Make you own toddler approved Halloween mix cd! Click here for the songs I used to make a cd for Connor's play group Halloween party. Right-click on each link and "save target as" into a file on your computer. Are you one of those girls...crap we're probably "women" now...who gets along better with guys than you do other women? I was always closer to guy friends than girl friends growing up, but I think that the balance is shifting a bit to the center now. I pretty much hated the kind of girls that hung in packs, sneering and giggling all the time. I had one or two close girl friends at that was it. But now I seem to be branching out.

When Jason started medical school I made a big effort to get along with other women by joining the spouses' club. I knew that I was going to be an officer's wife, so I needed to learn how to play the part. I was forced to make polite conversation and blend more easily, no small task when the filter between what you think and what you say is almost non-existent. I am a loud opinionated person if you can't guess. I learned some new social skills to fit in with the crowd that does not burp and fart for laughs (though I have lapses right Nicole?).

I now am involved in a weekly play-group and monthly Bunco group here on base and am really enjoying the feeling of fitting in with other women. Tonight we barely got two rounds of the game played before we had to give up and go home because it was almost 11 PM, we were just too busy laughing and talking.

Is age the great equalizer? Do we get less snotty and judgmental as we grow up? I know for sure that being a mom is a huge equalizer. Women from all walks of life come together when it comes to child-rearing. Another factor is having the military in common. All of the women are officers' wives so we are all on the same level playing field. Hmm.

Whatever, it is nice to feel accepted by a group. It is also fun to know that they would have been shocked and horrified to see me as a punked out teenager, or an animal rights protester, or knocking over stereo equipment at a drunken frat party, or farting on Nicole's back. But that makes it more fun right?

Secret Agent Colleen: mild mannered stay at home mom and doctor's wife by day...crazy liberal beer drinking (when not breastfeeding or pregnant) rude crude sci-fi loving freak by night. Muhahahahah. I camouflage myself with dessert recipes and child-rearing tips, they'll never suspect it when I light a fart to cremate the dead animals they call "food" while holding a "Bush Sucks" sign wearing a Star Wars costume and drinking a Guiness!!!

Whoooo! It is after midnight, please excuse that last rant...evil Colleen coming out. Must sleep.

In honor of that, I'll share these pictures a little earlier then I had planned, what the heck, It's Friday.



Got this from Cassandra

1. YOUR PORN STAR NAME
(name of first pet, street you grew up on)
Marley Kidwell
Talk dirty to me.

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME
(grandmother on father's side first name, favorite snack)
Ruth Swisscakeroll
Hmm.

3. YOUR FASHION DESIGNER NAME
(first word you see on your left, favorite restaurant)
Nutrition Sublime
Good vegetarian line of clothing I guess.

4. YOUR FLY GIRL/GUY; NAME
(first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
c.kos
Bling. Bling

5. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME
(favorite animal, name of high school)
Manatee Queen Annes County High School
No one's gonna hire me with that name.

6. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME
(middle name, city where you were born):
Ann Annapolis
Pretty cool actually.

7. YOUR OPPOSITE SEX NAME
(name of sibling/parent [opposite sex], cell phone company you use):
David Sprint
It is a statement in it's own right, like "Run Forest Run!"

8. YOUR STAR WARS NAME
(first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name)
Kosandsas
Like a Hip Hop way of saying "Kansas".


I went through so much trauma with Connor in his early months, tests, doctor visits, more tests, more doctors visits, even more tests, ten times more doctors visits...that I had to keep the mantra "everything will be fine" running through my mind or I would go crazy. He had so many surgeries as a baby and went through so much that I just went numb through a lot of it to keep going. I was in denial about the "skin" part of his syndrome, but I have to face up to it now. He has it. He has a limited amount of sweat glands, missing teeth, light sparse hair, lacrimal duct (tear duct) issues.

He still has so much to face.

We have been on a medical hiatus for so long now that I keep hoping it will all go away forever. He has a urilogical exam next week, it I know it will be the start to his season of medical visits. We'll have to see a pediatric dentist, a cranial facial team...blah, blah, blah.

I read on this site for kids with Ectodermal Dysplasias that kids as young as 3 get dentures. He has teeth, just not all of them. At least they are not pointy like the kids on the home page of this site. Looking at the pictures of the kids on this page really got to me. I saw two other kids with hands like Connor's and tears started to well up. He will need help learning to hold a pencil and to cut paper with scissors. He will most likely undergo some painful surgeries to help straighten his ring fingers when he is older. He will have to deal with getting overheated when playing sports and have to take more precautions than other kids. We will have a mountain of orthodontal work ahead.

I have created this nice little bubble where everything is normal, and have to step back in to the world where I acknowledge the difficulties of the future. I just wonder if I am strong enough for all of this, ya know? I guess I have to be, but I can still cry sometimes and wish I could take away all of the bad things that have happened to my son, and all of the bad things that will happen. It just sucks.

Connor is awesome though. He is so smart and so funny, thank GOD he was blessed with so much charisma, it will help him overcome a lot with people. I will make that my new mantra to calm myself down when he is acting like the tasmanian devil. "This charisma will help him overcome." I'll try that the next time he wipes poop all over his bed. I love Oprah. I admit it, I do. I want Oprah for President. She is the ulitmate example of what a woman can achieve, and she looks better at 50 then she did at 30. Every dang day she looks better and does even more amazing things for the power of good. I feel empowered just by watching her.

Here is an ultimate girly fantasy (no not that kind!). I loose all of my baby weight and then some and as a reward get to go on an Oprah/Spa getaway with some of my friends. Shopping, a whole day at a spa and then go to Oprah. Wouldn't that be so cool?

You guys want to come? What would your ultimate girly fantasty be? Time away from the husband and kids is a requirement for this fantasy! Tell me. List from Julee

1) Shampoo and Conditioner - Treseme
2) Soap - Body Shop, Satsuma
3) Colors - Purple, green and red
4) Soda - Coca-Cola - the real thing baby!
5) Foods - My potato soup, artichokes, mashed potatos, Doritos, Mexican
6) Movie - The Little Mermaid, Gross Pointe Blank, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
7) Band - The Cure, Beastie Boys
8) Disney Character - Ariel
9) Actor - Ewan McGregor
10) Actress - Drew Barrymore
11) Video Games - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
12) Computer Games - Dark Ages of Camelot
13) Store - Target, Whole Foods, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com
14) Alcohol - Frozen margaritas - no salt, Killians Irish Red, Guiness
15) Number - 69 Dude!
16) Car - Isuzu Trooper, my Toyota Sienna
17) Book - Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce and the Kushiels series by Jacqueline Carey and of courese Harry Potter
18) T.V. Show - The Monkees, Extreme Makeover Home Edition
19) Website - Mugglenet
20) Condiment - Heinz 57
21) Fruit - strawberries
22) Vegetable - artichoke
23) Restaurant - Sublime
24) Blogger - Will Wheaton
25) Place - Key West


Yea it's a rainy day! We have not had one in about 2 months, so it feels nice. The house is quiet. Children's Tylenol cold medicine is my friend right now, it turns grumpy old Jellyfish Tongue into a sleeping prince. Ahhhh. Alanna is sleeping. My new Yankee candle is making things smell nice. Yummy vegetable soup is defrosting for tonight. Yummy Sam Adams Cherry Wheat beer is cold in the fridge (just one helps increase breast milk I swear!). My pajamas are still on and my bed is calling...at 11:45 AM. Best of all, it is a Friday and Jason has 2 days in a row OFF. Woohooo we can see how the other half lives (the families without a dad who works a begillion hours a week).

Moments like this are why I enjoy my job. Some may find this odd since I am enjoying both of my kids being out of commission, but if you are a parent, this is the best time of the day!

Ah, listen to the rain. Leave it to a doctor's family to come up with something to stump the medical community. Connor has these lesions on his tongue that are so bizzare, the ER, Family Practice Clinic and Dermatology Department are left scratching thier heads. Great.

They are horribly ugly, and have to be uncomfortable. No he didn't get into any chemicals, no this has never happened before, no he has no allergies that we know of. His lymph nodes are swollen too. This sucks.

If you know of anything this could possibly be, let me know. If this keeps up we are probably going to have to Infectious Disease at Walter Reed Army Hospital.

:(