"Raising a kid is part joy and part guerrilla warfare."
~Ed Asner

Monday, July 19, 2010

"The sillies are crazy, little creatures that live inside of us and need to be shaken out."

This week has been crazy. (Isn't every week crazy:)  My mind is still in a fog due to medication changes and allergies.  I woke up on Saturday and felt like the crypt creeper.  I stumbled in the bathroom and through my squinty vision, I could tell things weren't looking good.  All I could see was a fuzzy reflection of a red, splotchy face with black and purple swollen eyes almost glued shut with goop.  You know the morning is not on your side when your three year old comes up and says, "Momma you don't look good.  Are you okay?  Your eyes have stuff in them.  What's that red stuff on your face?"  Izzie's on the up and and up when it comes to allergies.  She knows what they are and how they can make you feel.  It's not like she sits around reading medical journals or health magazines.  Along with me, both her and Noah have horrible allergies.  Izzie like to asks questions.  She wants to know why this and why that.  Why does she feel sick?  Why is she coughing?  Why does she have goop in her eyes?  Why does she go outside and start sneezing and coughing?  I explain all these things to her in a way she can understand.  She gets it.  She says, "Okay, Momma." 

The other day we went to Walmart.  Yes, I know many of you don't like Walmart.  Well, maybe that's just Kris.  I rarely shop at Walmart, but I needed some inexpensive cool weather pajamas for Izzie.  Walmart has select pj's for $5, so I let Izzie pick out a few short sets.  She picked out a rainbow set, flower set, and butterfly set.  We were going through the check-out and Izzie says to the cashier, "My allergies are bugging me."  The cashier says, "Oh, sweetie, that's too bad.  I used to have allergies when I was younger."  Izzie says, "Yah, I'm sneezing and coughing...and Noah has a snotty nose and lots of boogers."  Izzie then goes into an informative and long explanation of what allergies are and how they make her and brother feel.  She describes every symptom in detail.  She was even kind enough to talk about my splotchy, red face.  As Izzie was conversing with the cashier Noah was in the cart singing and conducting with his hands and legs.  The woman in line behind us asked me if he was always this happy and if he always sang.  I said, for the most part, yes.  I also told her that he always sings, even if he's sad or angry.  He sings about it.  His sister sings all the time too.  They put on concerts for me.   The woman said, "Oh, how wonderful."  He sounds like he's an angel at home.  Umm, sure...And cue sandal being thrown across the checkout aisle. 

Friday morning started off quiet.  Izzie woke up at her usual time and chilled in bed with me playing games on my phone.  Noah didn't wake up until 10:30 which he's been doing on and off lately.  If he has a night where he's coughing a lot, he sleeps in.  Well, he woke up kind of how I wake up every morning.  He was groggy, had goop in eyes, and sounded like he swallowed a bucket of angry bull frogs.  He was really congested and coughing up all sorts of crap.  I'm sure you're really happy you decided to read my post today.  I gave Noah his milk, which he downed as fast as he usually does.  He came up to me crying with his empty cup and I figured he wanted more milk.  I filled his cup, gave it back to him and he started crying.  No milk?  Okay, are you hungry?  I started making him some breakfast and he starting crying again...then came the look.  He had a panicked expression as all the color suddenly drained from his face.  Then he gave me back his milk...all over the floor.  What followed was two hours of hell for him.  I think he was so congested that his milk just didn't settle and he needed to get it all out.  It took him about a dozen upchucks to do this.  Even though he got up at 10:30 he was so tired out from being sick that he fell asleep on the couch, about 1:00ish, while watching his favorite show, 'Little Einsteins.'  I moved him to his crib and he took a four hour nap.  When he woke up he had a high fever from being so dehydrated.  Slowly but surely, he kept Pedialite down a little at a time and by bedtime he was starting to perk up a little. 

I learned something about my boy that day.  He grasps certain things and has an understanding about things that other children his age don't.  Every time Noah was about to be sick he would come over to me with his designated 'puke bowl' and start crying.  He knew he was about to throw up.  I would hold the bowl for him while he threw up in it, clean his face when he was done and lay him back on the couch with his bowl (After I cleaned it of course.)  Every single time he threw up, he cried as he was trying to get it all out.  It broke my heart.  I think he just wanted to get everything out of him and be done with it.  He wasn't used to being down like this and he didn't like it.  Anyway, I remember a couple of times when Izzie got sick like that.  When I could tell that she was about to be sick, I would grab the bowl and she would push it away.  She didn't want to throw up.  She wanted nothing to do with the bowl.  And it was this whole, tear-crying-fight-battle that ended with my couch needing to be cleaned.  Then there is Noah.  Most kids his age don't understand what is happening to them and don't understand the whole throwing up in the bowl part.  But he seemed to get it.      

So I have two new things to be proud of.  Izzie can hold her own in a discussion on allergies, and Noah is a pro when it comes to the 'puke bowl.'  I'm always proud of my children's accomplishments.   

I make lists...a lot.  It's the only way I remember things.  It's keeps me sane.  I'm kind of obsessive with my list making.  Seriously, I make lists for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.  I decided to make a list of everything that happened last week.  Mostly because I'm tired and having some serious vertigo issues going on right now.  But also because it makes me realize how much I actually do in a week.  Sometimes we feel like we don't get very much done during the day or week, especially when we have a long list in front of us of things we didn't get done.  Try this exercise...Make a list of everything you did.  It will make you feel better.  Unless you slept all day, laid on the couch, wore the same shirt you've been wearing for a week due to lack of clean clothes, watched t.v. till the moon came up, pushed your dirty dishes under the rug, and ate crumbs from the bottom of the cookie jar for dinner.  Then I can't help you.  Put on a clean shirt and maybe go buy some groceries. Oh, and brush your teeth.


Our week
  1. mud slide (sandbox+pool+slide in pool)
  2. mud wrestling match
  3. under pant accidents
  4. acrobatics off the crib
  5. looking at toddler beds online
  6. super thunder and torrential downpours
  7. night owls and early risers
  8. working out
  9. sand boxing it
  10. fevers, crabbiness, sick babies
  11. foggy mornings
  12. sore quads from weeding it (the garden)
  13. marking my forehead with a weather vane
  14. watering my garden
  15. watering my flowers
  16. watering my children
  17. making homemade buttermilk honey bread
  18. eating a slice of delicious, cheesy pizza
  19. being up all night sick from some 'Dan Good Pizza.'
  20. vacuum races
  21. cleaning the house
  22. trying to get the bottom of my laundry pile
  23. enjoying my clean house for the few moments it will stay clean
  24. taking Izzie to see her new preschool and meet Mrs. D., the woman who runs it.
  25. being serenaded by Beast
  26. going to the zoo
  27. bathing my dog (I actually love giving him a bath.)
  28. dropping off Izzie's papers to the doctor and filling out all her preschool paperwork
  29. taking a moment to let it all sink in
  30. more super thunder and torrential downpours 
  31. making cucumber juice
  32. looking at my once clean house and realize the moment was short lived.
  33. wondering how my laundry pile seems to multiply before my eyes.
  34. allergies, allergies, allergies
  35. taking the babies to get Izzie some summer sleepers
  36. making a buttermilk cheesecake with Izzie
  37. taking care of a sick beast (he is full of so much snot that he threw up about a dozen times)
  38. being sad for my Noah 
  39. Costco trip
  40. weeding, watering, warbling 
  41. wondering if Izzie picked up a new habit.  Her allergy cough sounds like a smokers cough. 
  42. reading, reading, reading with Izzie for the summer book club
  43. making more cucumber juice
  44. working on birthday presents
  45. mini-grocery shop trip
  46. working on Noah's birthday party
  47. cleaning the house
  48. cleaning snotty noses
  49. cleaning snotty faces
  50. changing snotty sheets
  51. making homemade Greek yogurt with cucumber and fresh herbs from Izzie's herb garden
  52. writing some new music
  53. organizing clothes in the basement
  54. washing windows
  55. washing children
  56. making Lego masterpieces with the babies
  57. wondering if I could live with double vision
  58. I wouldn't mind seeing double of Johnny Depp
  59. working on some new baking posts
  60. organizing pictures
I like even numbers so I'll stop there, but you get the idea.  Even though my house is mess, there are piles of laundry that need washed, the floors need a good cleaning, there are several errands that need to be done, and I'm looking at my list of must-do's right now; I did a lot last week. 

Izzie just came up to me and asked, "So Momma, what are you going to do today?" 

A few minutes later, as I blowing my nose in the bathroom, Noah came up and asked, "Are you okay?"  Everytime I sneeze or blow my nose he asks me if I'm okay.

Oh, before I forget...again.  A few weeks ago I mentioned a special series I was going to do.  Well, I forgot, then I remembered, and then I forgot again.  I'm going to do the series this week.  I have a lot going on and won't be able to blog much, so it's the perfect time for the series.  

Also will be uploading some recent pictures later today.  

Happy Monday!

Hard to get Beast to hold still for a second, but this isn't too bad of a shot.  He's feeling a lot better today.

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