Challenged

 Posted by at 7:23 pm  Uncategorized
Apr 212011
 

This has been one of those weeks where I’m feeling like I’m being tested daily (and not just as a parent).   There’s been no shortage of bloggable material, but to be perfectly honest, I just haven’t felt like sitting down and writing about it.  Aside from this week being incredible busy with a ton of running around, I’m in some sort of allergy haze as there’s been an eruption of pollen in my area.  So rather than doing multiple posts, here’s the week in review:

Saturday: Went to the beach even though it was raining and took the three kids outlet shoe shopping. No further explanation needed.

Sunday: Went to a park, played mini golf, went on the beach, ate an actual bucket of boardwalk fries, and nearly slipped into a coma.

Monday: With Easter less than a week away, I decided to get the stuff for the kid’s baskets while my husband took a quick break for lunch.  This was a deliberate move because the store where I was headed was the same place Jake insulted an old lady, biker, and cashier with an unknown gender all in one trip.  For the first time, I grabbed a cart because the “Easter Box” with all the baskets, grass, and plastic eggs I had saved from last year was swallowed by my basement.  I also had other items to purchase as well, so I hurried around, filling the pharmacy’s cart.  As I approached the front of the store the cashier placed both hands over her mouth and began to giggle.  She’s worked there a while so I know who she is, and I’d say she was socially awkward to say the least (that’s not an official diagnosis, and I’d rather just not go there).  Anyway, as I start unloading she loudly exclaims, “Your hair is like KAAAA-POOOOOW!”   I smiled and agreed, after all I walk around like this every day; I know what my hair looks like.

And yet for some reason, she kept at it.  For nearly six minutes she rang up my items, and stopped after almost every item scanned to comment on my hair. “Do you know it’s out there?” and “I don’t mean to say it like that, but it’s all like WOW!” and “What’s it like in the summer?” oh, and “Can you even fit it under a hat?”  There was a man, in his early forties maybe that was behind me in line.  He just kept repeating quietly, “Oh, my God, stop talking.”  If it wasn’t for the 10% off I get with every purchase, it might not be worth it to face the slew of insults at my local Rite Aide.

Tuesday: Spent the morning on a farm with Joey’s class, and Jake was also there with his preschool group accompanied by my husband.  I’m not real into touching livestock, getting intimate with my future food, or thrilled about ecoli, but the trip was really entertaining for the kids and only a couple of hours long. We managed to get out of there with only one) goof when I told Joey to listen to a man who was speaking to the kids about various seeds (wonder why he was not paying attention)? This particular “farmer” had a pretty thick accent and Joey yelled out, “I can’t understand him, Mom! He’s speaking Spanish!” (Except he was Indian and speaking English). The gentleman shot me a look and did not seem amused.  Other than that it was a good trip.

The kids were then loaded back on the bus and taken to a local park where all 106 of them respectively (with some other park goers and a few siblings) played for several hours after enjoying their lunch at picnic tables.  For the most part it was fine, but all those kids climbing on the equipment at the same time, some hanging out the sides of the “rocket” jungle gym 10 ft in the air, was almost too much for me to take.  I would have added some rum to my coke or tried to get my hands on some Xanax or something had I know the absolute mayhem that was about to take place. Just too many kids, too large of an area, with too few adults. Aside from some minor arguing over prime playground territory, a few kids drinking out of a dog watering bowl, a couple tumbles, and a few rain drops, the kids had a blast. There were no missing children, compound fractures or catastrophic falls, so all in all a good day.

The giant Rocket Jungle Gym that nearly gave me an anxiety attack. Please picture 100+ kids ALL on this at once. It happened.

Wednesday: Just like the last few weeks, we’ve had one day that hits 80 degrees (before it drops down to 50 again). Worked in the garden all day, husband had an allergy attack after cutting the grass and his eyes almost swelled totally shut. Ran to the store, saw FIVE people I knew, spoke to all of them, came home, looked in the mirror and was surprised they didn’t give the same reaction as the lady from Rite Aide. Dirt on my face. Dirt on my shirt. Hair was like “KAAAAA-POOOOW!”

Thursday: Spring break started a day early for Joey. He woke up with red, swollen eyes and a bad headache.  I spent the day trying to rid our house of all the pollen I let in yesterday when I had every window open.  Dusted and cleaned furniture, windows, walls, floors. Dust rag was a yellowish green from pollen and I sneezed most of the day. Considering wearing Depends Adult Diapers while Cecilia, the former sweet and innocent baby turned curious and destructive toddler, is awake. Took two bathroom breaks and paid for my brief moment behind a closed door.  Trip one into the bathroom she spilled both of her brother’s juice cups on the kitchen table and the kitchen floor. She then proceeded to empty a container of baby wipes in order to spread clean the mess up.  Two cups of coffee and a couple hours later, I slipped in the bathroom unnoticed…or so I thought. I heard a gentle scratching sound at the door and called out “Who’s there!” to which Cecilia squealed in delight and ran down the hall. Upon leaving the bathroom I discovered the scratching was not a sound made by her hands but rather from a red crayon that was all over the bathroom door, front door and down the hallway.

As I mentioned today is the official start of Spring Break. Pray for me, people. Pray for me.

Hope you’re all having a good week! Leave me a comment while you’re here and don’t forget to vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs!

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Jan 022011
 

I hate being right all the time. Seriously, I do.  I wish that some of my “predictions” would not come true, especially those about how I would be spending my holiday.  The week before Christmas is when my first premonition came to me.  I was standing with my three year old in his preschool class, when another little boy wandered in the room, visible sick and tired.  One of the teachers asked him if he was “awake yet” and his mother replied “he was up all night coughing.”  It took a lot of will power to not a) smack this idiot parent in the face and b) not to take Jake by the hand and just leave.  Instead, I said goodbye to Jake, said a silent prayer for good health, and walked down the hallway towards the exit listening to the echoing sounds of what I would have diagnosised as whooping cough.  Two and a half days later Jake started with a cold, cough & fever. Cecilia followed late the weekend before Christmas, and Joey started coughing a few days before Christmas.

Jake ended up breaking his fever over the weekend, but in an effort not to share what he had, we kept him home to recoup (which meant he missed his Christmas party & festivities).  Cecilia also broke her fever the Monday before Christmas, and Joey who was still “well” attended school the week before Christmas which was just Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I volunteered at school to help out all morning Monday & Tuesday during which several kids had to go home because they were still sick or had become sick.  One child, who was puking all day Monday, returned, still sick and feverish Tuesday, was sent home before 10am and was back on Wednesday to spread his holiday cheer again.  It’s cases like this, where the school’s policy is that the child must be fever free for 24 hours, that I think the school should be able to say, “Sorry! Take your sick kid home you horrible parent! We said 24 hours fever free! You think all these kids want to be puking on Christmas?!”  Premonition #2 befell me Wednesday at Joey’s Christmas party as I observed him sitting in between two of the sick pukey kids from Monday & Tuesday trading & sharing snacks. Yum!

Christmas Eve we had no fevers (it had now been over a week after they started and only had mild-lingering cold symptoms), but as I packed my holiday diaper bag, I told my husband to take our spare trashcan and stick it in the back of the truck just in case someone needed it.  As he was packing the food, presents, and kids, he mumbled something about me being a “weirdo” but still took the trashcan and placed it in the back of the truck anyway.  My thought process here was that just two days before Joey was sharing snacks with his two barf-buddies, and we hadn’t quite cleared the “incubation” period.

As we pulled back in the driveway after a long but enjoyable Christmas Eve party, I was happy that my husband was right about me being such a “weirdo” and that the trashcan was still sitting in the trunk unused.  Christmas morning was not quite as happy as I would have hoped, but after a late and exhausting evening, I assumed my cranky kids were just feeling the effects of the holiday.

Before we got back in the car that afternoon for another 40 mile trip (each way), Jake complained of a headache, so we gave him some Motrin and headed north.  We had another fabulous party, and the gift exchanges were a hit again. Great food, good people, and did I mention the food?  The kid’s palates are a little less refined and they enjoyed bowls of candies and seemingly unending cups of juice in combination with the excitement of so many gifts.  Jake had been using his best “Oliver Twist/Puppy Dog Eyes” to get handfuls of M&M’s from various Aunts, Uncles & cousins, and after a sugar high, all the kids, including Jake, seemed to be finally winding down as we hit 157 miles of our 160 mile round trip Christmas 2010 bonanza.  Expecting snow the next day, and with the car quiet, my husband pulled into a gas station about three miles from home just as Jake began to puke juice, M&M’s and Motrin all over himself.

Without a thought, he threw the car in park and ran and grabbed the trashcan from the back of the car that his weirdo-wife insisted on taking the night before just in time for me to jump in the back over the seat and catch “most” of what his body was rejecting into the can.  It was moments like this, standing in someone else’s sick, facing backwards in the car, nearly home after the longest two days of my life, that I hated being right.  My husband, the next day however, refused to admit I was right because he says I wanted the trashcan for the wrong kid and he was puking from 8lbs of candy and not from a virus.  Give me a break!  Sorry that my crystal ball ain’t so crystal clear.  My mother’s intuition got most of it right…at least the important parts.

All the running around, excitement and junk took it’s toll on Jake though.  After 9 days of a cold (which we’re told by doctor’s can last 7-14 days in kids), poor Jake developed a fever again and they advised me he had to be seen (in the snow storm) at a Urgent Care Center.  After he and I spent four hours and what will undoubtedly be hundreds of dollars with the tests/X-Rays, Jake was diagnosed with walking pneumonia.  The following day, just after the snow storm ended (and with 8″ of snow on the roads) Cecilia redeveloped a fever after 9 days of cold and earned herself her very first ear infection.  My husband soon followed with an antibiotic, and Joey and I were the only two to come out un-medicated.  So we spent the week battling secondary infections, running humidifiers, and finally were well for New Year’s Eve.  I am now enjoying our third consecutive day of good health, before school starts back tomorrow.  Anybody seen my bubble?

Hope you all had a Happy Holiday & Hope you all have a fabulous & happy New Year!

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What? No tip?

 Posted by at 2:36 pm  Uncategorized
Dec 072010
 

‘Tis the season…for awful germs and illnesses that is.  My son Joey began throwing up Sunday morning, while we were  an hour from our home at the beach, and the poor kid continued to puke for another 10 hours.  I had spoken to the doctor, and being seasoned at this type of illness would normally not have called, but Joey couldn’t keep even teaspoon of fluid down and hadn’t peed in nearly 10 hours.  I was getting ready, under advisement from the doctor, to take him to the ER, when he finally used the bathroom and drank a few sips of juice that stayed down.

Anyway, the last few days have been bad.  The sick kid is currently quarantined to his bedroom, and either too sick to leave or is enjoying the TV and Wii in his room for the time being.  I have gone into a frenzied state of sanitizing, wiping and re-wiping common surfaces and hoping for no other new patients from this terrible bug.  My OCD is in overdrive (I even wiped this keyboard before typing this post), and I feel as if it’s me versus the unseen forces causing my children to be sick.  I’m not sure who’s winning, but I’m giving it my best crazed-cleaning attempt.

This afternoon, when my daughter went down for a nap, I got Joey in the tub and emptied the kid’s laundry for another load to be washed on sanitary (thanks LG for such a wonderful setting).  I reached around Joey to shut off the tub water off just as Joey went into a sneezing/coughing fit and the kid sprayed the front of my shirt with boogers (did I mention the cold/flu symptoms started with him yesterday just after his stomach seemed a bit better-good times people, good times).  Since I already had the laundry basket right there, I took off my shirt, told Joey I’d be right back (relax, he’s five and I can leave him for a minute) and I went to take the laundry downstairs.  Just as I cleared the landing, I tripped on a misplaced toy and literally threw the basket of germy kids sheets and clothes down the remaining seven stairs. Fortunately, or unfortunately because I could use a break, I caught myself after tumbling down just a single step.

As I began picking up the contagious sheets and clothing of the foyer floor, my mind was already thinking of spraying the carpet with Lysol “just in case.” Perhaps this is why I did not hear the Fed Ex truck pull up outside. See where this is going, people?  A few loud, abrupt knocks and I turned, startled, and found myself staring into the eyes of a Fed Ex Delivery Man through the skinny window next to my front door. I yelled screamed, and he threw a gloved hand over his face and ran down my steps. I stood, shirtless, covering myself with a germ infested pillowcase, and pondered throwing myself down the stairs again.

At least this wasn’t the UPS Delivery man who Jake casually told I was shitting and unable to come to the door last summer (you can read that one here), and this was also not my normal Fed Ex guy.  They’ve had several drivers a day come through my neighborhood given the time of year, so hopefully, in a few weeks, I’ll never have to see him again.  Of course, if a stranger was to see my shirtless, I wish I was at least wearing a nice bra (my husband may dispute that).  I had on one of my oldest, used to be white but was stained off blue in the wash, just around the house, barely holding on Mom-bras. Sheer Hotness. That’s surely what he’ll call me as he tells his Fed Ex friends what he saw today.  And honestly, I was a tad disappointed once I found a new shirt and went to retrieve my delivery, to find just my package, without a tip, sitting on my doorstep.

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