School's Out, School's Out, Teacher Let the Monkeys OUT!

Big Brother went to his very last day of Pre-Kindergarten today. He was THRILLED to be out of school. (I thought this attitude didn't happen for at least a couple more years?)

And I picked up Miss Bug from thebabysitter and right when we were turning in to our neighborhood she puked all over the place. ...

...and again in the tub....
....and again after she was all clean.

What else will the Summer of 2009 promise to bring?

Bribe updates

Second night did better. Got up once with legs hurting (growing pains?). Gave Tylenol. He woke up at 5:30 saying his hip hurt. Daddy rubbed it a little and then sent him on. Since then--the past 2 nights--he has slept all night long. Hallelujah! The only problem is that Miss Bug woke up that first night, but then last night we ALL slept all night long.

Thank goodness. I was starting to think I had a serious problem on my hands. I get a little uptight about the sleep thing and I know that doesn't help. I think my son needed not only a sleep adjustment but an attitude adjustment. Mommy and Daddy had to start putting the 'hammer down' if you know what I mean. He's a great kid, don't get me wrong, sweet as he can be, but he's still a kid who is going to test boundaries.

Of course now that we are getting the sleep back to normal, we are going to the Grandparents for Spring Break. That will require another attitude adjustment.

And don't judge--but he's gotten 3 Hot Wheels car. When they run out, they run out. (I think I bought 6.) Then it's probably bedtime sticker chart time. How about Hot Wheels stickers for the bedtime chart? A nice compromise, don't you think?

We are probably going to the new Monsters Versus Aliens movie today. I'll let you know if it's good. I personally think most movies are worth it b/c you get the popcorn, Diet Coke and some peace from your day....love that.

The Bribe: Part 2

Didn't work.

No Hot Wheels.

Was up 4 FREAKING TIMES! I'm so tired that I am cranky and can't hardly stand to be in my own skin. I'm that grumpy. Tylenol PM is calling my name. I was up on and off from 1:30am-5:00am. I wanted to put up 2 baby gates at his door--one on top of the other--so that he couldn't get out.

I woke up just pissed off. I know that doesn't sound very ladylike, but I'm not feeling very ladylike at the moment.

Today I upped the Anny (or however you spell it). I told him he'd get a Hot Wheels car and I'd take him to the freaking CIRCUS that is in town. I even got on the Internet to show him pictures of what we'd see.

His top 5 list of things he wants to see are: man shooting out of a 'canyon' (cannon), motorcycle riding on a rope, trapeze artists flipping, juggling and getting to be with our friends--Ms. Rachael, Kendall and Jordan. I told him that the elephants would be there, too, and he replied with, "Mommy, they aren't cool."

OK.

I said, "There will be camels, too." I was again informed that those aren't cool either.

OK.

I can't believe my 5 year old son is already telling ME what's cool. I know what's cool, damn it! I'm only 36. I've still got LOTS of cool left in me!

So the saga continues. You'll be updated tomorrow, and hopefully not too early because we'll all be SLEEPING!

The Bribe

Yep.

Don't judge me.

It's come to this.

If Big Brother (who is freaking 5 years old) sleeps in his bed 'all night wong' then he will be the new proud owner of a Hot Wheels car.

Yep, I said it. And I'm going to follow through.

It's worth the buck to get a good night's rest (and Daddy is about to shoot me b/c I have let him in bed with us too much!).

I actually went to the Dollar Store in my pj's (Daddy called me white trash as I left the house). I had on fleece pants, VAIL tshirt and flip flops. I didn't think it looked like pj's necessarily, but hell, I didn't care. They didn't have 'feet' in them for crying out loud! Just think of it as the Lounge Pants that Clemsongirl always talks about...yet mine are striped. Love and Labs probably knows exactly what clothes I'm talking about too--I've had them so long.

Enough about my attire and back to the issue at hand. Big Brother wants to sleep in our bed because as he states with his darling blue eyes all a-flutter, "I can't stop finking (thinking) about you and Daddy and I want to snuggle and I want to be wif you."

And look at this face--he is so precious, sweet, snugly and yummy! How am I supposed to say no?

So he's not scared. No nightmares (at least not in the last couple of days).

I'm trying positive reinforcement first. He also got a new nightlight.

If that doesn't work, then I'm beating him.....JUST KIDDING!

PS I bought 6 --figure if I give him one each morning that by Day 6 I can move on to something more simple--like candy! (Wean him slowly...)

PSS I didn't look out of place at all at The Dollar Store.....trust me. It's South Georgia and I had all my front teeth. (No offense.)

Puke-a-pa-loosa

While some of you were enjoying watching the Superbowl last night, I was in the shower removing the chunks of puke from my hair. I was laying in bed with my son for a few minutes when he rolled over and threw up on me while I was half asleep.

And he threw up a second time....

And then a third time...

and then the next morning when my husband went in to get Miss Bug out of her bed for the morning, she had puked too...in her sleep.

We are pretty sure it was the boxed yogurt-covered raisins by Sunmaid. And they weren't old...

And now we're trying to get raisins and blueberry (they snacked quite liberally on those that afternoon) stains out of their linens. Thank Heaven for Oxyclean...spray and powder.

So, I'll be back soon. I'm up to my eyeballs in laundry! But everyone is okay now and they are going to the babysitter and school tomorrow!!!!

So Much To Say, So Much To Say....

Title is from a Dave Matthew's song. Which one? I don't remember-unless that is the title already! :)

OK. Here is a serious update. Get something to drink because if I get to tell you all that I want and need to, you'll get thirsty and/or hungry!


First things first:

Psychologist--hmmmmm, how do I make this short? She was an older lady, grey-ish hair, frumpy, etc, which was all fine until she started to pick her ear with her fingernail. She continued to do this until our session ended whereby I found myself staring at the white crumbly deposits left on her black lapel. Needless to say, I was a little distracted. To top it off, while I was rescheduling for my next appointment, she says to me, "My ear is really itching" and then took her fingernail and swiped it around her ear and then flicked it off. EWWWWWW! I just couldn't go back. It took all that was within me not to say anything. I wonder if she noticed how I was just staring at her with my mouth gaping open?

That's my psychology appointment. I did learn (while not watching ear crumbs fall) that this situation with my MIL is not my fault. I did nothing wrong. I will have to realize that this is her problem. Not mine. And that it will never go away. I just have to learn how to deal with it. I basically already knew this, but hearing it from a professional is just what I needed. Now I have to find one that has clean ears. I have another appointment in December. Stay tuned.

Ok. Next on the list. Big Brother has been coughing since having his tonsils and adenoids removed mid-October. The ENT thought it was mucus, etc. from his adenoids. Then when it continued, he put him in Singulair. This did nothing. We have been through a week of Singulair and a full bottle of Delsym and 2 boxes of Mucinex. My next purchase was Zyrtec. This didn't help either. Made an appointment with Pediatrician. Big Brother has Respiratory Airway Disease, or something like that. His Bronchial System is in bad shape. They put him on a Nebulizer, and doing breathing treatments for 3 times a day. 3 TIMES A DAY!!! He's on that thing like 20 minutes at a time. They put him on Pulmacort and Xenopex or something like that. One takes care of the 'immediate' situations and one is for 'maintenance'. Big Brother was less than enthusiastic to breathe through a mask. They even found a cute fishy one. He wasn't having it. I go to hold the tube in front of his face while he took in the meds.

We just did another one. He did better and let Daddy put on the mask. We had to go and get a Nebulizer at the hospital too. Man, this must happen to so many kids. These Nebulizer people are making bundles! He had so many to choose from--a penguin, a cow, a yellow taxi, etc., and the one he picked was Legos. You build with Legos on the dang thing. Of course he'd find one that has toys to go with it. I told him those are his Breathing Treatment Legos and he can only play with them when he is doing his breathing treatments. So far, so good. We'll see. He's way into the Legos.


Miss Bug has some sort of virus which means she has a fever and can't go to school which means I can't go to work! This also means that she is up at least half the damn night crying and yelling at me! I swear, to be so young she is the boss of this house! I think she was more pissed off than anything. She was up at 11, 3 and then up for the morning at 5am. When I tried to rock her and give her some milk with the intent to put her back in her bed, she did the whole back-arching thing and roaring at me. I got very close to setting her little booty back in her crib, turning on her aquarium and l.e.a.v.i.n.g.

I tried to remember that she feels bad, but it is really hard when you have a small child screaming bloody murder right in your ear and Big Brother is right down the hall! Man o man, what a freaking day. What a week, really!

She went to the Dr. yesterday (yes, we are just making it a daily trip these days...) and he said she had an irritated throat. Checked for strep (Oh Dear God, please don't make me go through this again). It was negative. So, it's viral. Don't send her to babysitter. Don't go to work. He did prescribe her Paregoric for her. She is getting at least 4 teeth--2 of them are molars. And you know that's gotta hurt. Anyone else have any experience with Paregoric?

Ok. Now to the good stuff. I started a job part time at our church. It is Methodist-based, and SOOOOOOOOO cool. I am the Administrative Assistant to the person in charge of Family Ministry. She is the interim Children's Minister right now. My job is a bunch of different things, from filing and paperwork to making brochures and media-type stuff for the Children's Ministry. I really like it. It is part time-20 hours a week and I can work from home quite a bit. I do go in 3 days a week and then on Sunday. I really like it. It is a learning experience and I enjoy the creative outlet...not to mention the fact that I get a break from my beautiful children.

That's all for now. I have a home sales party to go to--which means free desserts and cool things to buy!

Any of you deal with breathing treatments? Dr. is saying not to call it allergies or asthma that it may just be a reaction to some type of virus or Bronchitis that he could've even caught while in the hospital getting his tonsils out! My poor boy has been sick for over a month though!

What Lies Ahead

Here is where I've found I can put someone for a few brief moments....

So I can post to you about this:
And this:And yes, you are correct, those are finger smudges in my babygirl's homemade first birthday cake! Keep checking back. I'm trying to get all this done while having a post tonsillectomy 4 year old boy at home and Miss Bug, too. It's craziness!

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink it.

Or you have our version in the Plaid household:

You can force medicine into a 4 year old's mouth, but you can't make him swallow it.

He will have you wearing it if you try.

Lesson #543549584 learned, thankyouverymuch.

T & A

Did your mind go straight to the gutter when you read my title? If so, get your head out' the gutter! It means Tonsils & Adenoids....removed, that is, from Big Brother. After 10 days of antibiotics, he was finally well enough to get this surgery over with.

And today was the big day.

He did great! He came out fairly upset but when he saw his Momma, Daddy and Mamaw, he was much better. Once he came out of anesthesia, he was asleep/out of it for a long time. It was over an hour before we decided he could be doing this resting at home. He was so out of it and got very upset if you moved him around, so we took him home, in his little fish gown and all. It was a little pitiful to see my baby boy in this child gown with his little Diego underwear and Spiderman socks peeking out, but it was wonderful taking him home!

He's been out of it mostly all day. We've been giving him his cocktail of Hydrocodone and Phenegren (probably spelled it wrong) and so he's slept most of the day. Mamalicious, I know you are jealous of his cocktail! :)

He isn't wanting Popsicles or very much ice cream, but is more satisfied with Gogurt, a little milkshake and some leftover refrigerated birthday cake. Whatever works!

Thanks for all of your support through this whole thing! We are hoping he continues to recover quickly, though I hear the second day is the worst?!

I just downloaded pics of Miss Bug's first birthday party that was on Tuesday and will post them as soon as I get a chance!

And for the 5th (or is it 6th?) time this year....

Strep Throat has entered our home..........
same ol' same ol'............
It introduces itself with a 'headache', loss of appetite, less active
next morning throws out a fever.......

And we go to the doctor to get a test......
I'm getting really really good at detecting the Strep (makes me feel like Supermom) and Big Brother even tells them he needs the 'orange medicine' (Amoxicillin). (He needs to get paid what they do.....)

But this time we saw the P.A., who I love, and she gave us Augmentin (sp?). I thought we needed it the last time or two seeing as how he's getting the same dang thing each time, but his Dr. said no. Like I said, I love the P.A.

And the appointment has been made for October 6th: Operation Get Your Tonsils Out
So we are out of school for 2 days and there are only 4 days in the week. He is maxing himself out on Wow, Wow, Wubzy.

And I'm okay with that.

Clean Home = Joyous Mom

So, for the 3rd time in my life, I got my house cleaned. We did it once in Colorado (4 years ago) when we were selling our house and it needed a deep cleaning. Then we did almost a year ago when I was very pregnant and we had just put our house on the market. We needed a deep clean, mop, dust, etc, so we did it to get it ready to show to buyers.

And then today, ahhhhhhhhh, we did it again. You'd think I'm talking about sex or a massage or something. But noooooooo, I'm not. I'm talking about leaving your house for several hours and *wallah* opening the door to a clean, shiny, great-smelling home. And it was MINE!

My favorite part? The fact that the toilets are clean. And I mean c-l-e-a-n. No stains of any sort. No marks. No hair (lovely visual, I know). No dirt. No grime. No smell. Not that our toilets usually smell or ever get too terribly dirty. Just the fact that someone else cleaned them. I have to admit, because my husband does read my blog, that his job is to clean toilets and showers. I refuse. He does a pretty good job, but sometimes you have to put that extra umph into it, and in that area he is lacking. But Ricky's Cleaning Service did awesome.

Everything else I could've done just as well if I didn't have small children demanding my time and attention. But that's the problem. I don't. I can't ever get the whole house clean at once. Just parts of it each day. I don't have the time to do it all at once. So, Ricky and his crew came and it was glorious.

It. Is. Wonderful.

It. Is. Relaxing.

It. Is. Worth. The. Money.

Yes, it is a luxury. I don't do it often. But I'm telling you ladies, sometimes it is just worth it. So worth it. Do you do it? Often? Rarely? Do share...

And have a great weekend. We are headed out of town to go to my husband's 20 year high school reunion. Yes, you read it right. 20 years. He's soooooooo much older than me. I'm 29 and have been for several years.... *wink, wink*