Gravity accident

I swear, I must have just watched Nicole like a hawk when she was a baby.  She never fell off of anything higher than her own butt.  But now, I'm just not nearly as cautious.  Poor little Jacob has crawled off of our bed twice, and this morning he tried a new trick - stair climbing.  I had no idea he knew how to climb stairs.  So, of course, I wasn't watching him, and he fell.  Nicole said his feet were on the second step, so he didn't fall far, but nonetheless he fell.

I should have known that once he was pulling up to his feet that stairs weren't far behind, but I thought it would take just a little longer.  He's been getting up on his knees for about a week, but only up to his feet for a couple of days.  But I guess that's all it takes.

So tonight's after-work project:  gates, gates, everywhere.

Free coffee - SCORE!

I have a Starbucks habit.  I could probably take a European vacation if I put all of the money I spent on Starbucks in one year in a jar instead.  My regular order is a venti black coffee for work, and a tall mocha for the drive (the coffee is about 1000 degrees, and therefore does me no good on the actual commute).  It totals $4.82.

So today I pull up to the window, and they hand me my coffees, and explain that they're having some trouble with their computer, so the coffee is on them today.

WooHoo!  Hopefully the rest of the day will go equally as well. :-)

Beadwork gone bad

Usually, we tell Nicole that after lunch it is naptime. She generally sulks, but goes ahead and walks upstairs and goes to bed. Today however, she decided to do beadwork. I'm not sure how she progressed from stringing a necklace to sticking a bead up her nose, but then again, there are lots of things about 4year olds that I don't understand.

She came down the steps crying, and presented us with a bloody nose. Usually, this comes from a compulsive picking episode. But she denied that was the case. She's had bloody noses before, but it's always been because of picking or being boffed in the nose - never just random. We finally got out of her that she put a bead up there and was trying to get it out.

So at this moment, she's up at the urgent care with Daddy while I hang at home and let Jake finish out his nap. I'm guessing there will be a bead extraction procedure, and then they will be sent home. But I guess I'll go hit the shower, in the unlikely event that they can't get it out and send her to the ER.

What a fun way to start a Sunday afternoon....

Leaving Home

This evening, after I got home from work, my darling four-year-old
daughter informed me that tomorrow, *before* it was wake up time, she
was going to get dressed in her pink Aurora dress, and sneak out of
the house as quietly as she could, and go to her school. Then she was
going to climb over the fence, and wait for Shelby. When Shelby got
there, they would tiptoe to Shelby's grandmother's house and pick
flowers.

I wasn't entirely sure what to say. I didn't want to make a joke
about it, because if she really did get up and leave the house, it
could be a huge problem, obviously. So I asked her why she would ever
want to leave without telling mommy or daddy, because we would be so
sad when we couldn't find her. She then responded that she promised
that she'd tell us first, before she left. But that wasn't an
original part of her story. So I told her that if she ever left and
*didn't* tell us, that she would be in big, big trouble. She again
promised that she'd tell me before she sneaked out of the house.

Now, realistically, her bedroom door squeaks, and before that even,
she usually goes to the bathroom when she gets up, and the upstairs
plumbing runs through one of our bedroom walls. And, if, for some
reason, she actually got through those noises without waking me up,
she couldn't get past the alarm system. So she's not getting much
further than the front yard, at best.

But I'm left wondering if I should call Shelby's parents. I don't
want to tattle on Shelby, or even accuse her of being a bad influence
on Nicole (especially since Shelby starts Kindergarten next week and
won't be spending nearly as much time at the day care as she was
before). I'm sure their little adventure plans are harmless. But
clearly Nicole wasn't the only person involved in this plan, because
if it were completely up to Nicole, she'd be going to her own
grandma's house to pick flowers.

I generally cross paths with Shelby's dad a few times when we're
dropping off the kids - maybe if Nicole is still set on these plans
next week, he and I can have a talk. The last thing I need is for
Shelby to leave home and declare that it was all Nicole's idea.

Ah.. the joys of raising kids. :-)

The things they say

This is mostly about Nicole, since all Jake can say is dadadadada.

She's been saying some very sweet things lately. For instance, she's quite interested in my wardrobe. She gets especially happy when I wear a skirt. Earlier this week, she said, "Thank you, mommy, for wearing that beautiful skirt". To which I replied "Thank you, Nicole. That was very nice of you to say". Any time I wear a heel she'll comment about my beautiful shoes, and she always thanks me if I go so far as to put on a necklace.

A few days ago, I used some little clips to pull her bangs back (I'm trying to grow them out), and I asked her to look in the mirror and see if if looked OK. She said they did, and then posed the question, "Am I gorgeous?". I promptly confirmed that she indeed was, gorgeous. She loves to be beautiful, and is quick to point out to others how beautiful she finds something about them. But "gorgeous" is new, just this week.

Tonight, she went through the toybox and found a few miscellaneous dress-up items, and a few purses and a headband. She also found one dress-up shoe. She came clip-clopping down the hallway, and showed me all of her purses. I asked her why she was wearing only one shoe. Without hesitation, she very matter-of-factly pointed out, "Well, because I'm Cinderella" and then went about her business.

Unfortunately we ended the night on a sad note, because I cut the back of my leg on a nail, and had her daddy patch it up for me. She's incredibly sympathetic, that one. As she was holding a tissue on it (while daddy went to find neosporin), she said, in a very weepy voice, "I'm so sorry, mommy, that you're hurting". The poor thing was almost in tears. I assured her that I was really going to be very fine. But knowing her emotional little self, she'll probably have a bloody nightmare about it.

Uh oh.. speaking of bleeding, looks like the bandage wasn't quite heavy-duty enough. Time to re-dress.

Bring the coffee...

Wow, am I tired today.  Rob needed to get back to work, but without knowing what his drug levels are on the new drug, there's no way he was driving.  So that meant car pooling.  Unfortunately, his job isn't exactly on route to my job.  And the worst part is, we have to get the kids by 6, which usually requires me to be out the door no later than 5, because it will take me every bit of an hour to get to them before the day care closes.  But now, adding a detour to get Rob first, I have to leave even earlier.  So, in order to not have to start cashing in vacation hours, I need to get to work that much earlier to make up the time (I usually stay until 6 and Rob picks up the kids since his commute is so much shorter, and not as impacted by rush hour).

So this morning started an hour and a half earlier than normal, and I'm already wiped clean out.  On top of that, Jake has been having some kind of issues where he likes to burst out and scream every couple of hours.  We had this problem with him and silent reflux, but after we had a few weeks of prevacid under his belt, he was much better.  I hope it's not the medicine failing.  I'm kind of hoping that it's teeth or something that will be resolved in a week or two.  Because I'm not getting any sleep!  After about 2 trips upstairs to give him his pacifier, I bring him back down with me.  The boy has really outgrown the bassinet, but if he's going to need a pacifier 4 and 5 times a night, I don't want to have to get out of bed to give it to him.

Anyway, bring on the coffee.  It's going to be one of those days.  And the week is still just getting started. :-(

Big boys - big toys

It seems that, with the exception of the time he broke his shoulder, my husband comes out of his seizures with a new zest for life. It's usually brief, and then he goes back to being him, but I'll take what I can get.

I woke up yesterday morning to the sound of an RC truck slamming into the drywall and baseboards, and my daughter laughing so loud you could probably hear it outside of the house. I have no idea what possessed Rob to get this truck down out of the closet, but he did. And that truck defined our whole day. For starters, he decided he wanted a new, bigger truck. So we got the kids ready for a trip out and headed to the hobby store. Several hundred dollars later, Rob had a new toy. Of course, this toy didn't have the batteries charged or anything, but that's why we packed the original truck with us. From the hobby store, we picked up some sub sandwiches and headed to the park.

Jake and I stayed in the safe shade of the pavilion, but Rob and Nicole played with the original truck in an unused baseball field. The truck chased Nicole all over that ball field and stirred up a whole storm of dust. But she didn't seem to care. She just kept running. I watched, and tried to take a few pictures (post those later), and Jake ate cheerios. It was really a lot of fun. Well, until a bunch of rowdy local kids came and started bugging Rob about the truck. They weren't dangerous, but they were loud, and the language wasn't anything we needed Nicole to be exposed to, and they seemed insistent on being wherever we were. So we decided it was time to go home.

After a 3+ hour nap, Rob woke Nicole up to have some dinner. But first, the new truck's batteries were charged, so it needed a test run around the yard. Nicole was glad to help. She ran around the yard so that the truck had something to chase.

All in all, it was a very good day. I wish we were in the habit of having more like that.

Independence Day

Our holiday was quite busy. It was a mixture of good and bad. We started off by participating in our subdivision parade. It was fun, but I hadn't really intended on being in it - only taking the kids up the street to watch. But the neighbors were going to be in it, and their little boy had one of those little cars, and Nicole rode with him. So it wound up not being that bad just pulling Jake in the wagon. At the end of the parade route, we get to an empty lot, and the firetruck that led the parade hooked up to a hydrant and gave the kids a massive sprinkler to play in.

Unfortunately, it was just too hot to hang out, and certainly too hot to haul both kids all the way back up the hill. So I called Rob to come rescue us.

Both kids were pretty worn out just from being in the sun, so we got home, got Nicole some lunch, and then when both kids were napping, we resumed clean-up. That's where things started to go badly. Rob had another seizure while we were cleaning up the kitchen. I was there, and managed to keep him from getting hurt. Jake was up by this time, and I think he could sense that I wasn't quite right, because he just started screaming for no reason (like I needed that on top of an unconscious husband). Anyway, I eventually managed to get Rob on the floor and then started working on Jake. Luckily Jake was calmed down by the time Rob woke up (it usually takes about 30 minutes).

He didn't want to go to the hospital, and he didn't want to cancel the party. So he just rested up until the time the guests were due. I asked my dad to do the cooking, and I asked our friends to be in charge of the fireworks. Rob was extremely wiped out, and wound up being pretty nauseous before the night was over, but the party went on without him, just as he instructed. The kids swam, and played in the back yard; everyone ate until they were stuffed, and then we all ate home-made ice cream (courtesy of my grandma) while we watched the pyrotechnics show.


I called in to work today, so I could stay home with him. We haven't heard back from the doctor as to what we should be doing about the medication. So until we've changed something, he's just as likely as yesterday to have another seizure.

This is so draining...

So Tired

Whew. I've had about all I can take for tonight. The last two days after work has been nothing but rushing around trying to get the house picked up and ready for our annual July 4th bash. And now, with the list not even half marked off, I'm giving in. I was going to get all of the food prep ready, including getting hamburger patties made and tomatoes and onions sliced. But my eyes just aren't holding out. I guess most of what's left can be managed tomorrow. Luckily we have until 4pm to finish up. I think the day will begin with LOTS of coffee. :-)

Realistically, I shouldn't complain about any paid day off of work. However, I don't think any holiday setup sucks more than one that falls on a Wednesday. You have no time to prepare, and no time to recover. You spend the first half of the work week looking forward to the day off and trying to figure out what needs to be done in the evenings, and then the last two days tired as hell.

How many days until Labor Day again?

I know tomorrow will be a good time. It always is. We fill the little kid pool and put out all of the water toys, and most of the people mill around outside and watch the kids splash around. Then we'll fire up the grill and everyone will eat entirely too much. Then we'll have the homemade ice cream that Grandma brought, with some of those sugar wafer cookies. Then Rob and his buddies will haul out a truckload of fireworks, a butane torch, and a fire extinguisher and saunter out to the far edge of the yard like a bunch of ghostbusters. The rest of us will find a comfortable spot near the house and watch while the whole neighborhood puts on a collective show. Some of us will come in early and try to calm sleepy and frightened babies, and others will come in just because they're bored.

But when it's all over, it will have been another fun-filled holiday.

Off to bed.

I miss my kids!

So Saturday, after the party, I parted ways with my kids so that they could spend some time with their grandma.  She even offered to keep them two nights, so that we didn't have to make another trip out on Sunday to go get them, and she'd bring them back Monday when we were home from work.  That was great, because I figured I could spend all day Sunday getting ready for our annual July 4th bash. 

Now, not only did I spend most of Sunday scrapbooking (so I didn't make a bit of progress preparing for the party), but now I miss the kids terribly.  It was awful.  I'm 8 months behind on my scrapbooking, and gosh durnit I was going to get organized and start getting caught up.  But this caused me to spend probably what totaled 6 hours yesterday looking at pictures of the kids, which covered Jake from birth to now, as well as lots of pictures of the two kids playing together. 

And now I can't wait until they get home.  I still haven't gotten anything done for the party, and with them back home, I won't make much progress either. But at least I won't miss them any more.