Tired Mama.com

Poor Kitty

After being on the road for a while, for both work and fun, I am finally home getting things back into their regular routine.

I've been back for a few days now and everything seems to be meshing along again nicely.

Except this,

 

 

The cat.

You see when things get too busy around here or if I'm going to be away for too long, I have a family that takes the dog and sees that she is socialized, walked and basically spoiled while I'm gone.

I decided however that the cat would be more traumatized by moving then by staying at the house so I simply had friends come in and check on him daily for the last two weeks we've all been away.

Although, when we got back, everyone said that the cat did just fine, it is now obvious that he was not happy.

Since I have been back home he has not left my side. His favourite place now is right beside my laptop, preferably lying on whatever I'm working on. If I stop typing for more than a minute he will lean over and lay his head on my hand.

If I get up he also now follows me from room to room (along with the dog!).

The Veterinarian tells me that as long as the cat is eating and drinking I shouldn't worry, supposedly the dear old furry boy just needs time to readjust.

I'm getting a little spooked by all this pet stalking though.

I’m also feeling guilty about all the upset our vacation caused.

Next time?

The cat’s being shipped out while I'm away too.

Sorry bud, but I can't handle all this additional love and guilt.

Sigh.

 

Tiny Stalker

Just over a year ago, we got a dog.

Just in case you missed all the hoopla at the time, this is Sadie.

Sadie is a good dog too - she's well behaved, loving, sweet, happy and cute as can be.

Sadie is really my youngest daughter's buddy. This is all fine and dandy, the only problem is, Sadie WILL NOT leave ME alone.

She loves me, I know that, but she ALWAYS seems to be under my feet.

Actually, if I sit still long enough she'll sit ON my feet.

And, if I get up, for even just a minute to get something from the other room, she'll follow me. 

I've tried telling Sadie to stay, I've tried explaining to her that I'm coming right back but she trots under my feet anyway and watches me do whatever it is I'm doing.

Honestly? It's a little creepy at times. 

She's an 8 lb. stalker.

A cute little stalker, but still, a stalker.  

Sorry, Sadie. I love you but can you maybe, just occasionally, take a page from the cat's book, and leave me alone for a few minutes?

Yeah, pretend to be that grey fluff ball that we only see at meal times who lives with us.

Not all the time, just maybe for a few hours a day.

I need a break.

Thanks.

Good Morning to you too...

If you're a regular here you'll know that my oldest daughter has moved overseas.

This, of course, has changed our family dynamics a bit. We're adjusting, but every day I seem to be finding another hole in our daily family routine that she’s left.

There's less laundry, shoes in the hallway and jackets flung in the mudroom since she's been gone. 

And, I've discovered, my daughters room? It has a FLOOR. Shocking what you find under mounds of clothes and art supplies.

My other children have picked up the slack and are setting the dinner table and emptying the dishwasher more frequently in her absence.

But, the one thing I didn't realize my daughter was doing every morning was turning on her bathroom sink tap to a trickle so our beloved silver tabby cat could get a morning drink of fresh water straight from the source.

Yowl.

That's what I'm waking up to now.

Yowl, yowl. YOOOOOOOWL.

Now, that my daughter's away, the cat is insisting that someone else take over the chore.

Loudly. 

So, guess who now has a new chore to do every morning, sleep in day or not?

Yep. Me.

It wouldn’t be so bad but I keep forgetting to go back in and turn the darn tap off again.

Dumb cat.

It's good to be loved. I think.

We are still on summer vacation in my part of the world, this week my youngest daughter is at camp, my oldest daughter is working full days and my son is sleeping until noon every day.

Which leaves me a silent house most mornings, which is kinda nice when I have to work.  

What?

But the cat and the dog have also noticed that I'm the only one around and both have decided that I should pay attention to them all morning.

Right now, the dog is asleep on my feet and the cat has taken up residence two inches from my laptop keyboard.

I really wouldn't mind but our silver feline has pushed most of my work, along with my pencil holder, onto the floor to make himself comfortable.

Yeah, it was a big crash and now it’s a big mess.

And my feet are getting really hot.

The neediness never ends.....

I'll have whatever the cat is having...

We've been spending quite a bit of time up north this summer.

I love being up north. Being on a dock, reading a book in the sun is um, AMAZING.

The only down side of our cottage, besides the mosquitoes at dusk, is listening to our poor cat yowl for the three hour car ride it takes us to get up there.

Yep, my beloved silver tabby HATES going anywhere in the car.

We've tried everything to calm him down, we've caged him, we've uncaged him, we've feed him, watered him, cuddled him and used every natural remedy on the market. He just screams and yowls at us for the whole trip.

So, this week I finally had the veterinarian prescribe him some drugs. We now have drugs to help him if he is carsick and we have two other drugs to try to help reduce his anxiety during the trip.

Since I wasn't familiar with one of the drugs, I googled it. For those of you who know something about this stuff, the drug name on the bottle is, Apo-Alprazolam.

Do you know what popped up on Google when I typed that in?

Xanax. 

Yep, my cat has a prescription for Xanax to help him handle stressful situations.

My CAT.

I want to be my pet.

Seriously.

Maybe I need more sleep?

I was at the pet store today searching the aisles for our silver tabby's favourite food.

I had just picked up the bag when a young teen employee came down the aisle towards me.

‘You know,’ she said. ‘You can get a better deal if you buy XYZ food for your cat, it's healthier and cheaper than the one you're holding.'

'I know,' I replied. 'We've tried XYZ, and ABC and LMN brands too. But, he just throws them all up and then meows at us all night because he thinks he's starving to death. I know this isn't the healthiest brand or the cheapest but it's the only one that seems to work for him.'

I then walked over to the dog area to get puppy treats. While I was there another employee, who saw the bag of cat food in my arms, also told me that I could get a better deal and a healthier food if I bought XYZ cat food for my tabby.

I explained again how this was the only brand that seemed to work for our cat and left the aisle. 

Finally, I got to the cash and stood in line for ten minutes.

As I went to pay the cashier said, 'Oh, you know this food...'

'I know,' I growled back. ‘I KNOW there are healthier options and I KNOW there's cheaper food for him, but this is ALL he will eat without throwing up ALL over my house. I WANT this bag of cat food.' 

And yeah, while I didn't actually shout this, I was definitely talking um, loudly.

'Ok,' the cashier replied calmly, 'That's great. I just wanted to let you know that since you're buying this brand I can give you a free plastic container with a lid to keep it fresh in.'

Oh.

Yes, I was embarrassed.

And yes, I apologized.

And yes, I got the heck out of there. Quickly.

I hate it when I’m one of ‘those’ people. You know - one of the stupid obnoxious ones?

I seriously hate that.

Sigh.

Falling out of bed can be dangerous....

Tuesday morning started with a bang.

Literally.

Somehow, the eight pound dog and the twelve year old daughter fell out of bed together.

The girl was fine.

Sadie however was hopping around, quite happily I might add, on three legs. She wouldn't put any weight on her hind left leg however and kept looking quite puzzled every time she toppled over.

Yeah, she's cute but not overly bright.

So, Tuesday morning found me at the vet and six hours later my Visa bill was substantially larger but at least I now had the x-rays to reassure me that my puppy was not seriously broken.

Now, all I have to do, according to the vet, is figure out how to keep this little crazy puppy quiet for a week. That, along with some anti-inflammatory drugs, is what the doctor has ordered.

Um, yeah. 

Sadie is usually eight pounds of crazy hyperactive fun.  She wants to go for walks, chase butterflies and annoy the cat. She usually doesn't walk around the house, she bounds and runs. She follows us EVERYWHERE because, who knows, we might be sneaking off to eat dog treats or something without her. 

So, Sadie has now been crated for the week.

Puppy jail.

Sorry, baby.

Cleaning and wiping and disinfecting. Oh, my...

I love my family. I really do, but you know what? They can be kinda gross.

Since my kids are old enough to read my blog I won't bore you, or embarrass them, with the specifics but let it just suffice to say that my home and my car often seem to be splattered in some sort of body fluid, food, outdoor substance or some other unidentifiable liquid.

I don't even know half the time what I'm wiping away and honestly? I don't want to know. It's just too gross to think about.

So, under every sink in my house and in the driver's cup holder of my car you will always find disinfecting wipes. Yep, I LOVE these things. They work well, they kill germs and basically they are one of my main quick cleaning go-tos that I use to keep my family clean and healthy. I use wipes constantly and I've often wished I had stock in Lysol because I use so many.

So, a few months ago when I was asked to join the Lysol Healthy Families Ambassador Program I decided that, for my family, this was a perfect fit.

As an Ambassador, I'm excited to share with you the link for The Lysol Mission for Health. Lysol understands health matters to us all; especially to mothers. Lysol's Mission for Health is not just about making better products to help moms protect her family, but also about contributing to the health of the communities we live in. That's why Lysol started the new moms program, healthy habits initiatives in schools, the cold & flu prevention program and disaster relief efforts. You can learn more about the programs at Lysol.ca.

I'm happy that Lysol is doing what it can to contribute to the health of my community and I'm ecstatic that I've got their wipes to try and keep the grossness (yes, that's a word) of my family under control.

How about you? Do you have any tips on keeping things clean and less gross at your house that I can use? Other than getting rid of the pets? Or the kids? 

Disclosure: I am part of the Lysol Healthy Families Ambassador Program by Mom Central. I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own.

Three Friday things. Okay, four.

It's March Break.

I have one child sleeping-in today and two more who are ready to start sleeping-in tomorrow. Yes, they all inherited their parent's sleep gene.

But, three more things.

One, yesterday my son wanted ice cream on the way home from school so, we stopped and got ice cream on the way home from school.

I'm telling you this because usually I would have said, no. But saying yes more to my children is part of the 'It all starts with Yes!' campaign that I'm supporting so we got ice cream. More information about this campaign is here.

Also, today is that last day for my Canadian readers to leave a comment on any of my blog posts from the last week to be entered into a draw for a P & G kit filled with alll sorts of great products and ideas on how to join our kids in exploring, discovering and living life to the fullest.

Second? We got a letter from the school yesterday updating us on how my youngest daughter is doing this term. One of the comments read, 'She regularly contributes to classroom discussions and has been practising her use of oral communication strategies.'

Um, yeah. I think this is teacherese for telling me she's a chatterbox. It's always good when your children's report cards don't have any surprises in them. 

And third? I have this.

Yes, she cute, sweet, generally well behaved and very loved. But she needs to STOP peeing in my house. Seriously. She's almost a year old and it HAS to stop. Any suggestions on how to accomplish this would be greatly appreciated.

That is all. Happy Weekend.

Tired Mama - Year Seventeen.

Last week I spent some time poking around web sites thinking that maybe I should try and find a new blog title and URL.

My kids are older now so technically I should be getting more sleep as I don't have to get up with babies any longer. 

Then, last night? 

At 2 am I was up elbowing my husband because he was snoring so loud.

Then I was up at about 3:30 am because the cat was pawing and crying at my daughter's closed bedroom door. 

At 4 am the puppy fell off my other daughter's bed where she had been sleeping and boy, did she cry - both the puppy and my younger daughter. *

Finally, my son's alarm was set wrong so it went off at 5 am.

So, just in case you're interested,

Tired Mama? 

It looks like she's going to be here for a while yet.

Sigh.

* The puppy was fine, just freaked out.

It'll grow back...

Sadie is having a hard time today.

You see I took her to get a fur-cut and it went rather badly. 

I guess she liked being a fluffy white ball of fur. But when she started trotting into walls I decided that something needed to be done. She was a little too fluffy.

So, 'cut it short,' I said.

And they did.

But now she's unhappy and she's been hiding behind the couch all morning. I think she feels ugly.  And when I took her for a walk? She was shivering. 

Who knew a fur-cut could make a puppy feel bad. 

Now I feel guilty. 

I mean I know every female has had a bad haircut in their life and has had to suffer through a grow back stage, but I didn't know a dog could feel bad about it too.

Sorry, Sadie. I'll be more careful with my instructions next time.

But honestly? Even though the kids are giving you a really hard time, it isn't really that horrible. 

Honest.

Sigh.

Sometimes I yell the stupidest things...

This past weekend we were puppy sitting. 

It all went well, our ten month old puppy, Sadie got along very well with my niece's six month old puppy. They played, they ran, they ate, and they did all sorts of puppy things together.

Now Dex, my niece's dog is still young and so about 3 am this morning he was crying in his crate that he needed to go outside.

So, I stumbled out of bed and took both puppies outside for a pee.

But while they were both outside, doing their uh, business, Dex started to bark at the light snow that was falling.

In my tired state, I decided it would be a good idea to yell at him to pipe down before he woke up the neighbours.

Except, my tongue got tied, and I started to yell out my dog's name by habit and then, being somewhat awake, I realized half way through that I was calling the wrong dog and changed the name.

So yes, at 3 am on Sunday morning, I was out, in my PJ's, in the snow, standing on my back deck yelling, so all the neighbours could hear...

The S from Sadie and the EX from Dex.

I yelled it several times too.

Lovely.

I wonder what they thought I was doing - celebrating it or searching for some?

Sigh.

Cats like trees

I didn't realize cats could get depressed.

But they can. Right now our cat is slinking around the house, with his tail down, looking like he's just lost his best friend.

You see, my silly silver tabby cat is in a total funk because we took down his Christmas tree. 

Yep, his.

Our damn cat LOVES Christmas trees. He loves climbing them, he loves breaking the ornaments on them, he loves swinging down from their branches to scare the puppy and he loves sleeping under them.

And now that the Christmas tree is out at the curb and he is stuck in the house looking out the window at it? 

He loves wailing at it. 

And he's not being quiet about it either.

Poor baby.

Never a dull (or quiet) moment around here.....

I'm losing my marbles....

I have a problem.

Okay, I have several problems, but the one that's bothering me right now is that I keep calling the kids and the animals in my house the wrong names.

I actually keep calling them each other's names. For some reason I can't seem to get the right name attached to the right person or pet.

I know it's only because I'm tired and trying to do too much but, really?

It's getting embarrassing.

For example, just a minute ago, the puppy was whining and I yelled out for her to hush, but I used my daughter's name instead of the puppy's name when I yelled.

My daughter then responded by turning down the volume on the TV which distracted the dog and actually did stop the whining.

Okay, so maybe that one worked out well, but it's still not right.

I'm NOT that old. I should be able to use the names of my family members correctly. I mean I did NAME most of them.

Hmmm.

Maybe my mistake was that I didn't give them all the same name. That would've solved the whole problem.

Bob would work, or maybe Charlie. 

I might just be on to something here...

What'd ya think?

Grrr. It's Halloween!

It's almost Halloween.

Although I'm not a big fan of this particular holiday, I still put up a few decorations.

My only issue is that my kids want to put up scary things. They want blood and gore but I tend to buy cute and smiley decorations.

It annoys them, but it works for me.

But last night as I was putting out the Halloween things I suddenly heard a strange noise. 

'What's that?' I asked.

'It's Sadie,' my youngest daughter replied.  

'What's she doing?' I asked.

'I thinks she's growling,' she replied.

I didn't recognize the sound because Sadie, who is only six months old, has never growled before. 

But here she was tonight, all seven pounds of her, tail tucked between her legs, head down grumbling out deep woofs and growls. 

At this,

 

I know, terrifying right? It's about two feet tall and made of wood.

So, kids? My decorations are scary.

Mama wins.

Poor Puppy. Stupid Man.

Dear Tired Papa,

Feeding a six pound puppy an ENTIRE cheeseburger is a bad idea.

Unless of course you like cleaning up dog puke.

The paper towels are on the kitchen counter.

Sigh.

Love, 
Tired Mama

Tired Mama, again

Sadie is FINALLY sleeping through the night.

I suppose I was told before we got our puppy that it would take a while for her to get used to sleeping alone but I still wasn’t ready for this cute bundle of fluff to check in every morning at 4 am with us, just to make sure we were still here and hadn't uh, abandoned her or something.

Every single night.

For WEEKS.

Personally? I like to sleep at 4 am.

And now? Sadie likes to sleep at 4 am too.

This is a good thing.

A VERY good thing.

Enjoy your eight hours, everyone.

Now, if only she'd pee outside ALL the time.

She arrived three weeks ago. She was three pounds of soft fluff that trembled when you held her and tried to hide when she met a new person. She didn't bark, she squeaked. 

She was adorable and she stole our hearts.

And now.

She's crazy and bouncy and she can DEFINITELY bark. She climbs all over new people and can't wait to be let outside. She's got a great smile and she still has our hearts.

She's fitting right in.

Welcome to the family, Sadie.

May all your dreams come true.*

'I have two dreams,' my youngest informed me as we drove home from school today.

'Really? What are those?' I inquired.

'Why do you want to know?' she asked suddenly suspicious.

'Well,' I said. 'As your mother I'd like to help make all your dreams come true if I can. I kinda see that as part of my job.'

My daughter thought about this for a bit and then proceeded to tell me what her two dreams are. 

Now, I won't tell you exactly what she said, but I will tell you that I now have to have a long talk with hubby about getting a puppy.

Yep - a dog.

Because I honestly do think it's part of my job to help make my daughter's dreams come true.

And, my youngest?

She knows exactly how to play me to get what she wants. 

Sigh.

 

*Alternate titles considered for this post were: 'Just Shoot Me' and 'Sucker Mama'.

RIP Little Piggy

Sunday morning is my only morning to sleep in.

I love to sleep in.

So, for years my kids have learned to leave Tired Mama alone on Sunday mornings. I have always told them that unless someone has died or the house is burning down to not bug me on Sunday mornings until after nine.

But this past Sunday morning my youngest burst into my room at about seven. Thank goodness I had enough sleepy sense not to berate her for coming in so early because in between her shaking sobs she told me something had actually died.

Her guinea pig.

Oh.

Yep, our beloved little pet had decided, with no warning, to pass on during the night. Our family spent part of this past Sunday holding a burial service in our backyard.

Rest in peace, my little friend. You were a good and loyal pet and you will be missed.

I actually do miss the guinea pig's squeaks for attention already. It was very quiet while I was working today - it made me sad.

But now?

Now, the puppy pleading will begin in earnest. I give Tired Papa six months of big teary hazel eyes from his little girl before we get another guinea pig or a dog, or a bunny or some other new furry creature for ME to look after.

Yeah. ME.

I think I'm gonna miss you for a long time, little piggy.

Sigh.

Cheshire Cat's Sweet Revenge.

My son loves our family cat just a little bit too much.

Every once in a while my son will just hug our cat to smithereens and when our  independent feline meows in protest my son often just holds the cat all the tighter.

After a short protest, the cat will give up squirming and just wait passively in my boy’s arms until I intervene or my boy gets his hug quota and sets the cat free. 

Our cat is truly the most laid-back, patient and well, BEST family pet anyone could ever ask for.

But today, while my son was on the computer typing up his homework, the cat jumped up on the desk and sent a baseball, that was also on the desk, rolling towards the floor. The baseball fell off the desk and landed smack on the PC's power bar's off switch.

Yep, the son lost his homework and had to start typing it all over again.

Yeah.

Hee.

Hee, hee, hee.

And I swear, when I look at our cat right now? He’s smiling.

Done - like dinner.

So.

I just wrote my last paper for this term. I'm happy that it's done but with everything else going on I didn't give it as much time as I would have liked.

Blah.

But it's finished and a whole summer of um, renovating lies ahead of me.

That should be relaxing.

The other good news is that all my children are home from their respective school trips and last night, when I went to check on them, they were all in their own beds fast asleep.

Yes, I did in fact stay up later then my teen last night. I had a paper to finish.

Still, I don't care how old they're getting, I like knowing my trio are all sleeping in their own rooms at night - it makes me feel that they're safe.

Yeah, I know.

It might be time to get a puppy.

Oh Christmas Tree

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree - your ornaments are history.

Why yes, that is in fact our cat's butt backside behind sticking out of our Christmas tree.

Sigh.

It's beginning to look a little like...

It's the first of December.

So far this month?

I've already killed a poinsettia by over watering it. Seriously, it's December 1st, isn't there a law or something that says you can't kill a poinsettia the first week you get it?

Secondly, I forgot to fill the advent calendar before the kids came down this morning. Sorry, guys.

And finally? The cat is eating the Christmas village. It seems our kitten likes the taste of those little green plasticy-woody pretend tree things. All of my little village trees have tiny cat bites out of them now, it's like something out of an old Japanese monster movie. If they could, all the little village ceramic people would be running away and hiding.

Oy.

Can we just skip through to January? I'm not sure I want to continue preparing for Christmas if this is the way things are going to go.

Sigh.

Oh, for gosh sake

Dear Stupid Pet,

If you don't like dirty laundry being thrown on top of you, don't sleep in the laundry hamper.

Yes, I actually put laundry in there and yes, I know the kids in the house don't.

But give me a break, I get enough dirty looks from my children, I don't need them from you too.

Thanks,
Tired Mama

 

 

Do not kill my cat. Please.

In the hierarchy of terrible 'mothering' things to do, one of the things that must at least come close to the top of the list is, killing the family pet.

Yeah, well that was almost my day yesterday.

Our family pet is a silver tabby by the name of Ollie.

To say my kids ADORE this animal would be an understatement. I think it's pretty safe to say that they love this cat even more than they love their parents. I think if the cat was capable of renting video games and driving, dear hubby and I would be gone and the cat would be in charge. Yep, it's that bad.

I also have to say that Ollie is the perfect family pet. He lets the kids fight over him with nary a whimper. He is clean and neat, he takes equal turns sleeping with the kids every night and he is always purring. He is a great family/kid cat.

So yesterday I took this important member of the family to the vet for a check-up. He wasn't sick, I just knew he was due to go in to get checked over and so I made an appointment.

What I didn't know is that Ollie is allergic to whatever is in the shots my vet gives cats.

Less than a minute after the veterinarian had pumped Ollie's rump with the needle, our poor kitty's paws and face were all puffed up and he was breathing like he had a truck stuck down his throat.

Thank goodness we were still in the veterinarian's office so they could pump more drugs into him and put a tube down his throat because I was too busy freaking out to do anything useful.

After an afternoon of close monitoring, I'm glad to say that Ollie is now back at home and seems fine. Thank goodness.

Next year Ollie will be getting a different and more expensive rabies vaccination and my husband will be taking him in to get it done.

Yes, as a matter of fact I am a wimp. I don't ever want to go through that again.

Sigh.

Kittens

For some insane reason I let my kids talk me into looking at the 'Adoption Rescue' kittens that are up for adoption at our local pet store today.

The store had eight tiny little balls of fluff up for adoption. These little guys had been dumped in our local Whole Foods dumpster and are now looking for a better home. Yep, some idiot decided to dump SIXTEEN six to seven week old kittens in a dumpster. Thank goodness someone heard their cries and dug them out.

These kittens are now looking for homes and I must say I'm tempted to get our own eighteen month old cat a buddy.

My resolve to have no more pets (right now) gave way yesterday when we found that one of the kittens was a small male silver tabby  - an almost identical match in looks and, as far as I could tell, personality to our own current loveable cat.

This tiny guy was too cute for words and he was crying out that he needed us.

What stopped us?

The kittens had to be adopted in pairs.

Two cats I could maybe convince my hubby to house.

Three?

That would require serious uh, persuading. I might even have to do something like this. (Yes, I've been wondering how to work this story into my family 'E' rated blog for a while now.)

We came home without a kitten.

I love my husband, but honestly? I don't think I'm up for this type of persuasion technique.

Happy Chirps

 

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This is Cookie. She is a guinea pig.

My darling ten year old son bought her with his birthday money two years ago and then, after being fascinated with her for about two weeks, lost interest in his new pet.

I have now moved Cookie's cage down into our family room so that she sees more of the family. We tend to live between this room and the kitchen so now all of us pay some attention to her as we go by.

My darling son is still required to clean her cage every weekend but she's now become more of a family pet. Even the cat sleeps on top of the cage in the afternoon and Cookie really doesn't seem to mind.

I noticed today, as I was dumping a bunch of left over salad into her cage, that this little thing is very grateful for my attention. She gurgles and chirps with pleasure whenever I toss a carrot her way or stop to pet her fuzzy nose. She's actually quite a pleasure.

The rest of my family lately? Not such a pleasure.

I only wish all it took to get the rest of the family to chirp happily for me was to throw the odd vegetable their way.

I'd even throw a few desserts at them if I thought it would make them chirp happy. 

Web Kitty

My eldest daughter has just come into my office and suggested that it would be interesting to attach a web cam to our cat's head for the day to see what he does.

Right.

She won't do it. Er, at least I don't think she will.

Sigh.

I'm going to check.

Besides, the darn animal sleeps all day. How interesting can that be?

Fuzzy Face

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

 

Earlier tonight I was writing a letter to send to my son at camp and as I was printing out some family pictures to send along it occurred to me that this face might be the one my son is missing the most.

Have fun at camp buddy, you may not be missing your Mom but I'm counting the days until YOU get back.