One of My New Favorite Things

This stuff is truly awesome. It's only available at health food stores or online, and can be a bit pricy, but worth its weight in gold. We've wiped out 3 colds with it so far (sometimes repeated doses are necessary if symptoms return - but you can literally see the effects within half an hour). I had to share my exciting discovery! Finally, cold and flu medicine that's safe for children, actually works, and hasn't been taken off the market by the FDA!

Catch-Up

We spent Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law's unchildproofed house. While Ron watched the football game, socialized with his relatives, and even took a brief snooze on the couch, I spent most of the day redirecting the kids when they started wandering towards breakable things. So when I developed a splitting headache late in the afternoon, I attributed it to a hard day's work.

The next morning, I woke up aching all over and still had a headache. We went to my parents' house as planned, but Saturday morning, I woke up feeling like death warmed over. I had myself a nice case of the flu. Not a stomach virus, but actual influenza. I have learned my lesson - I am never again getting a flu shot. Honest to goodness, the only years I ever get the flu are the years that I get the vaccination. Every other year, I make it through the winter healthy. My fingers are crossed that my kids didn't pick up any of my germs, but I'm sure I won't be that lucky.

Other than exposing everyone to my sick germs, it worked out quite well to be sick at my parents' house, because I got a lot more rest than I would have at home. There were a total of 5 healthy adults around to help watch and play with the kids, so that made a world of difference for me.

And now I'm freaking out, because it's December 1st today, and I have a million and one things I need to get done by Christmas. Also, planning Sammy's birthday party, which comes shortly afterward. Yes, I am a bit stresed out right now. Does it show?

A more upbeat post will come tomorrow, hopefully.

We went to the county fair last night, and on the way home, Sammy kept saying his tummy hurt. "I really sick," he said. "I need some medicine." I assured him that his tummy just wanted some healthy food, and he'd feel better after we ate supper.

We got home, and he went up the stairs. On the top landing, he threw up. It took everything I had in me to not do the same. There is nothing worse than the smell of vomit. This morning, he seemed fine, though, so it was hopefully just a case of too much fair food. He only ate two mini-donuts and drank some root beer float, though. That doesn't seem like much to me.

Enough talk about sicknesses for this week. Here is an excerpt from a recent performance by the 2-year-old:

(I never before realized that Are You Sleeping and Where Is Thumbkin share the same tune)
Are you sleeping
Are you sleeping
Brother John
Brother John
How are you at daycare?
How are you at daycare?
Run and hide
Run and hide

Fever

Natalie's fever, which was more of an aside on yesterday's post, got worse as the day went on. By noon, I thought she may have actually become grafted to me, what with the resistance that I got when I tried to put her down.

Sammy was a sweetheart. When he came home from daycare, he was very concerned about her and wanted to do what he could to help. I gave him a cold, wet washcloth and he dabbed her head very gently. He brought her a binky, a blanket, and a bottle. He suggested I take her to the doctor. When I explained she'd already been to the doctor, he told me to bring her again.

I carried her around in a Moby wrap all day. When she fell asleep and I took off the wrap so I could lie down in the recliner with her, Sammy asked Ron to help him put the wrap on. Then he came over and wanted me to put Natalie in the wrap. He finally settled for a stuffed gorilla instead.

At 5:00, Natalie's fever was 103 and she was becoming inconsolable. I thought a lukewarm bath might help cool her down, and soothe her. I took off her clothes and, as I was running the water, she peed all over my leg. And the bathroom rug. And the towel. At least I had proof that she was getting enough fluids, and wasn't dehydrated. When I tried to put her in the bathtub, she clung to me like a baby monkey, and howled like one, too. So much for the bath.

She slept on my shoulder most of the evening, and at 10:00, when I was ready to go to bed, I brought her with me. The first hour passed peacefully. Shortly after 11:00, I woke up to blood-curdling screaming. I picked her up and she continued to scream bloody murder. She would calm down a little bit, then shudder and scream some more. Ron and I seriously considered calling an ambulance, or waking Sammy up so we could go to the ER, because I have never heard her cry like that before. It took about 15 minutes before she calmed down, and then the rest of the night passed without any more crises.

By this morning, her fever had broken but she was stuck to me like Velcro. It took an hour for me to leave the house, because she would get so upset every time I'd leave her sight. It was much worse than the separation anxiety-type-crying which is so typical these days. I did finally leave, and so I'm back at work today, while Natalie is home spending some quality time with Daddy.

I still don't know what the incident overnight was about. Fever-related seizure? Disorientation due to the fever? I learned something this morning from the nurses I work with. The way to tell if a baby is having a seizure is to hold one of their extremities. If the "convulsion" stops, it's not a seizure. I hope I never again have the opportunity to use that test.

On another note: Do you think Sammy might be getting a little big for his bed? Maybe it's time to upgrade.

The Weekend Update

Friday morning, we went to a parade, which both of the kids loved. Sammy was a little intimidated by the older children who shouldered their way past him to grab as much of the candy as they could get, but eventually he got braver and did manage to snag a few tootsie rolls. We went to a fireworks display on Friday night, and Sammy was underwhelmed, to say the least. He has been going to bed around 8:30 lately, and the fireworks didn't start until 10:00, so I think that was a big part of the problem. The good news? He slept in until 7:30 on Saturday morning. I honestly don't remember the last time he did that.

Natalie had a huge weekend. Not only did she learn how to walk, but she cut another tooth (finally! a grand total of 3 now!) and - can I get a drumroll, please - she slept through the night last night, for the first time ever! Surprisingly, I didn't even wake up to wonder why she hadn't woken up yet, so I got a very restful night's sleep.

Speaking of Natalie, let me tell you about our little drama queen. For example, this morning she wanted to play with Sammy's potty chair (yuck!) so I finally picked it up and put it where she couldn't reach it. She looked at the chair, looked at me, then flung herself face-first onto the floor and started shrieking in outrage. This exact scene plays itself out a couple of dozen times every day. I had to laugh when I picked her up from daycare on Thursday, and her daycare teacher told me they'd been calling her a "drama queen" all day. Apparently she doesn't just save those shows for me. I should also say that her teacher said that with affection - I know that's one of those things that could be taken different ways, and it all depends on the tone of voice. Trust me, every time I call her a drama queen, I am struggling to contain my laughter. I'm sure I won't find it as funny when she's a teenager, but right now I find it hilarious to see a 2 1/2-foot-tall little girl in a frilly dress flinging herself on the floor in tears over a potty chair.

And one last random story. Both kids seemed to have some sort of mild stomach bug this weekend. It didn't really seem to bother them, but it did give them yucky diapers for about half a day each. And that resulted it a really nasty-looking diaper rash apiece. Sammy's cleared up pretty quickly, but poor Natalie was still really red and sore-looking last night, so after bath I decided to let her go diaper-free in the kitchen for awhile. I gave her some crackers and cheese cubes in a bowl on the floor, and that drew Sammy's attention (for some reason, her food is always much more appetizing to him than his own food).

After about fifteen minutes, I vaguely heard Sammy say something but I was lost in my thoughts and didn't pay any attention. A few seconds later, his voice became more urgent and I snapped to attention. "Hurry up! Nye peeing all over!" he was saying, over and over. I turned to look, and there she was, sitting in a growing puddle and, unconcerned, was just about to pick up a soggy cracker to put in her mouth. That is why I kept her in the kitchen (tile floor versus carpet) for diaper-free time.

We've all been dealing with a nasty spring cold this past week. Well, it was bad for Ron & I, but the kids seemed to weather it pretty well. I ended up calling in sick to work on Thursday because I had a fever and body aches. Ugh. I am so ready for summer.

Speaking of which, how is it that I went to bed last night on a rainy April evening, and woke up this morning to a windy, cold, snowy November morning? I couldn't believe it when I looked out the window and saw two inches of snow on the ground.

On to the family news. Natalie is pulling up on everything, has started to do the "inchworm crawl", and cut her first tooth this morning. My

baby is disappearing before my eyes, and being replaced by an almost-toddler.

This morning, while I was getting ready in the bathroom, Sammy swooped in and stole my mascara from the counter. I figured his first attempt would be to pull apart the two halves, so I assumed I would have enough time to finish brushing my teeth before he figured out that it needed to be twisted apart. Before the thought even fully formed in my mind, I heard the thwup of the mascara wand being pulled out of the container. I dashed into the hall, and grabbed it away from him before he had a chance to do any damage. Or so I thought, until he turned around.

File in baby book under: "First Black Eye"

He let me clean off the worst of it, but didn't want me to get too close to his eye. So he spent the rest of the day bearing a strange resemblance to Boy George.

Natalie’s been a little bit fussy the past few days, but nothing too extreme, so I just chalked it up to teething. Yesterday I decided to bring her to the chiropractor, since she hadn’t been there in a little over a month, and I thought it might help her out a little bit with her teething pain. The chiropractor took one look in her ear and said, “Oh, sweetie, that doesn’t look so good.” Yep, she has a raging ear infection in her right ear. And the left one looks “dusky” which apparently means it’s healing from a recent infection. She’s never been treated for a left ear infection.

I feel terrible for not realizing, but she is so good-natured and happy, apparently even when she doesn’t feel very well. I hope she picks up on sign language quickly, so she can let me know when something hurts! I’m not used to this. Sammy has always been very vocal and not shy at all about voicing his wants and needs.

This was all evident right from the beginning. The first time I heard Sammy’s voice in the delivery room, it was an indignant cry at being removed from his familiar, comfortable surroundings. When Natalie was born, there was a lot of nervousness in the delivery room. She’d gotten stuck on the way out and they were a little concerned about that, and the fact that they couldn’t get her to cry. Nothing was wrong; she just didn’t feel any need to cry. When she finally did, it was just a tiny mewling. I remember saying to Ron, Sammy’s cries were always along the lines of, “I want FOOD! Feed me NOW!” but Natalie’s cries were more like, “if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like a little milk, please – when it’s convenient, of course”.

Yesterday, Ron and I both got our turn with the stomach bug. It was brutal, to say the least. It didn't seem to affect the kids as much - they would throw up one minute and be smiling and laughing the next minute, but there wasn't much smiling and laughing going on around here yesterday. We could hardly drag our butts out of bed. The kids both seemed to be healthy, and no one had thrown up since Thursday morning, so we sent them to daycare so we could try to get some rest. After lunch, Sammy's teacher called and said he had thrown up. Boy, did I feel guilty for deciding to send him. His teacher said he had acted fine all morning, though, and ate all his lunch, so she wouldn't have guessed he was sick either. That eased my guilt a little bit.

Aside from getting presents and cards today, it was pretty much a day like any other. My day started at 5 a.m. when Sammy came charging into our room. We tried to convince him to climb into bed with us and rest some more, but when he started asking for milk, I didn't have the heart to say no. He hadn't eatenkept anything down since Tuesday, so I figured he needed the nutrition and calories. I staggered out into the kitchen to make him his oatmeal (his favorite breakfast! we're raising a little Bert) and pour him a glass of milk. He started whining when I turned on the kitchen light because it was "too bright". It was all I could do to keep from grumbling, "well, if you didn't get up so darn early..."

By 6 a.m., Natalie was up, too. Since we were all present and accounted for, I decided we may as well beat the rush and get the grocery shopping done. Ron came with, too - a rare occurrence, but greatly appreciated. Wrangling two kids, while trying to do the grocery shopping and keep my coupons straight, is not much different than a circus act. I'm sure my kids have convinced more than one teenage checker at the grocery store that birth control is a GOOD thing.

In the dairy aisle, Ron said, "Natalie smells like chicken soup. Do you smell that?" Gamely, I came over to take a whiff, and thought I did smell chicken soup on her socks. We'd had chicken noodle soup for supper the night before, so while it was a mystery how it got onto her socks, I didn't waste too much mental energy thinking about it. Later, when we got home, we discovered she'd had a massive blowout, unlike any we'd ever had to deal with before. I don't think we'll ever eat chicken noodle soup again, without associating it with the smell of that diaper.

The day was redeemed, however. Sammy took a 4-hour nap, and I slept two of those hours (can I get an AMEN!). Then later, the two kids were playing together in a blanket on the floor, when out of the blue, Sammy said, "I love Natalie" and gave her a big hug and a kiss. He has been really good with her lately, bringing her toys, asking to hold her, and giving her hugs and kisses. MUCH preferable to the phase we went through when he listed his favorite pasttime as "chucking hard objects at Natalie's head".

Oh, and last but not least - Ron and the kids bought me "Dancing with the Stars" for the Wii. I haven't had a lot of time to play it yet, but so far, I'm loving it! I have no idea how he knew that I wanted that game. Okay, actually I do. A couple of days ago, he asked what I wanted for my birthday. I mentioned that game, and about half an hour later, he decided he was going to "take Sammy to Target". Seeing how he never does that, I can only assume he wanted to go get my present before he forgot.

With a Song in My Heart

In the days before my birthday,
My children gave to me:
12 dirty diapers
11 loads of laundry
10 buckets of vomit
9 changes of clothing
8 temper tantrums
7 refused meals
6 thrown toys
5 sudsy baths
4 bed sheet changes
3 aborted naps
2 whiny children
and a big poopy diaper blowout

Hope your last couple of days have been better than mine. I'm hoping for a reprieve by Saturday. Turning 30 is traumatic enough without all of the bodily fluids.

I don't know how I made it through 2+ years of motherhood without having to clean up the results of someone else's stomach bug, but my streak ended today. Little Natalie has been barfing on me all day long. You should see my laundry basket. I've had three outfit changes today, Ron has had one, and Natalie has had five. And to add insult to injury, one barf episode happened on my freshly mopped floor. She doesn't quite know what to think about throwing up. She doesn't cry; she just looks stunned. I have two clean pairs of her pajamas waiting by the bed, because I can't imagine we're going to make it through the night unscathed.

In other (non-barfing) news, we bit the bullet and switched over to Mac. This is a huge step for me, a loyal PC user. Our current computer has developed a death rattle, as well as spitting out some ominous-sounding errors, so it's just a matter of time before it keels over. Wish me luck! I haven't used a Mac since high school.

And, just for fun - here's Sammy changing Natalie's diaper:

Natalie, having her first taste of brussel sprouts oatmeal:

I'm fighting off a little cold. Not too surprising, since both of the kids have had runny noses for the past two months. This is what it's come to - my life consists of wiping noses and butts.

To try and fend off the cold, I've been taking Zicam. It's these meltaway pills that come in a little tube with a non-childproof lid. This morning, I took one and put the tube back in my purse. Sammy went over to the purse, pulled out the tube and took the cap off. I told him that he couldn't play with those and took the tube back from him. He stood there, looking at me, and finally said, "I'm mad". I've never heard him say that before, so I was going through my mental Sammy-English dictionary to think what other word that could be. While I was thinking, he said again, "I'm mad...at you." No question about it that time.

It was funny this morning, but ask me again when he's a teenager.

After posting yesterday, I realized that it sounds like I’m making fun of a mentally handicapped man. To set the record straight – while Nehborhood Gofhur is not exactly the brightest cookie in the cookie jar*, he is not handicapped. Just…odd.

We are drowning in snot at our house. Natalie has had a series of colds for the past month. Just as one cold starts easing up, another one starts. I stayed up too late last night doing our taxes. Of course, I had no clue that I was going to end up being awake most of the night with her because she couldn’t breathe, yet again. Taxes and snot. Great fun.

Sammy has developed the really annoying habit of blowing his nose multiple times a day. The bad part? He doesn’t ask for a Kleenex first. There he goes again, rivers of snot running into his mouth, as he takes off running to hide from me and my Kleenex. I’m not really sure why he thinks that’s a fun game, but it sure will be fun to tell his girlfriends about some day.

*I overheard a former coworker say this once. She was a few glowing M&M’s short of a bright cookie herself.

Brrr!

It was -1 degrees yesterday morning when I left for work - actual temperature, not even counting the windchill. I thought the tips of my ears might be frostbitten by the time I walked from my bus stop to my office. I remember at least one cat (from my childhood on the farm) that had frostbitten ears, and the tips actually fell off. Wouldn't that be an interesting look for me. Maybe I should start wearing a hat, otherwise I'll never have the option of short hair again.

Natalie picked up a case of pink eye from daycare already, so she stayed home yesterday. Poor girl woke up from her nap, and couldn't open up her eyes! That must have been confusing for her. "Hey, where'd everyone go?" She seemed to feel fine, though. This morning, she woke up at 4:00 a.m., talking and laughing in her cosleeper. I ignored her and she went back to sleep after about half an hour. I am curious what she could find to laugh about in the middle of the night, though.