"I Wish I Didn't Have a Heart"

Ridge, Charly, and I went to Chic Fil A with Missy and her kiddos the other day. We had a great time other than the following incidents:

--Ridge and Bo started to wrestle each other in the play area, and someone came up to me while I was ordering asking if I had a son wearing red. hmmmm
--Ridge and Bo tried to "help" people as they left Chic Fil A. Missy and I were telling Bo to come away from the door when another lady kindly asked me if my son had a red shirt on. Of course, Ridge was at the opposite door trying his best to let people in and out.
--Ridge got in trouble with mommy twice, and he decided to let the whole restaurant know, TWICE!

And finally when we got back to the car, Ridge slumped in his chair and said, "I wish I didn't have a heart!" I of course almost started laughing as I said, "what?" He said, "I wish I didn't have a heart! (dramatic pause and sigh). I was holding back the laughter as best I could, "Why Ridge?"

(Another dramatic pause coupled with a huge sigh) He looks at me, and says, "Because den it not be broken!"

At this point, I couldn't tell whether I should be sad for him or burst out laughing, so I just said, "ok," and hopped into the front seat of the car. I truly have no idea where he's heard that saying.

Horrible Mom Moment

I have been slightly blind so I haven’t blogged in awhile. I had a corneal abrasion caused by my crazy eye shadow brush (Yes, I poked myself in the eye) . . but that’s another story for another day. Just know I am SO grateful for my vision.

Have you ever thought for just a moment, “I’m a horrible mom!” Surely, I’m not the only one?? Well, I had one of those moments last night(and today actually). I’ll just set the scene:

Rob and I had the opportunity to go to a reception for Jim Daly, CEO of Focus on the Family, last night. Our babysitter was outside with the kids so I waved goodbye from the back door, shut the door, and went out the garage. I realized on my way that I didn’t have my cell phone, but I didn’t want to be late so I kept going. The babysitter had Rob’s cell phone number if she needed us.

SO. . . we get home at 10:30 p.m., and all is unusually quiet. We soon realized that the babysitter and the kids were gone! Her stuff was there. Her car was out front. The back window is open. You can imagine the panic that began to build in each of us. I grab my phone and call her. When she answers I ask, “Where are you?” She replies, “well, you locked us out so. . .we waited for the pizza guy, and then walked to my parents house.”

I WHAT???? I must have subconsciously locked the backdoor when I shut it to say goodbye. WHY didn’t she call? Because my phone was in the house along with Rob’s number & all the emergency numbers. You WHAT???? I could just imagine my babysitter walking about a mile with a pizza box, a 6 year old, a 5 year old, and a 3 year old!! All I could think was, “I am a horrible mom!!!” All I could say was, “I’m so so sorry,” over and over again.

Rob was horrified and embarrassed, as was I. We went straight to get the kids, and then the fall out began:

--We met our babysitter’s parents for the FIRST time (they were very gracious to us)

--We picked sleeping Cobb up off the leather couch and discover little tiny hairs from his new buzz cut.

--Ridge wet through his diaper soaking the babysitter’s brother’s bed (of course, she couldn’t change Ridge b/c the diapers were in our house!!)

--When we got home, Charly wet through her pull-up all over her bed.

--Rob and I woke up in the middle of the night. And unbeknownst to the other, we lay there with our hearts racing and thinking through all the possible “What ifs. . .”

--Cobb, Charly, Ridge, and I are cranky today because of lack of sleep.

I know that most of the time I am not a horrible mom. However, I will readily admit that I do not have it all together. Thankfully I can lean on the Lord to help me parent and protect my children well. Thankfully, the babysitter and each of my kids has forgiven me. And thankfully, my kids were protected and loved through this crazy adventure. I still just can’t believe it, even though Rob kindly reminded me that I have done this once before.

Same video but treated in After Effects

With David Womack's help, I (Rob) treated the same video in After Effects... gave it better color temperature, made the brightness level, gave it a vignette. Overall, I think it looks better.

Our Kids (April2010) from Rob Thomas on Vimeo.

Our Kids

I (Rob) experimented with our company's Canon 7D over the weekend. What an amazing camera. Here is the video. I wasn't great at using it at this point, but it still looks pretty cool.

Brothers Now and Later