Monday, June 30, 2008

Perspective

Today was a better day...I took the day off from work and was able to take a nap and clear my head and generally feel better about life.

Friday, I found out my company lost the contract I currently work on, which leads to a slim chance of unemployment come January 1. However, I don't like my job already and have been applying for jobs for the past few weeks, so this doesn't really concern me. I have an interview next week and even if I don't get/take the job, at least I'm out there trying to find what will make me happy.

Saturday was, well, you know. Actually, Saturday itself wasn't that bad as I have the ability to push emotions way below the surface when a crisis is going on. And on Saturday? That was a great ability to have. Eric is doing very well and I am working out the "what was I thinking?" and "what if?" scenarios in my head, because there is nothing more innocent in life than giving your kid a peanut butter sandwich and the rest is in someone else's hands. I am more thankful than words can describe that things worked out the way they did, and will of course do whatever is necessary to keep my child(ren) safe. But we still have peanut butter in our house and I still think daycare went a little nutty (pun intended) with the episode a few months ago. But I'm a different parent then most, for better or worse.

And now I have to end my blog, because I told my hubby I would get off the computer at 8:00 so he could whoop my butt at Mario Kart.

But this is a neat blog and I think I may have to work these ideas into my blogging...thanks for the link Chick!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Another one of THOSE days

And today will be the day forever marked on the calendar and the blog as the day we found out Eric is allergic to peanuts. Yee-haw.

Evan asked for a PB&J sandwich for lunch, and a Saturday afternoon in your own home when you know you can get to the nearest hospital in under 10 minutes seemed like as good a time as any to let Eric have his first taste of the kid's classic. So PB&Js it was. Everything went well, Eric ate most of his sandwich and we put him down for a nap. A short time later, we heard some coughing and sneezing, but still no worries. I heard him pulling on his doorknob and went to lead him back to bed and realized his face looked like a punching bag. Uh. Oh.

A dose of Benadryl, a diaper bag with who-knows-what inside, 10 minutes, and we were running into the emergency room. When those people see a baby with a beat up face and a mom yelling "peanut butter"? They don't mess around. Before I had finished putting our address on the form, we were heading to a room with 2 nurses and 2 doctors on our heels. The nurses were lovely and sweet even though they had to wrap Eric in a sheet to get the IV into his arm and had to use half a roll of tape to keep it in. Thank you Christy and Rachel, for keeping us sane and hydrated.

So, long story short (mostly because I'm tired), 3 drugs, 1 popsicle, 2 hours later and we were heading back home armed with epi-pen prescriptions. And I keep the diaper bag better packed than I thought...a spare shirt, snacks, toys. I even surprised myself :)

And there will be no tall drink tonight, because we're supposed to wake him up a couple of times a night "just in case." Ah well, not like it would have been a restful night anyway...

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Must...keep....blogging...

I have to say, I'm not really in a blogging mood lately. Mostly, I'm in a bad mood that leaves my husband sleeping with one eye open, worried that I will snap at any minute. I'm thinking it's the crappy job, which is good because I'm looking at other jobs, but bad because what if it takes me a long time to find another job? I can barely stand myself these days, so I know everyone around me is tired of my ranting and raving and senseless things!!

Anyway, I figure blogging is kind of like exercise and you just have to keep doing it and you'll enjoy it again. Speaking of exercising, the Wii is really ticking me off...boxing is my one outlet and the damn controllers don't seem to listen to me when I start getting into a routine. They only like it when I punch like a girl and how is that going to help me get rid of my bad mood? I just get in a bad mood at the Wii, and clearly that doesn't do any good.

But tomorrow is my work-at-home day, and I might even take another one on Friday since my boss is out of town. If only the Wii and I could come to an understanding...

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Ain't no wine glass tall enough...

Holy moly, my children made us work HARD at being good parents today. To the point we had that both bathed and in bed with lights out before 7 PM (an hour earlier than normal) and I don't think my blood pressure returned to a normal level until I had 20 minutes with the Wii boxing game. Which at least meant I could go upstairs and talk to Evan without speaking through clenched teeth. I don't know exactly why today was so difficult, but the main thing is the boys would not do anything together, so Ethan and I had to divide and conquer and it never seemed to make anyone happy. But it's over. And there was a brief period of bliss on the deck this morning with the bubble gun and Eric was hamming it up for the camera...



Now where did I put my wine glass...

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Pattenders

I think Evan has a new personal goal in life to make me crazy by 8 AM.

We have a rule in the house that he has to stay in bed until 7 AM. He knows this rule. Yet, more often than not, he comes strolling into our room around 6:30 AM, LOOKS AT MY CLOCK, and then starts a conversation with my. And I remind him he needs to go back to bed until 7 AM, and he leaves. And like most mornings, he stops at the bathroom on his way back to bed and I have to get out of bed to ask him to stop singing, and tell him to finish up and get back in bed.

This morning, after our normal pre-7AM routine, I hear a weird noise from down the hall. I get out of bed to discover Evan in his room, NOT in bed, door open, light on, running a race car through a slinky. Hardly a quiet activity.

As I'm getting dressed, he comes in to show me the swim trunks he wants to take to camp, and I tell him I have already packed his swim trunks. "But mom, I wanted to do a pattender."

A what?

"A pattender. You know, like girl, boy, girl, boy"

A pattern. I guess he wants to wear certain swim trunks on certain days. Luckily he does not argue when I tell him today's pattender will be the black ones.

"Mom, you forgot to pack my swim shirt!" This was on purpose, but figuring I've been lucky enough to avoid a fight over the swim trunks, I let him pack the shirt.

"Oh, and Mom? Some of the kids wear goggles in the pool too." Find the goggles is the pool bag and hand them to him.

"And if you have swim shoes, you can wear them. But if you don't them, that's okay, you can just walk in the grass." So I don't have to go buy him swim shoes? Amazing...

And we haven't even gotten to breakfast yet, where he suddenly decides he no longer like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, even though he liked it just fine a couple of weeks ago. But somehow he manages to eat it after I slice some bananas on top.

It's going to be a long summer...

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

...hello summer camp!

And today begins camp at the school where Evan will go to kindergarten in the fall. I'm not sure 'excited' even comes close to describing Evan. He wouldn't go to sleep last night and was literally bouncing this morning during the following conversations:

Mom, I grew a lot last night!! See how big I am for my new school?!?! (Yes)

Can I wear my lei? (No)

Should I wear a shirt with nothing on it? (Yes)

I don't want that cereal, I want the cereal you and Daddy eat (No)

We dropped Eric off and then headed to camp, where he immediately clammed up except for telling the counselors his name. We checked out his camp classroom, and then headed back to the playground where he took off without so much as a hug or even a wave. :-(

He'll make up for it tonight :-)

Good-bye pre-K...

Evan finished his last day as a pre-K boy yesterday, and his class sent him off in style. Coincidentally, there was a music show scheduled for yesterday afternoon, but Evan believes it was all part of the going away celebration...he came home with a lei wrapped around his head telling us he was allowed to play the guitar during the music show. And there was cake, that said Good-Bye Evan in orange letters, which is his (current) favorite color. Okay, so maybe we had a little something to do with the cake, but it still was quite a send-off. His classmates made a huge card which they all signed, and had a picture of the class.

And, as is my child, he left them in an unforgettable manner...while saying good-bye and re-assuring the teachers we would be back for a visit (especially since Eric is staying at this place), I told them Evan's school was between daycare and work, so he would be coming with me to pick up Eric most days. And Evan says "Yeah, my new school is on the way to Goodwill!!" and turned to his teachers to explain "They don't have a lot of toys and books at Goodwill, so sometimes I give them some of mine."

Can you hear the hearts breaking when an almost 5 year old tells them he gives his books and toys to people who don't have enough???

Saturday, June 14, 2008

15 feet or less, 'til death do us part

Could you do it?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/garden/15buddhists.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3

The story of a couple who tried it for a day.

http://www.slate.com/id/2192282

Them there's fightin' words

Today was the day of many birthdays...the first party was at a park in the sweltering heat and included 2 carousel rides and a boat ride. The second party was at someone's house in the pouring rain, no rain, then light showers. Kudos to both sets of parents for dealing with the weather conditions given to them, as neither were desirable for having 15-20 kids plus parents.

Since both parties were for daycare friends, several kids attended both parties. Evan took a nap between, but clearly this was not the case for some of the other kids (there was a 3rd party that we did not attend, and that was definitely the right call). Anyway, there were some tantrums to be expected at the second party, but actually things went pretty well. Except for one scenario.

Ethan and I are talking to the mom of a kid who no longer attends Evan's daycare--Mom decided to stay home and has him in a part-time gig somewhere else. Her son, to be honest, is not the best behaved and she doesn't really seem to have any control over him. He has an older and younger sister who are both lovely, but this kid is just not very well-behaved, so not sure where the problem is...might just be the way he is.

So Problem Kid is sitting at a table near us with Whiny Kid. Whiny Kid is, well, whiny. He had 3 tantrums at the FIRST birthday party. He has a long drawn out whining crying tantrum pretty much every time I see him in some sort of situation where he has to interact (ie share) with other children. Not that my kids are sunshine and roses all the time, but they're more likely to get ticked off and storm off then they are to cry at the top of their lungs for an extended period of time when they aren't getting their way.

So Problem Kid and Whiny Kid are sitting at a table together and I see Whiny Kid call his mother over and start pointing at Problem Kid and going on about something. I didn't actually see what happened, but my guess is Problem Kid instigated something and Whiny Kid overreacted. If I had to guess. Whiny Kid's mom turns to Problem Kid and proceeds to tell him that he is "not nice" and "mean" and "not a good person." She then moves Whiny Kid to the other end of the table to move him away from "that mean boy." Seriously?!?! If I ever heard a grown up addressing my 4/5 yo in that manner, well, you better clear the kids out, because this would not be a good example of how to handle yourself like a grown up.

I nudged Problem Kid's mom and suggested she might want to see what was going on, which she did. I didn't catch the details, but I'm willing to bet Whiny Kid's mom did NOT repeat the words she had been so comfortably blasting off 2 minutes earlier. Seriously lady, I know it's been a long day with all the birthday parties, but if you can't control YOURSELF, then stay home. Or send dad to the party!!

And then there were three...

Our little birdies are GROWING. I'm not sure how the 4 of them are still sleeping in that nest, and when momma comes to visit? Yikes...it's a tight squeeze. We went to check on them today and one bird was literally standing on top of the other 3, fluffing his wings and whatnot. Suddenly, he took off! And promptly slammed into our sliding glass door, bounced on the patio, and flew into the grass. Mom and Dad robin came out of a nearby tree, making quite a racket and flying back and forth across the yard, to the nest, on the fence...it was interesting to see. We figured the four faces pressed against the sliding glass window was probably not helping matters, and went back upstairs to give them some privacy. But a little later, when I went to check on things...


he made it to the top of the fence! Go little birdie, go!!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Growing Pains

Evan starts his new school next week...we decided to put him in a private kindergarten in the fall (he misses the age cutoff by 7 days), and thought it would help ease the transition if we put him in the new school's summer camp program as well. Let him get used to the new place before he really needs to focus on learning, and the fact that they have their own pool and he can take swimming lessons should help seal the deal.

Apparently, it sealed it a little too well. This morning he buried himself under the covers in our bed, saying he doesn't want to go to pre-K anymore, he just wants to go to his new school. Which doesn't start for another week. I bought us a few more days by reminding him that Ethan was coming to school on Friday for ice cream (Father's Day party), but not sure how to get him there on Monday and Tuesday.

Eric is testing the waters with his independent "I can do it" attitude. Like he can buckle himself into his booster seat. And walk down stairs. And climb into his carseat. And he can do most of these things, but they take more time than I have patience for when I'm trying to get to work in the morning. And then he left Froggy on the kitchen counter, which means I had to come back home to get it so all hell would not break loose during nap time. And yes, I need to stand my ground and deal with the fact there will be a tantrum this afternoon when I tell him Froggy needs to stay at daycare.

And just when I thought there was light at the end of the tunnel? Because Ethan was going to start taking the kids to daycare tomorrow? His physical therapist said the ankle is not healing as quickls as hoped and he needs to go back to not putting too much weight/pressure on it and icing it more often. Blah.

But, I'm going out tonight to see the Sex and the City movie, so there's a little relief :-)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Public Service Announcements

After reading the news and stepping outside way too many times, I feel the need to make the following public service announcements:

1. If you must have a gun in your house, LOCK IT UP. There's no reason a 3 year old in should be able to shoot himself. Thankfully, in the story I read, the bullet only grazed the boy and he should be fine.

2. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CHILD IN THE CAR!! Seriously, wouldn't it be great to make it through the summer and NOT hear any stories about kids dying in the car because Mom/Dad forgot they were back there? It's not a purse/wallet/cell phone people, it is a CHILD. A living breathing little person that would like to continue to be that way. And if you think you are prone to forgetting this person is sitting in your backseat, then tie one end of a string to your wrist and the other end to the carseat, or something else that physically keeps you from getting out of the car without your child.

3. Same as #2, but it goes for your pets. They love you. Love them back and don't drag them out with you to run errands in this weather. And give them lots of water.

This concludes today's announcements. Thank you for your time.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Spread the swapping news...

We are in a cleaning-house mode and I'm trying to keep it going. If I keep clearing stuff out, it inspires Ethan to clear stuff out...heck, Evan gets into it and Eric...well, he loves to put things away and throw things in the trash, so we're on the right track.

I have heard about PaperBackSwap.com, on other blog sites, and have finally signed myself up and posted some books. Almost 3o of them actually. I don't use the library because 1. it's not convenient and 2. I don't know when I get a book how long I'll want to keep it...sometimes I like to re-read a book a few times or, if it's part of a series, I like to go back so things make sense. Anyway. But buying books, even used, is kind of a waste because then they just stack up on the shelves. So this seems like a good alternative. List your books, request books, and only pay the postage on the books you send out.

But if you order now...just kidding.

There are some related sites linked to PaperBackSwap...SwapaDVD and SwapaCD (CD charges a small fee per CD which would still be well worth it). These sites really caught my interest...we have several DVDs that have been scratched and then thrown away, and wouldn't it be great to trade the never-watched ones to replace the DVDs we are missing??

So sign up. And tell your friends. And request some books/CDs/DVDs. Because darn it, we need to get rid of some of this stuff and it would be nice to get a few new (to us) things too!!

Houseguests

More like under the deck guests (as my sister is wondering what she did that is causing me to blog separately).

I'm guessing our robin baby from the fall is doing well, because another nest showed up under our deck about a month ago. At least the momma is building the nest and laying eggs in the right season this time!! Anyway, after giving the momma some privacy (i.e. not letting the kids run wild on the deck/patio), we have a new bird family. I love the one on the right especially!!


I know the eggs hatched at least a few days ago, and even though I haven't seen momma since before the eggs hatched, I'm assuming she's around since everyone has survived two brutally hot days...although I did feel bad after taking the pictures because they seemed to think the flash was a sign that dinner had arrived. Sorry birdies!! Stay cool tomorrow!!

Wearing down

Like Superman running out of kryptonite, Supermom runs out of energy and patience from time to time. This last stretch of time seems especially long...since hubby's ankle sprain, I have been doing daycare drop-off and pick-up (except on stormy Wed night), medicating Eric twice a day, bath and bedtime duty for both kids, running up and down and in and out to keep hubby off of the sprained ankle (I'm about to strap his bottle of pain pills to him). Not to mention work is crummy and I need to be updating my resume and hitting the job search sites instead of blogging or I may truly lose my sanity by my next birthday. Anyway, the ankle is on the mend, and hubby is easing back into doing things, so at least there is that.

Saturday the little ones and I headed to a Pampered Chef party hosted by my college roommates and fellow bloggers...they kick ass and had someone to keep an eye on the kids, so I could enjoy the show and focus on spending some money ;-) Amazingly enough, I only came out with a few things. This is amazing because, despite my anal tendencies and hatred towards clutter, I am a sucker for kitchen stuff. Honestly. I have an oil wand, which has to be the most ridiculous kitchen thing I have ever seen, but when I saw it I HAD TO HAVE IT. And I use it constantly, which really surprises me. I mean, it's sooo much easier than waiting for the oil to slide across a pan and you don't have to waste a paper towel if you don't have the patience to wait (which I usually don't). Maybe I should recommend the oil wand to Pampered Chef as a new product...

Where was I? Ah, Pampered Chef. So I am looking forward to my new knife and cheese grater, and a couple of less exciting items that I actually needed. Eric and Evan behaved beautifully (I think) and fell asleep for the car ride home, exactly as planned. My sister came down Saturday night to hang out and visit and we watched Mad Money, which turned out to be pretty cute although definitely a chick flick.

And today we kind of did nothing for most of the day and then headed to the pool in the afternoon. They have a wading pool, which both kids got a kick out of...Evan would march around saying "march, march, march" and Eric was following him, except saying "mosh, mosh, mosh" which is just too darned cute. After we got out and had a snack while drying off, Eric kept pointing to the pool and saying "Mommy! That's a lotta water!" which was also just too darned cute. So the pool was a hit and we were very happy to discover the wading pool is under the shade of trees, so we didn't have to worry about the heat/sun. It's a keeper!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Stormy summer

I think I've had about 50 NOAA weather warnings filling my email over the past couple of days. Wednesday was the worst, with all the tornado warnings, then flood warnings, then road closures (fallen trees and power lines), then school closings, and now heat warnings. Wasn't it only a few weeks ago that I was still putting the kids in long pants and jackets to go to daycare? And now I'm trying to figure out how to get from the front door to my truck without breaking a sweat?

We survived the storms surprisingly well. Minimal power outages at home, daycare remained open (with power and a 'shelter in place' drill), a few detours to get to/from work. Internet/email went down in my office yesterday morning (right after I got there) and was still down this morning (which I found out by going to work). Rather annoying that they couldn't notify people of this in advance (most people can get to email through the web), but at least I could tell a few people and save them the time/gas. Hey, I guess I did a good deed today!! Go me :-)

And now, here comes the heat. The plants/grass are already looking brown and droopy even though they should have gotten enough rain the other day to last a month. Well, as long as the storms stay away, we should be able to find some relief in the pool this weekend. And find out which pools get crowded first!!

Stay cool...

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Sit down!

It's like having three children in the house...I think I could just yell out "sit down" at any given moment of the evening and someone would need to follow that direction. Eric and Evan have decided that the couch is a fun place to sit/play/wrestle/stand on. I'll be in the kitchen making dinner and one of them is standing/kneeling on the couch...I should probably be thankful they are not throwing each other off of it, but we try not to let them act too much like monkeys at the zoo. And Ethan, despite his ankle looking like a giant eggplant, seems to think that standing is a good idea. I know it's a habit of his to walk around while he talks on the phone but, for the love of Pete, your foot looks like it might fall off your leg at any given moment, so please--SIT DOWN!!

Sorry for the lame-o post...work is crummy and I'm pulling extra duty at home and with the kiddos while Ethan gives his ankle a break. Stuff happens though, and things could be worse!! At home, that is. If they get any worse at work then...well...I just don't want to think about it.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Some days just aren't meant to go right

The movie 'Liar Liar' comes to mind when I reflect upon my day...particularly this scene:

Fletcher: You scratched my car!
Motorpool Guy: Where?
Fletcher: [indicating with his hands] Right there!
Motorpool Guy: OH... That was already there.
Fletcher: You - -LIAR! You know what I am going to do about this?
Motorpool Guy: what?
Fletcher: Nothing! Because if I take it to small claims court, it will just drain 8 hours out of my life and you probably won't show up and even if I got the judgment you'd just stiff me anyway; so what I am going to do is piss and moan like an impotent jerk, and then bend over and take it up the tailpipe!
Motorpool Guy: [tossing the keys to Fletcher] You've been here before haven't ya?


Eric and I headed back to the pediatrician this morning, as the green sewer sludge has been coming out of his nose for what seems like forever. The nurse joked that he's such a sweetheart because he's in there so much, and then sent us on our way with some antibiotics for what looks like a sinus infection. Giddyup.

I drop Eric at daycare, stop home to change and pick up my work stuff, then head into the office. My new computer is proving to be as quality as my old one and needs a new motherboard which, long story short, does NOT get replaced today.

So I head to Target to get Eric's prescription filled, plus another one for Ethan. The woman asks if I've been there before (yes...like 2 days ago) and checks to make sure they have everything is stock. I do some shopping and generally waste time for 30 minutes before returning to the counter where the same woman tells me they were unable to fill the prescriptions because I have never used their pharmacy before.

**Important Note: It is now lunchtime and I really haven't eaten anything. People making stupid statements to me when I am hungry is a REALLY bad idea.**

I tell the woman I just picked up a prescription for Eric on Saturday and maaaaaybe there's a chance Ethan hasn't been here before. As I fill out the form for Ethan, she returns to say they have found our information in the computer. Sigh. And I'll need to wait. SIGH. And then she comes back and tells me that they don't have Eric's medication and is it okay if they order it?

It got a little ugly. I, in the kindest manner possible considering the condition I was in (see 'Important Note' above) told her to give me back my prescriptions and she should learn how to use the intercom system in the store. And learn how to read labels on prescription bottles. And how to use their computer. And maybe take some training from CVS because, while they have their downfalls, at least I've never sat for 30 minutes waiting for nothing.

Okay, I didn't quite say all that, but you get the idea. And I was hungry, which makes my memory blurry.

Realizing the bad shape I am in, I opt to go to the CVS by my work since 1) it's on my way home and 2) there are lots of good places to eat while I wait for the prescriptions to be filled. Amazing that I had such a sane thought in my head and how it could backfire on me. The pharmacist is very lovely and does everything the Target people did not (verify my information and made sure the medication was in stock). Sadly, they were also out of Eric's medication (must be a run on Ceftin this week). She is nice enough to fax all the prescriptions to our local CVS, after confirming they have it in stock.

I still haven't eaten. But I decide to go home and eat before going to the next CVS. That was a good idea. They called to remind me to bring my insurance card (old one on file for Eric, and confirmed all 3 prescriptions were being filled, so at least there was that. If only it were that simple...

I get there and find out the insurance company is rejecting the claim for Eric's medicine because, well, I don't really know why. Something about the last antibiotic he took (a month ago) and I guess they thought this one was too strong compared to that one? This is the first time I've run into weird insurance politics, so I'm not too sure of all the rules. Bottom line, had to pay for it out of pocket and need to file a claim...whatever. Falls under our deductible anyway and gets paid for with pre-tax money, so just give me the drugs. And for the amount I paid? Eric better be sewer sludge-free for a good 6 months. Good grief!!

On a slight up-note, the medication is NOT one the $4 generics at Target. That REALLY would have been taking it up the tailpipe...

So, to summarize my day, I have spent 1 hour in a doctor's office, 1 hour at work, and over 2 hours in various pharmacies. Highly productive.

Oh, and my darling husband sprained his 'high ankle' while playing softball last night and requires physical therapy for 2-3 weeks. It's a lovely day all around.