Sunday Best: Rogue Baby edition

He speaks

So, you know how we have been a little worried about Sam not talking? Like, he only says a few words and does not string words together in a sentence.  Well, Tom was bathing the boys tonight and Sam spoke his first sentence, "No play with peepee." Why couldn't it have been, "I love you, Mama"?

Breathing treatments and a trophy

I was getting into bed and then I remembered I didn't post for today...so, lazy phone post it is! I stayed home with Sam today. I tool him to the doctor this morning where she confirmed he was improving, but I had to continue breathing treatments every 3 hours. So, my day consisted of breathing treatments, folding laundry,  and overeating.
This evening I took Jack to his end of season soccer party.  He got a participation trophy which he was crazy excited about. I am pretty sure he is sleeping with it right now. Adorbs.

Darth Vadar

Well, last night was rough. Sam's breathing became even more labored and I was really regretting my decision to wait til morning. We did another breathing treatment and it seemed to help a little. I mean, he still sounded like Darth Vadar,  but he was no longer skipping breaths. Either way, we didn't sleep much.

Tom took him to the Pediatrician this morning as soon as they opened. The office is right across the street from my school and I was able to make it to his appointment.  As soon as they heard Sam's breathing, they pulled our doctor away from another patient. She gave Sam an oral steroid and two breathing treatments.  She said if he didn't show any improvement, then we would need to take him to the E.R. Thankfully, he improved slightly and we were able to take him home, but we have to give him breathing treatments every three hours, even during the night.  We also have to take him back to the doctor tomorrow morning. So...I guess I wasn't overreacting yesterday.

Sunday Best: Missing Baby edition

Sam was conspicuously absent from today's #sundaybest picture. He woke up breathing like Darth Vadar so I made the executive decision to leave him home with Tom.  Anything not to have to deal with him at church, right?  Unfortunately, Sam continued to get worse throughout the day.  Tom took Ellie and Jack to his mom's house to celebrate his sister's birthday and I stayed home with the Wheezer.  At one point, he was just lying on the floor, not moving.  I kind of freaked out.  I was debating whether or not to take him to one of those Urgent Care places, but I had never been to the ER or Urgent Care and I had no idea where to go! I was texting and calling everybody for advice.  I like to think I am a level-headed person most of the time, but when my kids are sick, I get a little crazy.  Good thing they don't get sick very often.

Moments like these

I've already written about how Sam doesn't like to show affection.  He isn't comfortable with hugs or cuddles. So, yesterday when I was grocery shopping with the boys and Sam kept laying his head on Jack's shoulder? Well, my heart just melted.

In which I turn a little pee into a long story

Ahhhh, I missed a day!  I am a NaBloPoMo failure.  Yesterday was a bit of an off day, though.  I woke up at 2:00am because I had to take care of my neurotic dog and I was never able to fall back to sleep.  In my sleepy haze the following morning, I put Jack's lunch in Ellie's backpack (she buys), so I had to rush out during my conference period to go buy Jack a lunch. Even though Tom works in the same building as Jack's preschool, he apparently could not bring him lunch.  Anyway, what should have been a 20 minute errand turned into an hour because I was so out of it.

After school, we took our normal Thursday trip to Chick-fil-A.  After eating, I was hanging out with the kids in the play area when Ellie informs me there is a huge puddle of pee in the car that is suspended from the ceiling.  I check to make sure my kids aren't the culprits (they weren't) and then tell Ellie to go tell someone since my hands were full dealing with Sam and his obsession with opening and closing the playroom door.  Ellie brings back one of the hostesses...you know, those ladies who walk around asking if you want refills.  The lady can't fit in the tube going to the car so she hands Ellie a bottle of disinfectant spray and a few paper towels.  To be fair, her English wasn't the best so I think she might not have understood the situation.  I am still a little distracted by Sam, but Ellie goes up there and sprays the entire car. She doesn't want to touch pee so she hands Jack the paper towels and tells him to clean it.  At this point I have figured out what is happening so I am yelling at Jack not to touch it and to come down.  But my sweet boy takes a single towel and starts mopping up the huge puddle of a stranger's pee.  I alternate between yelling at Jack to stop and trying to nicely convey to the lady that my son should not be cleaning that, it is someone else's pee, and whoever cleans it needs gloves.  She nods at me and then just walks out into the restaurant area and resumes asking people if they want refills.  There is still pee in the car along with disinfectant and some used paper towels.  I take a million sanitizing wipes and scrub Jack from top to bottom and then go and get the manager who was oblivious to the whole situation.  He then went and got some skinny teenager to go clean it out...with gloves.

And that, my friends, is the most eventful thing that happened to us all week.  It is an exciting life we lead.

The Barbie dilemma

Yesterday, I was walking with Ellie and I asked her what I should buy Jack for Christmas.  She said I should buy him more Barbies.  Jack really does like his Ken dolls.  He likes to dress them up and do imagination play.  I don't see anything weird about this.  He also loves his Superhero men and his Imaginext toys.  I can see how Ken appeals to him because he can also change his outfits.  However, when people hear that Jack likes Barbies, they get all weird about it.  He brought his Ken Barbie all dressed in a suit to church with him last Sunday and I received some comments about it.  Poor boys, they get a raw deal.  Ellie can play with "boy" toys and even dress up as a boy character for Halloween and no one bats an eye.  Jack wants to play with a male doll and it is questioned. 
Anyway, I was looking on Amazon today because I thought Jack might like a little boy Barbie (like Skipper, but a boy), but I couldn't find one.  Then I looked for more outfits for Ken and they were surprisingly scarce.  I am not really sure where I am going with all this except that I think gender stereotypes and expectations are lame.

Veteran's Day

I love this photo gallery that is displayed in my parents' bedroom.  At the top is my great-grandpa who served in World War I.  The next two down are my paternal and maternal grandpas who served in World War II.  My dad is on the lower left; he was medically discharged from the Air Force Academy. I don't know if that makes him a veteran, per se, but he does have the picture. He even gets a very small disability stipend.  The lower right is my mom's brother who served in the Army. I feel like I should add more details to that, but I just know he works on airplanes.  And at the very bottom is my oldest brother, David.  When he joined the Army to help pay for med school, he never imagined the U.S. would go to war.  But then 9/11 happened and everything changed.  He has left his family to serve as an army doctor in several countries, the last being Afghanistan.  Even though he long since met his time commitment to the Army, he keeps renewing and is currently a Lieutenant Colonel.  I type that like I have any idea what it means. I actually had to look up how to spell it.  Anyway, he is an officer, but he spends his days drugging people for surgery.

Happy Veteran's Day.

NaBloPoMo Woes

This posting every day is killing me.  I have nothing to write about. Here is what is swirling around my brain today:

• We have family pictures this weekend. I have no idea what we are wearing or what the color scheme is. When you are spending this much money, the pressure is on to make them good. 
• Jack's babysitter can't drive him home from preschool so I have another mom doing it. Problem is, she keeps not being able to do it. The logistics of this are driving me crazy, but I am still loving our new childcare arrangement. 
• Saturdays are my cleaning day, but we have been gone the past several Saturdays. My house is a disaster and it stresses me out. I just need a Saturday at home to blast some music and knock this mess out. 
• Ellie's school had a book fair tonight. The checkout line was crazy long so I told her to go pick out two books while I waited in line. She picked a book about sharks and a Minecraft book. I kind of wish I had perused the books with her and steered her in a different direction. I hate Minecraft. 

My brain is boring. Hopefully I will have something to write about tomorrow...

Sunday Best: Keeping it real

We all know that social media can paint such a pretty picture of the lives of others.  Sometimes it seems like everyone is always taking fabulous vacations, making creative things, and having a blast with their friends. I understand that social media isn't the place to air your dirty laundry or constantly complain, but sometimes I feel like I need to keep it real so I like to blog and instagram and facebook the hard moments, too. I feel like it helps me look at those moments with a sense of humor and keep things in perspective.

This morning when I was posting my #sundaybest picture, I realized how ridiculous it was.  My kids looked so cute and happy when in reality we had been having a really rough morning.  So, I decided to document that, too.

Why I can't go anywhere

OK, so I may not have been in the best frame of mine when I wrote that last post.  Honestly, this morning was not much better.  Tom's stopwatches started beeping at like 4:30am.  I say stopwatches plural because he wears three of them around his neck at meets.  What a weirdo. But I digress. So when I finally was dozing off again, jack wakes up to use the bathroom and, of course, he slams the bathroom door which wakes up Sam.  Sam starts screaming and I jump out of bed to calm him because I feel like we already tortured the neighboring room enough the night before.  Needless to say, all the kids were up and demanding to be fed at 6:00am even though we didn't need to be at the meet til noon.  Tom may have yelled something about us ruining the state experience for him, but I am trying to forgive him for it.

6:00 AM

To get out of Tom's hair, I took all three kids downstairs for the free hotel breakfast.  Haha, I just realized I said Tom's hair which is funny because he doesn't have any. Anyway, I got down there only to find it packed with millions of runners.  Ellie was a life-saver because she kept running back and forth fetching food for her brothers and herself while I tried to keep Sam from freaking out about all the people eating food that he wasn't eating.


I then loaded the kids up and drove to the over-priced parking which was miles from the actual meet. Not to worry, they were shuttling people over to the park on school buses (yellow dogging it, as Tom likes to say). Well, that is all fine and dandy except try and climb those steps carrying a 35 pound toddler, a diaper bag, and a huge stroller.  I couldn't so Ellie hauled Sam up the stairs even though he is practically as big as she is.  By the time we got to the park, I really had to pee so I waited in this long line for the nasty, nasty port-a-potties and then did my business WHILE HOLDING SAM.  Who is huge.  And not very cooperative.  I am just not one of those moms can go places with her kids and make it look effortless.  Anyone watching me probably thought I was the childless aunt helping out for the day.  Whatever, by the time the race started, all three kids were happy and eating a healthy snack of Goldfish.


Sam was so worn out that he actually fell asleep with his hand in the Goldfish bag.


In the end, Tom's team placed 10th which is kind of awesome for a huge state like Texas.  Here they are jumping for joy.  I felt like jumping for joy, too, but mainly because cross country season was finally over and I could have my husband back.  At least until track season, anyway.

SOS

Sam goes to bed by 6pm every night. So, when Tom told me dinner with his team was at 7:45, I opted out thinking I would hang back at the hotel and get the kids in bed.  For those who have yet to experience it, I can't even begin to describe how awful it is to be trapped in a hotel room with a toddler who won't sleep. I can't let him cry it out because I don't want to disturb the neighbors. I can't let him roam free because he can open the bathroom door and he keeps playing with the toilet and/or toilet paper. It is over 3 hours past his bedtime and it is like he is possessed. Even Ellie and Jack gave up and passed out an hour ago.  I'm not gonna lie, tears have been shed and unkind words have been spoken.  Tom's team better kill it tomorrow at the state meet to make this trip worth it.

Thursdays

I usually love Thursdays. It is the one day of the week where we don't have after school commitments.  I usually meet up with friends at Chick-fil-a to eat and play and kill a few hours after school. I was really looking forward to it today because this week has killed me, but instead I had to go buy a new tire. Wow, I really am phoning in the NaBloPoMo post tonight...the only thing I have to write about is a flat tire.  Hopefully,  this weekend will be more eventful since we are going to Austin to watch Tom's team compete at the state cross country meet!

Fatty, Fatty 2 by 4

Sam, my gigantic baby, is a huge eater.  He really loves his food.  If someone is eating around him, he will demand to eat the same thing no matter what it is, even salad.  But, lately, he wants ALL of it. Yesterday I popped some popcorn and poured some in a little bowl for him and some in a bowl for me.  He kept screaming for all of it so I gave him the bag, but he saw me still eating out of the bowl and threw an epic fit because he wanted what was in my bowl, too.  This morning, after he had finished his waffle, he saw Jack eating a PopTart and started screaming for it.  Jack, being the sweet brother, broke off a piece and gave it to him.  Sam became even more furious and threw it on the floor because he wanted the WHOLE PopTart. The boy is SPOILED.  But who can resist this face?

Wallflowers

Jack's preschool teacher emailed this picture of the kids in their costumes from last week's costume parade.  I couldn't help but notice how Jack stands out all front and center in his Spider-Man costume. It is kind of fitting...all three of my children have such STRONG personalities.  So strong that sometimes, like tonight, I need to escape to my back porch and take deep, cleansing breaths and imagine that I am somewhere else.

Moving on, Jack and Sam are doing AWESOME with the new babysitter.  Once again, I am reminded to trust my gut. I always had an uneasy feeling about our previous situation and now that I see how relieved and happy Jack is about going to the new place, well, I feel guilty that I didn't change sooner. Lesson learned. But I do feel so much better dropping them off in the mornings.

NaBloPoMo

November is National Blog Posting Month!  Basically, you post every day on your blog for a month.  The first time I participated was back in 2007 when I was practivally writing every day anyway.  Then, I did it again last year and it helped to get my out of my blogging slump...at least temporarily, that is.  This month I am attempting it once again, thanks to the encouragment of Miss Zoot.

Today is a stressful day for me.  My dad is having knee replacement surgery, the kids started at the new babysitter's, traffic was a nightmare so I was 10 minutes late for work (not ok when you have a roomful of students waiting on you), and Jack has a 3:00 dentist appointment that I had scheduled 6 months ago and promptly forgot about. The bell rings at 2:30 and I don't technically get out of school til 3:10 so making that appointment will be interesting.  I hope my new babysitter doesn't want to talk to me because I am grabbing the boys and flying out the door.  What a Monday. 

*Disclaimer: I said I would post every day. I didn't say it would be good.

Sunday Not-so-best

Sam was one cranky baby this morning. I love how Jack's face reflects the stress of a screaming brother next to him, but Ellie continues to smile beautifully.  The show must go on. I post these Sunday best pics on Facebook/Instagram each week and I wonder if people find them obnoxious. Oh well, I like seeing them all dressed up...even if they are in tears.

The Halloween that lasted a week

Y'all, is it just me, or does Halloween seem to last so much longer than it did when we were kids?  I feel like my kids have been dressing up and celebrating for days on end.  It started on Wednesday with Trunk-or-Treat at the church.  Wait, let me back up.  It started with my kids telling me they wanted to dress up as Wild Kratts and me attempting to make a homemade costume for the first time in their lives.  I use the word "make" loosely because I actually bought the shirts and I used the PBS website. I was still super proud of myself for doing all the printing, cutting, and gluing, though.

The kids got to take their costumes on a trial run at the church Trunk-or-Treat.  Ellie brought her BFF even though Maleficient didn't really go with our theme. Totally kidding.

Then Thursday was a costume parade at Jack's preschool.  He asked to go as Spider-Man because he had coordinated the day before with his little buddy.  Luckily, we pretty much own every superhero costume there is.

This morning, to keep our momentum going, I dressed the kids in their Halloween shirts.  Ellie didn't want to wear hers, but as it is the only one I actually paid for, I told her she would wear it or not go trick-or-treating.  So, her smile isn't as bright as the others. Or maybe it's because it is 6:30am.

And, finally, the actual celebration.  We continued our tradition of going to a Halloween dinner party that some friends throw every year. They live on a street that goes all out for Halloween.  Tom wasn't home yet, so I opted to skip trying to take the kids trick-or-treating on that street after dinner.  We stopped at my parents' house and went to a few houses on their street.  Sam was not having anything to do with this trick-or-treating business.  Tom got home just in time to take Ellie and Jack out to score some candy while I put Sam to bed.

 Halloween was fun, but I am happy to put it behind us and start making plans for Thanksgiving.  I think a road trip to Arizona is in the works!