7 Quick Takes On Life In Our Nuthouse

1. Scot finally seems to be on the mend.  He worked half-days all last week and he's back to work full time this week.  The antibiotic they put him on in the ER seems to have turned the tide.  Thank Christ for that.  He's still not up to full strength but he's getting there and life appears to be returning to normal on that front.

2. Jamie loves preschool so much he hates leaving preschool.  He just cannot get used to the idea that he's only there for half a day and he constantly tells me he doesn't want to go home. Yesterday when I picked him up, he said he didn't like preschool - right after he finished telling me how much fun he had. I asked if that was because he had to leave and he said "yeah."  Poop.

However, the same facility that our preschool is in runs a drop in daycare. So we're going to investigate letting him stay all day at 'school' one day a week. The daycare portion is inexpensive as these things go so we can swing it once a week. When I told Jamie I would look into it he perked right up. We'll see how it all works out. I have to find out what kind of availability they have and that sort of thing.

3. Second grade with Liam is Serious Business.  Tests, tests, and more tests! Pretests! Reading tests! Spelling tests! Math tests! It goes on and on and on. The amount of homework has ramped up again (I expected it would) to the point that we're now tackling as much of it on the weekend as we can.  On top of that, two days ago he came home with multiplication homework.  Multiplication! I didn't start learning that until the 3rd or 4th grade and certainly not in the first month of it!  Holy crap!  I'm pretty sure second grade is stressing me out more than it's stressing him out.

4. Pumpkin update! So, it turns out that we got two pumpkins from our plant this year.  The second one is still ripening and it's much smaller than the first but we got it! I think I figured out that I planted it in too small a space so it couldn't root itself properly when setting fruit.  Next year (I'm hoping to try this again) I'll plant it in a larger space and hope for a bit more in the way of a harvest.

5.  The new schedule is still killing me a little bit.  With Jamie out of the house for only 2.5 hour chunks 3 days a week, I feel like I'm running a marathon every day that he's in school. I drop him off, try to go for my 3 mile walk, come home & cool off, then jump into chores until pick up time. It's crazy. I can't seem to fit it all in!

And yes, I have made some changes on the health and wellness front. I'm back to exercising as regularly as I can. I got way off track this week due to The Crisis of The Week (which I will talk more about in a separate post at a later date) but I haven't forgotten my promise to myself so I'm hoping I don't get completely off track. Thinking about exercising counts, right? (ha! I wish.) I've also tried to be better about my food choices and journal my food intake. That one is a bit of a roller coaster. Some days are really good, some days are really bad, and others are just so-so.

6.  This house needs a major purge of STUFF. We have too much STUFF and it's driving me utterly batshit.

7.  Squirrel!

P.S. When I did a google image search to find a funny squirrel picture, I discovered that 'squirrels with guns' is a thing. Image search THAT if you dare!

Catching Up

Man alive, it has been a long few weeks.

In no particular order, the goings on around these parts lately include:

1. Scot has had pneumonia for the last 3 weeks.  His work has been PHENOMENAL about the whole thing. They've told him not to push himself or do anything he's not ready to do and that he's not worry about the work he's supposed to be getting done. It has eased both of our minds to know that they are understanding.

He did try to go back to work on Tuesday after being off for 2 full weeks.  He made it all day Tuesday and half a day Wednesday but it seems that was too much too soon and he's been a limp dishrag since Wednesday afternoon.  Here's hoping the weekend brings improvement...

2. The first full week at school for Liam was a HUGE improvement from last year.  He's used to full day school now and he dropped back into the routine with almost no ripple.  It was a crazy first week getting everyone to their commitments and having Curriculum Night in the mix as well (which was one giant data dump and a lot to take in).  But we got through it and I think second grade is going to be good. So far he seems to like his teacher and he's happy with what they're learning in class so I'm content. The first grades he brought home - his first real letter grades - were A's. Go Liam!

3. Jamie started preschool this week. He had a sneak peek last week when he got to see the classroom and meet the teachers.  He loved it so much he cried when we left and was grumpy for an hour after we got home.  He's had two days of shortened hours this week and both times he cried when I picked him up. I think it's a combination of the stress of adjustment and not wanting to go home yet. The poor kid is used to full day daycare and this 2 hours at a time business is really pissing him off royally. But the teachers say he loves his time there so I have to trust that he'll get past all this and learn to love it.  I feel bad for him, though; I wish it could have been different.

However, check out how excited he was to go on the first day! (And please note that getting these pictures was nearly impossible - he was so excited I couldn't get him to stand still long enough to keep my pictures in focus!)

Ready to go Mom!

Headed out the door with a backpack as big as he is.

Also, there is nothing like a suburban preschool to make this mom feel out of place. I didn't know anyone (except my one neighbor up the street), they all show up for pick up way early (I got there 10 min early and there were 8 other moms there already), and they all seem to know each other from last year. I don't know them yet so I can't say for sure, but it felt like walking into a sea of Stepford Soccer Moms and I'm the odd woman out.  It'll get better and Jamie loves it, so that's what matters.

4. What about me, you ask? Well, I'm trying to keep my head above water and on top of the chores. I'm usually last on the list of things to take care of and I have to remind myself to shower on a regular basis.  I'm trying to work my way into figuring out how our new schedule works and how all my responsibilities fit into it. I want and need to make some fitness and diet changes for myself and I've been waiting out these last two weeks impatiently. At the start of next week I'll be seeing how my time really works out and I'm hoping that those 3 mornings to myself will afford me the time to put myself higher on the priority list every now and then.

A Week With Cousin Becca

Last week our niece came to stay with Grandma and Granddad for a whole week and my kids got to play with their cousin almost every day. All the kids loved it and we met up to do some fun things while Becca was here (the last of which being Kennywood).

One morning we headed to the playground for some climbing, sliding, running, and swinging.

Another day we headed to Soergel's orchard.  I had no idea this was an attraction for the under 10 set but it is. Playgrounds and farm animals!

Waiting for Grandma and Becca

Driving the tractor.

You're taking our picture? 

Locked in jail!

The kids had a fantastic time hanging out with each other. Next summer should be even better as Jamie will be older (and hopefully napless) so we can do more things with less tantrums.  This year, Jamie went three days without a nap and it almost killed him (and us).

So, now we're on the home stretch before school starts.  We have two full weeks plus a couple of days and then it's time to put Liam on the bus for second grade.

Kennywood!

On Saturday - the most blazingly hot day I've spent outside in years - the extended family went to Kennywood.  It was the first time our kids had ever been there and they had a blast.  I would have enjoyed it A LOT more if the weather had been a tad more cooperative. Over 90 and high humidity made me feel like crap.  I'm surprised we didn't collapse on the way back to the car.

On to the pictures!

Liam and I preparing to ride the ParaTrooper. NOT OUR BEST DECISION.

After riding the ParaTrooper. NO ME GUSTA.

"MOTORCYCLE!" Jamie screamed and had to ride it.

On the Orbiter

Liam and Cousin Becca on the flying elephants.

Pretty girl Becca 

Granddad, Scot, and the boys on the S.S. Kenny

Scot just loves this ride!

I don't know why Liam is making this face but it's hilarious.

Loving the Lil Phantom!

A sign we did Kennywood right.

I'd be willing to take them again next year but when it's COOLER.  Hauling 40 lbs of Jamie around in a wagon just about killed me (and says a lot about my lack of fitness).  However, they're never going to get me to ride the big coasters with them. NOT A CHANCE IN HELL.  They'll just have to figure that out on their own. Seeing as Liam wasn't a super fan of the ParaTrooper either, I'm probably safe. At least for a little while!

7 Quick Takes

The concept of this post was stolen from Jayesel who did it on her blog (and I believe she stole it from someone else, too.  Ahhh, the internet!).  Seven quick little things I want to talk about but really don't merit their own whole post.

1. Today Scot begins his new job. Huzzah! He took the last week or so off work to get a bit of a break, rest, and recharge. He spent some of the time out of town visiting friends of ours and being leisurely. He so needed it as the last 5 months have been the very definition of stressful. (No really, look up the definition and you'll see "the first half of 2012 for the TKandB family.")  I'm desperately hoping that this is the start of things looking up. We have some adjusting to do to get used to a new schedule and I'm hoping the commute won't become overly onerous for him.  But, yay! New job!

2. I reported Jamie's daycare to the state.  I wrote a long letter detailing the whole sorry mess and sent it off last week. I haven't heard anything since so I don't know that anything will actually come of it. Still, it made me feel better to lodge a formal complaint. At least it will be on record.

3. Jamie is now fully registered for pre-school.  I can't wait to get him started.  I saw the facility and it's amazing.  AMAZING.  I have a parent orientation meeting in a couple of weeks where I assume I'll get all the details on daily routines and whatnot. He starts on September 5th and he'll be going Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 am to 11:30 am. I've already started making a list of things that need to be done while the kids are out of the house.

4. Speaking of school, Liam starts school on August 23rd. Just 22 more days and he'll be a second grader.  A SECOND GRADER. I think it just hit me now - I've been looking forward to him starting school again because we're in the middle of end-of-summer-sassmouth but I failed to realize that OMG, SECOND GRADE.

5. I think we will only get one pumpkin from our plant this year. The one I hand pollinated is doing fabulously. But while the plant keeps setting fruit, for some reason the female flowers aren't actually flowering and then the fruits wither and fall off. I'm not entirely sure what the problem is (got any ideas, internet friends?) but at this rate only Liam will be getting a home grown pumpkin this Halloween.  I'd like to try this again next year because it's been such a fun experiment this year and if we do, I'm going to plant it in a different spot where it has more room. The place it is now, it just doesn't have enough room to spread out and I wonder how much that has to do with the lack of pumpkins. So, next year - larger area for it.

6. Liam passed his swim lessons with flying colors. Next year he'll be in Level III and in the mean time he can jump off the diving board and go down the big water slide all by himself. He's proven himself to be largely safe in the water and it's a huge load off my mind. Also, with Jamie now in a traditional pre-school, he'll be able to start swim lessons next summer - a year earlier than Liam did.

7.  I haven't talked about my diet in a long time. There's a reason - I'm a mess. The stress of the summer has finally overwhelmed me and I started gaining instead of losing. I was already thoroughly stuck where I was and now I put on at least 6 pounds. Frustrating beyond measure. I'm starting to climb back up on the horse but I don't know that I'm really making a lot of progress. Also, with two kids home full time, exercising has been almost non-existent. I've gotten some in here and there but really - I'm lucky to do it once a week, IF THAT. So. Yeah. I have a looooooong way to go and I feel completely and utterly defeated.  I wish this wasn't so damn difficult.

Hodgepodge

It's been a busy summer in a lot of ways and most of it hasn't been very fun or been something I can really blog about.  But we have been doing SOME fun stuff and I wanted to share some updates.

• Pumpkin farming continues apace.  It seems that our first few fruits did not get fertilized (a couple of them didn't even bloom!) so we lost those pumpkins.  But over the weekend I managed to catch a female flower in full bloom and hand pollinated it myself.  We'll see if it worked!
• We eventually reached an impasse with Jamie's speech therapy.  After an especially frustrating and rude (on their part) call with DART, it became clear they were really not willing to help.  We hired a private therapist to work with Jamie and he's making progress again.  I'm really excited for him!  I also found out that if Jamie was to qualify for year round services, he would have to lose 20% of his progress during breaks and not be able to make it up during the 2-3 week summer sessions.  TWENTY PERCENT.  And if all he does is tread water, that's perfectly fine with them.  That is not fine with me so I'm so very glad we have such a great private therapist.
• Liam is really excelling with swim lessons this summer.  We spent a bunch of time at the pool before lessons started and he seemed to finally make the connection between his brain and the necessary coordination.  He started to actually SWIM.  Now we're halfway through lessons and he's doing the big water slide without getting caught at the bottom and he's >thisclose< to going off the diving board on his own.
• Over the 4th of July, the kids and I went up to Michigan to visit with my parents.  My Aunt and Uncle were also there from California and they got to meet the boys for the first time.  It was really good to see them. I haven't seen them since I was very early pregnant with Jamie when I attended one of my cousin's wedding.  We had a good time visiting with everyone.  We went to the beach one day and the kids had a really great time.  Liam swam like a fish (and saw some too!) and Jamie spent most of his time in the shallows with the sand toys - and had a grand time doing it. 

Swimmer Liam!

Playing in the sand. 

• Our air conditioning quit on us a couple of weeks ago during the hottest week we've had yet this summer (of course). We're talking heat indexes over 100 degrees.  When we had the repair guy come out we discovered that our a/c unit was THIRTY-ONE years old. Basically, it was about as old as the house itself.  Solution? Replace. The good news is that we got a good reliable unit that's larger and more efficient that will cut our electric bills down. The bad news is that it cost several thousand dollars.  We've lived in this house for five years and in that time we've replaced the furnace, the water heater, the washer/dryer, the refrigerator, one of the garage door openers, and now the air conditioning.  All that's left is one garage door opener, the dishwasher, and the stove.  Then we'll have a complete new set! /sarcasm
• I'm looking forward to making a happy announcement soon but the time is not quite right. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, enjoy Maggie.

Crazy Busy

I know you're not supposed to blog about not blogging but guess what? Rules are made to be broken and I have some stuff I want to say. *sticks out tongue* So there.

Posting has been sparse around here and it's because I've been focused on everything else.  And I do mean everything. We're coming to the end of the school year, spring (or more accurately, SUMMER) is in full swing, the kids are busy with stuff, and I'm trying to make a lot of changes to my habits.  I have so many, many bad habits and I'm trying to focus on changing them.

About two weeks ago, I reorganized my cleaning rota.  I included more things that need to be done and spread everything out over the course of the week.  Then, I started tackling those tasks each day.  I've had some pretty monumental piles to dig out from under so it's been a slow process to get everything up and running smoothly. This week alone I did 17 loads of laundry because the mountain of dirty clothes was Everest-sized.  I'm pushing myself to not only wash and dry the clothing but FOLD IT and PUT IT AWAY, too. Shocking concept, I know.

This is turn means that my bedroom is much neater now (although there is still work to be done - *ahem* the top of my dresser) but getting there was a two hour job.

This same story is repeated all over the house.  I'm aiming to keep things more in check so that when I have to pick up a room or do some laundry, it's a task that seems much less overwhelming and will take me much less time.

In the meantime, summer weather is here and with it summer yard work, which is something I am perpetually behind on and clearly suck at.  My gardens are nothing but weeds and my lawn gets mowed once for every two times the neighbors mow theirs.  So, I've set some goals for what I want to accomplish this spring. They're manageable and I'm working on them. Clearing out weeds, transplanting in ground cover, attempting to make it look like something other than lazy people live here.  I don't have a lot of money (read: none) to spend on this so it's all got to be something I can do with what I already have. Luckily, that's mostly true.

On top of that, I'm still trying to stay committed to my exercise goals. This week was less than successful on that front but I've been working my tail off in the house so that has to count for something.


It's shaping up so that the days when Jamie is in daycare and Liam is at school are insanely busy for me. Thursday, while Jamie was at daycare, the first grade classes at Liam's school performed the play "Bugz" for the parents. (Liam was an army ant.) I had a thousand other things to do that day as well as attend (and help set up for) the play.  In the end, my schedule looked like this:

I still don't know how I managed to stay on track, but I did.

The point in all this is that blogging isn't last on the list - it hasn't even made the list to begin with.  I think this is something I need to change.  I frequently think "I should blog about that" and then I don't.  Because I forget to do it or I'm tired or I'm just plain lazy.  Since I'm trying not to be lazy in other areas of my life, I shouldn't let blogging get forgotten.

The good news is that I feel progress is being made on most fronts. I still feel like I'm not doing enough yard work (but it's 85 and swampy out! I DON'T WANNA). But, maybe it's like presents and it's the thought that counts.  Yeah, I don't think so either.

SO: I'm going to try to make blogging more of a priority - even if they're short little posts or just a picture or two.

In the meantime, enjoy a picture of my kids sitting in a bulldozer at Touch A Truck.

RoundUp

It's been crazy around here the last couple of weeks and I've been exhausted by day's end each day.  I keep thinking I should blog and update everyone on how things are going but it never seems to get done. But here I am, trying to make up for lost time.  In no particular order, the goings on around here include:

• Scot has a new job. It's not everything we were hoping for but it's a start.  We had initially thought it would be a long term contract (up to 12 months) but when he went to the interview it turned out to be 3 to 4 months duration.  However, the pay is good enough that we can afford to pay COBRA and keep up with our bills so he took the job.  They were very enthusiastic about his skill set so we're hoping it leads to something else.  In the meantime, he is continuing to look for more permanent work.
• The kids seem to be getting back on track after the incredible stress of the last month.  Sometimes Liam is so resilient it shocks me and other times he's so fragile I wonder what I should do to help him through.  The routine of school seems to be helping.  He's only got one month of first grade left, though.  WOW!
• Jamie is VERY, VERY THREE right now, thankyouverymuch, and I would like to exchange him for a less cranky model.  Although, given his start in this world, what did I expect?  Anyway, as expected, three is proving very challenging and not being in daycare has exacerbated that.  The kid is BORED.  We're working on getting him started back into daycare and I *hope* that he'll start next week or the week after.  For the time being we can afford it and I shudder to think what the summer will be like if I can't separate the kids every now and then.  He needs it, I need it, we ALL need it.  So, daycare it is.
• For almost as long as he could talk, Liam has been catching kisses I blow at him.  I'll blow him a kiss to say goodbye or goodnight and he'll clap a hand to his cheek and say "GOT IT!" then blow one at me and expect the same.  It's a little ritual we have.  Now, Jamie has started to do it. I put him down for a nap today and he blew me a kiss so I blew him one.  "Got it!" he answered.  And this is why we put up with him.
• Last, we have woodpeckers.  Not in or on the house but in the backyard.  I've been seeing either a hairy or a downy woodpecker for the last couple of years (I can't tell which it is) but today I saw a pileated one. They're really BIG! Much bigger than songbirds.  And because I now have a long lens for my camera and can take pictures out the back door from my couch, I have photos!

Hairy or Downy Woodpecker. Vote for your choice!

Pileated Woodpecker

So, that's life in our house right now.  Honestly, I'm really grateful we've landed in this spot so quickly. I don't think Scot nor I felt as though a single month without work was even in the cards. And yet, 4 weeks later, he's working again. I hope that means full time permanent work is around the corner.

Your Daily Dose of Randomness

So, I take a lot of pictures.  Many of them are not good quality, but some of them turn out nicely enough that I like to show them off here.

This is not one of those posts.

This is a post where I realized that I have pictures of some really RANDOM shit sitting in my photo archives.  So, I'm giving you a look into the crazy side of life at the TK&B household.

This is from Christmas cookie baking. Look at my cutie snowmen!

Took this one last week - turkey on the back hill!  Release the hound!

Boys and guns. How do they pick it up without being taught?!

The first in a series. This is what it took to get that ONE decent Easter picture.

Part the second

And, last but never least, who could forget this gem?

Hodgepodge

• Winter has finally arrived.  We have a couple of inches of snow on the ground and it's colder than a witch's tit outside.  Of course, it showed up at exactly the right time to cock up my sister-in-law (and family)'s trip up here to visit this weekend so they had to cancel.  We were bummed.  Yet, later this week it's supposed to be in the 40's again.  This winter is bipolar.
• Liam is not tolerating his steroid treatment.  He was on it for 3 days and it screwed up his sleep and made him fidgety and jittery - so much so that his teacher noticed it at school.  It also gave him a wicked case of laryngitis. We talked to his doctor and she told us to take him off it for a week to determine how long it would take to get back to baseline and then call her back.  We call on Monday (tomorrow).  Frankly, I'm not sure she believed us that it was the medication making him crazy but since pulling him off it he's made a huge improvement in behavior and sleep so YES it was the steroids screwing him over.
• Of course, this means that I don't know what the hell is going to happen with his treatment from here.  The treatment is steroids.  Period.  What they're going to do with the information that he can't tolerate them? I can't predict.  The one piece of good news is that the blood work on food allergies all came back normal.  No food allergies.  Huzzah!
• Jamie is being introduced to the wonderful world of potty training.  He's been walking up to me, pointing at his diaper, and telling me "wet!" or "poopy!" as appropriate.  Sorry kid, if you can tell me what you did in there, you can do it in the potty instead of a diaper.  So far success is limited - he'll only pay attention if he's naked from the waist down.  Otherwise, there's pee in the undies.  We're working on it.  I'd love to see him trained (mostly) before his birthday but it took over a year to completely train Liam and I am unclear what will happen with Jamie.  I think at this point I need to be more consistent with him than I have been.  I'd forgotten how much I really dislike this stage but in the same breath I've been doing diapers non-stop for 7 years now and I am SICK TO DEATH OF DIAPERS. 
• In other Jamie news, his speech is making another leap.  We're getting longer phrases that are more intelligible.  The other day I got, "Brown bear, brown bear, what you see?"  That's probably the longest phrase I've gotten so far.  He's also started singing along with various things - as though he always knew the words but could never get them out fast enough to sing along before now.  So, progress is being made.
• Jamie is also FINALLY breaking his two year molars - 3 months before he turns three.  Of course, all four of them are pushing through at once making him extra special miserable.  Two of them have poked the points through, two are just painful lumps, and all of them have the large flat surface of the tooth to break through.  Teething and potty training and speech advancements - that's Jamie lately.
• As for the adults in the house - well, we just keep plugging.  We got an impromptu night out at Piper's Pub last week that was quite welcome.  Otherwise, it's life as normal.  Work, childcare, housework, dog care, etc etc etc. 

Gee, Thanks

Driving home from getting Liam's blood draw today, we could see the outline of the moon in the afternoon sky.

"Hey Liam - look at the moon!"

"Cool!  How come it's up, Mom?"

"Well, sweetie, I'm not entirely sure about that.  You could ask Daddy, though, since he knows more about astronomy.  I'm going to guess that the moon is always there we just can't always see it when it's light out."

There was a bit of a pause from the back seat.  Then...

"I'm not saying you're dumb, Mom, it's just that Daddy is smarter that you are.  I'm just saying."

Well then.  Glad I wasted 4.5 years getting a college degree.  It's amazing I can mange to drive a car and work that laundry gizmo in the basement.  I think I'll get myself a helmet to wear on a permanent basis.  Ya know, because I'm not too careful being not as smart as Daddy and all that.

I suppose he could have told me my butt was too big, but somehow that seems like it might not have been so bad.

One Small Gesture

It's been one hell of a week in this house.  Three of the four of us were sick with a nasty cold and Scot was diagnosed with a cracked rib.  Of course, they only discovered that after 2 ER visits, 2 doctor visits, multiple chest x-rays, blood tests, and a CT scan.  But I digress.

So, yeah, it's been a long rotten week (hence the lack of blogging - when I blog and I'm cranky I get comments about how if that's all I have to bitch about I should shut up.  So I don't blog when I'm cranky).  We've been muddling through as best we can but Scot was having a really hard time - mostly because he felt like he couldn't breathe - and wasn't really able to do much more than lay in bed and try to catch his breath.

Liam, sensitive kid that he is, picked up on all this and presented Scot with this note two nights ago:

" Dad I will love you forever.

I really {love} Dad.

You are the best Dad ever.

You are great.

I love you lots and lots.

You are the best Dad ever."

One little note and life doesn't seem so tough anymore.

Stress!

I mentioned that last week was the week from hell and I wasn't lying.  I don't think I've looked forward to a Monday morning more than I looked forward to this one.

It started last Sunday night when Scot was hit very fast and very hard with the worst migraine of his life.  He has had problems with migraines for several years now and the short explanation is that he's been to many doctors, tried many treatments (most of which are a serious problem for him), and come out the other side no better than when he started.  His headache Sunday night was a bad one and despite all medications we had to treat it at home, it was not going away.  He ended up going to the ER to have it treated.

As ER trips go, it was fairly low stress.  They gave him with the medications we know will work, broke the headache and sent him on his way.  Not such a bit deal, really.  (I'm sure you're wondering how a 'low-stress' ER visit figures into this story of ongoing stress.  Stay with me.)

Monday he worked from home because the medications he'd been given combined with the severity of the headache left him feeling pretty hung-over.  This is how it came to be that he was home in the afternoon.

Now, Scot had a procedure of a personal nature about 3 weeks ago.  It went fine.  On Monday afternoon, I was herding Liam through the process of getting ready to go to TKD when I heard a high-pitched yelp.  I actually thought it was Liam from another room but when I looked up Liam was right there.  However, Jamie had been upstairs with Scot.

Oh no.

Scot took an injury of a personal nature courtesy of Jamie's knee.  Unfortunately, I couldn't stay around to chat because I had to take Liam to TKD.  While I was at the dojang, Scot and I were exchanging text messages and then phone calls about the situation.  The upshot was that he was in enough pain that he had to be seen by a doctor, it was after hours, and the doctor that did the procedure told him to go to the ER.

The same ER he'd been at just 24 hours before.

This time I went with him.  We made emergency arrangements for childcare (Thank you, Ann!) and when I got home with Liam from TKD, I shoved down some dinner and then took Scot to the ER.  It was not as painless a visit as the night before but he did get the same attending.  Also, the nurse thought I was Scot's daughter, not his wife.  Considering this injury, this was both funny and weird.

Luckily, there didn't appear to be any damage done so he was sent home with painkillers and told to take it easy. And to stay away from the toddler's knee.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were fairly normal if hectic.  As usual, I had a crap ton to do and not enough time to do it in.  This is nothing new.

Friday night was the kicker.  That night just about did me in.

We got to the end of the day and it was time to start bath/bedtime routine.  I took the kids upstairs to and convinced them to get in the tub together to save me extra work.  Meanwhile, Scot and I kept saying "who farted?" and "what's that smell?" and "is Jamie's diaper dirty?" I got the kids in the tub and ran down to the basement to check things out.  Hit the furnace/laundry room.

GAS!

I went running for the stairs, yell at Scot to call his parents so we can get the kids out, shut off the furnace, and go running for the bathroom to bathe the kids, get them out, and get them dressed.  Scot calls his parents then calls the fire department.  Smart man, because I was all "BUG OUT!  BUG OUT!  MASH 4077, BUG OUT!"

So, he goes to wait outside for the nice burly firemen to show up while I run around like a crazy person getting Jamie dressed (Liam can dress himself), gathering toiletries, clothes, pillows, blankies, and stuffed animals and throwing it all together in an overnight bag.  All the while I'm wondering "What the hell are we going to do with the dog?!"

By this time the firemen have arrived (who, by the way showed up with the lights and trucks and whatnot - Jamie was FASCINATED as, I'm sure, were the neighbors) so I can't get out of my driveway.  I went down to check on things and find out if I needed to whisk the kids away.  Guess what?  IT'S POO GAS.  Yep, a back burp of sewer gas from the main house drain.

Yes, go ahead.  I'm laughing at myself, too.  

But, you know, just to be safe, the burly firemen are running around with their little gas reading equipment.  There were no leaks on the furnace - good, it's practically brand new - but he stuck the meter in the dryer, turned the dryer on and that meter lit up like a damn Christmas tree.  Gas leak in or around the dryer.

They shut off the gas supply to the dryer and I had to call a repairman today (they are coming out tomorrow).  Meanwhile, the 6 year old was freaking out that it's not safe in the house and the 2 yr old was shrieking about all the "SHRUCKS!" in front of the house.

It was A Night and almost immediately upon getting the kids calmed down and in bed the phone rang.  It was the neighbors wanting to know what the hell was going on.  Oh joy.

The weekend was crisis-free but not aggravation free.  Everyone was on everyone else's nerves and we were all cranky.  Not even a couple of family outings seemed to soothe our savageness.

So here it is, the start of a brand-new week, and I am praying that it will be calmer and that I will be able to get all of my domestic chores done without a bunch of crazy crises throwing monkey wrenches into things.  Considering I've got two TKD classes, a class field trip I'm chaperoning, a plumber coming in to repair the dryer, taking the car for inspection, Liam's Lego class, and speech therapy all on the docket this week I need things to run smoothly.

My thoughts exactly, Jamie.

Impressive. Most Impressive.

I witnessed something tonight that I have never previously seen in my life.  I watched Jamie have a ferocious tantrum.  I've seen kids tantrum before.  I've seen Jamie tantrum before.  But this was something in another league altogether.  When it was over and done with I was pretty sure we needed an old priest and a young priest.

The screaming began the second that Scot told Jamie was time to head upstairs for bath.  Jamie wanted me to take him but I had reached my limit with him by that point and Scot had volunteered to take bath and bed duty for Jamie while I took on Liam.  Jamie was having none of this.

Scot dragged him upstairs and the symphony of screaming was so loud it nearly drowned out the TV.  Jamie was screaming at high pitch and high volume but also gutturally.  They were the kind of screams that you just know hurt your throat to utter.  But he was going at it full bore, only pausing to suck in another breath so he could keep screaming.

"Liam," I said, "we need to head upstairs right now.  You can finish watching this tomorrow."

I grabbed the clean laundry and headed up.  I got Liam started on putting his clean clothes away and then went in to help Scot tag team Jamie.  I walked in and Jamie was kicking, screaming, and flailing on his bed while Scot tried to get his clothes off.  Scot got him down to his diaper and he FLIPPED OUT even further and tried to pluck his clothes out of the dirty laundry and make me put them back on him.

We walked out and let him scream.  I checked on Liam and his clothes and then grabbed Jamie's and put them away.  I refused to look at Jamie.  He followed me around screaming as loud as he could.  Again, without pause except to get air.

Finally, I pinned him down and removed his diaper.  I think I have bruises from the assault of his legs.  He ran around naked and screaming for all he was worth while I tried to snatch him and put him in the bath that was running for him.  I finally got him and deposited him in the tub.

Baths are his favorite thing.  He loves them and they soothe him.  He never goes to sleep as well or as easily on nights that we skip his bath - which means we rarely skip them.  I was hoping that the bath would help.

He continued to scream.

High pitched.  Loud.  Guttural.

He flailed and splashed to express his anger.  I tried to calm him down but all he did was scream and point imperiously OUT of the tub.  He refused to calm down even in the tiniest increment.

I finally just washed him and pulled him out and he got mad at me for giving him what he wanted.

So now there's a wet, naked, screaming, red-faced toddler standing there.  I wrapped him up in his towel and tried, futilely, to determine his problem and calm him down.  I dried him off and hung up the towel hoping that he would lead me to his desire.  Nope.

He ran around the upstairs naked and screaming.  This went on for some time.  I had to pin him to the floor to administer his night time medication.  This is unheard of.  He was screaming so hard I was afraid he was going to choke.

Finally, I decided I couldn't put it off any longer and it was time to get him in his diaper and pj's.  He saw what was coming and started trying to fight me off like an enraged badger.

It took the both of us to hold him down just to get the diaper on him.

Eventually we got him dressed and ready for bed.  I sat down with him to rock and he suddenly seemed to calm a bit and let me soothe him.  He was still tetchy but he had stopped screaming - at least I'm pretty sure he did because I was deaf by this point.  With the help of a small sippy of water, I was able to get him settled in bed without him launching into another rendition of the scream symphony.

I think if he his head had spun around three times while vomiting pea soup I would not have been shocked.  I now know what a full bore redheaded temper tantrum looks like and I don't like it one tiny bit.

Whew. We Made It.

We're all a little worse for wear but we have survived the first full week of school.  I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a Friday afternoon.

Liam is happy with his new teacher and his new class.  He loves being a big bus-riding kid and eating lunch at school.  Recess is the highlight of his day so far because he gets to see all his friends from last year.  But he is Worn Out.  He's wandering around with dark circles under his eyes that make it look like he ended up at the wrong end of a fist during Tae Kwon-Do.  The poor kid was exhausted last night.

Scot and I are little better than he is.  The new schedule is wearing on me and the week has been busy otherwise (see: vet emergency).  I probably should have stopped doing 90 miles an hour before I hit that wall in my way.  But hit it I did and tonight I am knackered.  The good news is that Curriculum Night at school was last night so tonight I can fall on my face.

Speaking of which, we love his teacher.  She's everything you want a first grade teacher to be.  She's clearly very excited to be in the classroom full time this year (she was a resource teacher last year).  I can't wait to see how far she can take these kids.

And as for Jamie, well, he's finally starting to get into the groove of things.  It seems like he had the hardest time with the changes earlier this week but is in the best shape tonight.  The inverse has been true for the rest of the family.  So, while we're all ready to face plant, he's got enough energy to power Tokyo.

Thank goodness it's a holiday weekend.  We can all use the extra day of rest!

Hectic

That one word sums up the last several days.  I've wanted to blog more but we've been so busy I can barely get from one thing to the next on time.

Here's how today went, to give you an idea.  Let me preface it with the fact that Scot's car refused to start on Sunday so we had to have it towed on Monday and it's been in the shop ever since.

6:30 - get up with Jamie.  Get dressed and presentable to leave the house.
7:00 - Liam gets up, wake Scot.  Spend next 30 min prepping to leave.
7:30 - load up the family and leave.  Take Scot to work stopping on the way to get coffee for him.
7:45 - drop off Scot and head to Jamie's daycare.
8:00 - drop off Jamie at daycare and head to the grocery store with Liam.
8:15-9 - grocery shop then go home.
9 - 9:45 - unload the groceries, put them away, sit down to breathe and have breakfast.  Get Liam changed for swim lessons.
9:45 - leave for swim.
10 - 11 - swim lesson for Liam.
11:15 arrive home and have a dang break.
11:15 - 4:00 pm.  Hang out at home.  Get lunch, do cleaning, work on laundry, try to nap to no avail, make cupcakes.
4:00 pm - pick up Jamie.
4:15- 5:30 home long enough to feed the kids and myself.  Scot still at work.
5:30 - leave for Tae Kwon-do with both kids.  Jamie NEVER goes with us as it runs past his bath and bed time but one car, one parent, no choice.  He went with.
5:45 - 6:45 -TKD for Liam.  Managed to pick up Scot at work while Liam was in class.
7:00 - arrive home.  Scot eats, I throw children in the tub.  Jamie is now late for bed.
7:15 - Jamie in bed.
7:40 - Liam in bed.

After the kids were down, I made buttercream frosting and frosted the cupcakes I made.  Then I sat down to write an email to a friend that was waiting on my reply.  Tomorrow is speech therapy for Jamie and I still have to finish picking up the house.

I know that working parents do this sort of thing pretty much every day so I shouldn't complain.  And, really, I'm not.  But I'm not used to this kind of schedule AT. ALL.  This is what my life has been like for the last several days - hence the lack of blogging.

Swim lessons run all week this week and next.  After they are done things calm down a little bit.  I'm looking forward to it.

One Week

It has been one hell of a week.

Liam finished kindergarten.
Summer vacation started and we're all trying to adjust to the new schedule.
Scot and I got to have a dinner out. (woohoo!)
Jamie is working on molars something fierce.
I had Hen Night with friends.
Liam tested for his green belt in Tae Kwon-Do. (A separate post on that is coming.)
Liam got grounded for the first time in his life.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Liam got grounded.

The sweet, loving little boy I once knew has turned into a cesspit of sass and attitude.  He fights me over absolutely everything, from getting dressed to brushing his teeth to what game we're going to play.  Nothing is easy.  Almost every word that comes out of his mouth is flavored with a large measure of sass.  He's rude for the sake of being rude.  I feel like a total failure; I feel like I'm raising a brat.

We've tried talking to him.  We've tried lecturing him.  We've tried cajoling him.  We've taken toys away.  All of these tactics have worked in the past with him.  They don't work anymore.  He listens to us, he says "Ok, Mommy and Daddy," and then he turns right around and repeats bad behavior.  It is maddening.

One day this week, he was over playing at the neighbor's house.  I went over to bring him home because I needed to go pick up Jamie at daycare.  Liam gave me the usual 'tude, I told him I didn't care what he wanted, it was time to come home.

And he tried to kick me.


Well, he got hauled home while I berated his behavior the whole way and then he got grounded for a week.

What a trying week it has been.  He has continued to be nasty and rude to me when I'm only trying to help him and when I haul him up short on his attitude he turns on the tears for sympathy.  I look at him and say "You won't gain my sympathy with your tears.  It was YOUR choice to act as you have been and if you don't want to feel what you're feeling right now, don't make those choices again."  I'm not proud of this, but I've been wielding guilt and disappointment like a club.  It seems to be the only thing that will get through to him.

We're nearing the end of his week of being grounded.  He beginning to improve but it is a constant battle with him.  I hesitate to say it for fear of jinxing it, but today has been a lot better than the last few.  I pray it continues.

I love him so much but I hate the way he's treating us these days.  I feel like these boundaries were set years ago and I don't understand why he's testing them again all of the sudden.  I'm assured by other parents that this is not unusual for the age, but man alive, it's hard!  I feel like every word out of my mouth is correction or criticism and what I really want is to be able to use words of love and praise.

I'm praying for a better week this week.

In The Words of Inspector Gadget, "Wowsers"

Saturday evening, I tweeted the following:

Sunday evening brought this gem:

I don't even know how to describe what we've gone through with Jamie this past weekend.  He has displayed behavior the likes of which I have never witnessed in any child with which I've come into contact.  This is not my first rodeo when it comes to the Terrible Twos and this weekend was so awful that if I start to seriously contemplate how bad age three is going to be, I might get PTSD - Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Jamie spent the weekend screaming.  When he wasn't screaming, he was squealing.  When he wasn't squealing, he was sobbing.  When he wasn't sobbing he was whining.  When he wasn't doing any of those things he was asleep - which was hard won to begin with.

He refused to communicate with us at all.  If we didn't have ESP, we might as well bend over and grab our ankles.  Seeing as we don't have the ability to read minds, we were staring at our ankles a lot.  We couldn't figure out what he wanted to do, what he wanted to eat, where he wanted to go - nothing.  We tried taking the kids out a couple of times and we had to run for the hills both times because Jamie was having epic public meltdowns.

Poor Liam got the short end of the parental stick all weekend long.  Scot and I were so frazzled at trying to survive what was happening with Jamie that Liam just had to sort of fit himself into the cracks.  This is one of the many reasons I felt like a failure as a parent.  Not only couldn't I find a way to calm Jamie down and help him through whatever was upsetting him, I had to ignore Liam in the process.

I have theories about Jamie's issues: teething, a cold, new neurologic patterns as speech slowly emerges, and hunger (due to his mouth hurting from teething and not eating as a result).  When I finally figured out that last item, I made him some easy to eat Kraft Mac n Cheese and the kid stuffed at least a half a pot of the stuff down his gaping maw.  

I hope this weekend was just some kind of perfect storm because I don't know if I can do that again and again and again for weeks or months.  So far, today has been better.  He's been in a better mood and he's taking a l-o-n-g nap.  Here's hoping...

Slacker

That would be me.  I managed to blog every day last month and this month is the very definition of scattershot.

It's not that I don't want to write posts.  I have at least 3 or 4 rattling around in my head but it has been BUSY the last couple of weeks.  We've had doctors appointments and illness and speech therapy plus all of our regular commitments.  At the end of the day, more often than not, I space out and don't write.  During the day, I have things to do and when I don't have things to do, I'm trying to enjoy being with the family.

So yeah, the blog has been coming last on my list of priorities - right behind laundry.  Since I'm finally tackling that mountainous pile, it's time to do something here.

On the subject of illness, the upper respiratory virus that's running through our household is a doozy.  First Scot came down with a sinus infection that left him in bed for 3 days.  Almost simultaneously, Jamie started with a fever.  Two days later we took him to the pediatrician and got the double ear infection diagnosis.  So, 2 out of the 4 of us are on antibiotics for what is likely the same virus.  Scot finished his up yesterday and went the ER to beg more medication because after 2 weeks this infection is still hanging on.  Jamie's fever broke within a day or so after starting his Omnicef but he's still coughing a bit and congested.  Tomorrow is his last day of antibiotics.  I'm going to have to keep an eagle eye on him for the next week because he's supposed to have his tubes put in a week from tomorrow.

In the meantime, Liam has started to get congested and is developing a cough.  And me?  Ear pain to start and now chest congestion and a cough.  I don't have time for this mess.

As far as speech therapy goes, we had our first working session on Friday.  She did all of her paperwork as quickly as possible and was able to work with Jamie for about 15 min before the end of the session.  To the outside observer, all she did was play with him but I can see the strategies she's employing to improve his speech.  There's a lot of repetition involved.  She also rewards him for using language by continuing the play activity with him.  For example, they were blowing bubbles and every time he used the word "bubble" he got more bubbles to play with.  She comes again tomorrow morning, bright and early for a full length session.

My 35th birthday was also on Friday.  It was a low key day after we got done with speech therapy and I enjoyed that.  Since I had cleaned up before the therapist got here, I was able to sit on my butt while Jamie napped FOR THREE HOURS that afternoon.  (Best. Gift. Ever.)  We went to dinner that night with the kids and my in-laws.  Again, very low key but also very enjoyable.  My mother-in-law baked me a cake since I didn't have time to do it for myself and it was delicious.  I got a few small gifts (but the real gift was the camera I got last month) and lots of hugs and kisses and "Happy Birthday, Mommy!" from the kids.

Today I need to clean but I am not feeling excited about it, mostly because I feel like crap.

This Week Kicked My Butt

What a long, crappy week it was.

I started out by not losing a single ounce on my Monday weigh in and that somehow set the tone for the week.

On Wednesday evening, Scot tripped over a toy while trying to make the dog go out and landed on the wrist he had surgery on just 8 weeks ago.  It's a long, disgusting story but the shortest way I can put it is that he fell and injured it 2 years ago, had surgery to repair a ligament tear just before I had Jamie, and proceeded to have 2 years worth of problems with it.  He finally found a good reconstructive surgeon and had a procedure to fix the damn thing (as much as it can be) in February.

And then he fell on it.

We rushed off the ER and had it looked out.  He wrenched his back but nothing was broken.  As for the wrist, we won't know for sure about what's happening with it until he sees his surgeon again since they can't see soft tissue injury on x-ray.

On Thursday I very convincingly played the part of a chipmunk on meth.  I had cleaning to do at the house because the speech therapists were scheduled to be here at 9 am on Friday, Jamie had daycare, Liam had school, and I had an appointment for a haircut.  Into this day already full of obligations, we had find time to get Scot to his GP as a follow up to the ER visit.  He couldn't drive himself because the pain meds made him dopey so I was doing it.  Which meant I ping-ponged around the North Hills trying to make sure he got to the doc, someone could watch Liam, and we all got home in time for lunch and school.  Scot's doctor running WAY late didn't help things.

I managed to get Liam off to school and headed over to Shadyside for my haircut.  Since it's been a year and a half since I cut my hair, it took awhile so I was racing to get back in time for Liam to get off the school bus.  I managed to make it, then we had to get Jamie at daycare, get dinner, and head off to TKD with Liam.

My day was eaten alive by all of the crazy running around and I hadn't even begun to touch the house chores.  So, after the kids went to bed, I went into frenetic cleaning mode and managed to make the downstairs presentable for Friday morning.

On Friday the speech therapy team came in to evaluate Jamie.  Guess what?  His development is above average everywhere except Expressive Language.  Big shock.  There were a couple of areas where he scored literally off their charts - one was the expressive language but being off the chart wasn't a good thing.  They said that he's spent so much time developing these other things that he's let the language lag behind.  So, he easily qualifies for services and we'll be seeing the therapist once a week.  That should be starting up in about 2 weeks.  All of this was precisely what I expected them to say.

As of 3:15 yesterday afternoon, Liam is on Spring Break.  He will be home all week next week and won't go back until Tuesday of the week after as they get Easter Monday off.  It should be an interesting week.  I expect him to get bored within 30 seconds of realizing what a long week it's going to be.

I wanted to collapse at 7 pm last night but didn't give in.  By 10 pm I was wide awake.  Ended up sleeping on the couch by 11 pm and was woken by Jamie at 6 am.  *yawn*  Pass the coffee IV.

Bright spots of the week include:

1) I managed to get some kind of exercise activity in every day.  Everything from housework to yard work to running stairs.  Have I mentioned exercise sucks?

2) I got my haircut and I have a sassy new do.  Plus, all those dry, nasty, dead ends are gone.

3) I finally figured out how to get into the stupid lamp post out front with the dead light bulb in it.  I was able to change the bulb and now our front walk is capable of being lit.  That only took 2 years.  It's the little things.

4) We got definitive proof that Liam can read.

Dear Next Week:  Please don't kick my bruised behind the way this one did.