for you to share.

The BadAssMama is ready for a blessing. Keep us in your prayers, and I'll write again tomorrow.

Just another day in the life of a BadAssMama...

Blessed

I had a really good week.

- There were several tantrum-free mornings

- One workday even included 3 morning books, breakfast at the kitchen table AND making the 7:32am train!

- Both sets of grandparents are in town, and the kids are practically beside themselves with giddy goofy-dom

- In the past 10 days, we've only had 1 complete 3-year-old meltdown...and even that one dissipated within a few minutes

- My husband and I have not had 1 argument (likely related to points 1,2 and 4)

- I allowed myself to relax, engage and strangely enjoy several work days filled with back-to-back meetings from 8-6

- I was able to comfort a friend in need

- I celebrated as my little brother got his first full time job (yeah, TJ!!!)

- I celebrated as my little sister finished her clinic rotation and prepares to move away from home for her first clinical rotation (yeah, Sheryl!!!)

- We went out to Dave & Buster's with two great friends and their kids, went to bed WAY after bedtime and STILL no tantrums!

- I'm beginning to see the semblance of triceps muscles once again and my collar bone has come out of hibernation (thank you, P90X)

- I am generally beginning to feel like myself. Not just my pre-baby self, but the self I was 10 years ago before the mortgage and the kids and the job and all that jazz

Basically, I have rediscovered my life.

Funny enough, it was always there. I just lost it among the hustle and bustle of laundry, grocery shopping, long range planning, breast feeding, tantrum control, conference calls, weight loss regimens and planning for the life I would like to have.

In the midst of all that doing, I forgot how to be.

I am essentially a goofball. I like corny movies. I like to sing at the top of my lungs. When I hear a song that I like, I'm at my happiest when I can bust a move (often an awkward and embarrassing one) on site. I tell bad jokes. I'm really loud. REALLY loud. I laugh... a lot. I like to talk on the phone with my friends. I like to tilt my head to the side and make a Kool-Aid grin in photos. I like to smell stinky sweet baby toes. I like to chase my kids around the house. I like to chase my husband around the house after the kids go to sleep (bad mommy!)

These are things that I love. And I lost them for a long time. Then, under the piles of laundry and long range plans, I found them. A little dusty, but still mostly intact.

How I've missed me. I'm glad to be back home :)

Just another day in the life of a BadAssMama...

Good enough?

I came THIS close to relaxing last night.

After months of speculation about the root source of my 3 1/2 year old's craziness, we finally had an appointment with the team at NYU that followed him for the first 2 years of his life (one of the "perks" of a premature birth - a team of specialists for everything from physical to mental health track your child to help them overcome any challenges they might have).

After a 2 hour evaluation, we got some great advice and solid reassurance that we were not dealing with any cognitive or developmental issues. The team did have some concerns with Angel's enunciation and suggested that we see an audiologist then have an evaluation by a speech pathologist. But, overall, what Angel really needs is a more structured preschool environment with a class of his peers so that he could model their behavior and blah, blah, blah.

Don't get me wrong - I don't say "blah, blah, blah" because I didn't value the information or find it important. I say it because if I focused this post on the content of the evaluation, I could be writing for hours and quite frankly I am just too exhausted.

So, we leave NYU light as a feather. Have a great mommy, daddy, big boy lunch (we left Victor at the day care so that we could focus on Angel for the first time in...oh, 18 months), followed by a great nap in the car (for Angel, not us! Ok, maybe for Angel and mommy....) then a little TV time before we picked up Victor for our Friday night Applebees family date.

That entire afternnoon, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and satisfaction. Satisfaction that I'd followed my gut and sought professional guidance to not only help my son, but to help our family make it through this difficult transition that they call the tempestuous threes (OK, so I may have just made up that phrase, but it's fitting!). At peace because for the first time in almost 6 months, we experienced 2 "good Angel" days in a row and now had the tools to stretch it out into more. Satisfied because I'd found a cute, structured and wonderfully creative preschool to help my son make the transition to Kindergarten and more importantly learn to listen and follow instructions since I was clearly failing at that task.

And then, someone made me question my decision.

I won't go into detail or point fingers. What's funny is that it doesn't really even matter who it was or what was the intention behind their comments. But, something was said that made me question whether our choice of preschool was good enough.

I fell into a panic.

Did I not do enough research? Should I fall into the crazy New York trap of putting him into a "competitive" preschool to set him up for the cut throat magnet/private/country day school track? His cognitive testing was off the charts - was I failing him by putting him into a "regular" private nursery school?

I immediately jumped onto the iPad and frantically Googled private schools in my area. Tuition schedules and learning philosophies and parent-child classes (who the HELL has time to go to school with their kids 5 days a week?)flooded my brain while I fed my baby macaroni and cheese at the Applebees table.

Then, I stopped.

This, for me, is progress.

I decided that I was NOT going to look anymore. We'd made a decision, found a school that fit our needs and made Angel happy and that was good enough.

I came home, bathed the boys, read them their books and put them to bed.

I then did the most punishing workout I could find to clear my head and get the God-awful tension shrug out of my shoulders (P90X Plyometrics, baby....works like a charm. You HAVE to clear your head when it takes everything in you just to breathe!!)

After a good night's sleep, I woke up satisfied and once again at peace with my decision. This was going to be Angel's first structured school experience. While I do want him to have every advantage possible, I don't want to sacrifice his childhood in the hopes of giving him a leg up on the rat race that waits for him and everyone else in this country (well, at least in my socio-economic realm).

I want my kids to be kids. I want them to run and play and laugh. I want them to make mud pies and chase imaginary dinosaurs and build sand castles. Yes, part of being a big boy is learning the rules and learning how to follow directions. But I don't want to worry about how his preschool is going to look on his college admissions essay.

There's enough time to worry about that.

For now, I will trust that I've made the right decision for my son and for our family. We will make sure that he is set up to succeed in school, in college, in life.

But for now, let's just get to kindergarten.

And through another day in the life of a BadAssMama...