Random

For quite some time I have been meaning to get back into the blogging stuff.  More than a random post once a week or less. Somehow, it has been difficult getting back into that groove. I don't know.  Today begins a renewed effort. We'll see how it goes.

I don't have a coherent post planned, so this will likely be some sort of mish mash stream of consciousness type of post... so it might not make sense, or have a point.

Anyhow...

I have a question.  How often a day week do you sweep your floors?  I have to do it every.single.day.  Both in the kitchen and the family room.  Sometimes I feel like I should even do it twice a day (and often do if we play with moon dough, or when Ben decides to dump his plate when he's done with it.)  When I sweep, I don't mean I have a dust pan 1/4 full of dust and debris. I'm talking three to four dustpans full.  So I am left to wonder... are we just horrifically messy (and by we I  mean the boys) or do I have unrealistic expectations on how long my floor should stay clean-ish. Feel free to discuss!

Secondly, the aforementioned moon dough. I sort of despise it because it gets crumbled up and ends up all over the floor, leading to excessive sweeping.  And it gets wasted because of ending up in the floor. Because unless I have JUST swept there is dirt and junk down there.  Yet I persist to let them play with it and even find myself buying more because they love it. I don't even make sense to myself sometimes.  In my defense,  it can entertain Ben for over an hour. The others love it too... 

There were more things I wanted to write, but somehow they got lost in the shuffle of everything else going on in my head... so more later. Maybe sooner than a week away!

Be Careful What You Ask For

For a few weeks, our nightly sleep was interrupted multiple times by some kid or another wanting to get in bed with us.  I love snuggling with my kids, but when it comes down to one kid coming in, then another, then an argument over WHO can stay and who has to go back to bed, it was getting ridiculous.  I was totally exhausted and impatient... also... grumpy.  One night before bed Kevin gave the two little culprits a talking to.  "You WILL stay in your bed all night. You will NOT come down and bother Mommy.  Understood?" (In his best firm daddy voice, of course.) 

Imagine my surprise when it WORKED. For that entire night, I slept. No kicks to the ribs, no whispers in my ear, or pulling of my hair. I simply slept.  I was half amused and half irritated that it worked so well.  (Irritated because I had sweetly requested the boys stay in their own beds for several nights in a row, and Daddy asks once and like magic it works.)  So, I was interested to see how night two would go.  Again, they stayed in their beds. However.. somewhere around 2 AM we heard a blood curdling scream.  Enough to jolt both Kevin and I from our bed and send us racing up the stairs. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!! I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEED HELP!!"  My heart was pounding and I was terrified about what I would find in little Ben's room. Surely he had hurt himself horrendously to be screaming so loudly.  When I ran in and found him sitting in his bed, upset, but not hurt I was so relieved.  Turns out, his eczema was bothering him and he needed some lotion to stop the itching. But, he did stay in his bed at least. I think I'd have rather have had a knock on the door than all that drama, though. 

Missing

It never fails that just as soon as I think I have it all together, I realize all the little things I'm missing.

Take yesterday morning for example...  Everyone was ready for school.  Teeth brushed - check, shoes on - check, jackets ready - check, glasses on faces - check.  Only when we were ready to walk out the door, Zack's were no longer on his face. Hmmm.  After a quick look around they were nowhere to be found, but we had to go. Three minutes ago!  So he was off to school with no glasses, and I set out to look for them which was an utter and complete failure.  I continued my hunt this morning and still can't find them. There are a finite number of places they could be and I'm pretty sure I've searched all of them. My house isn't even overly cluttered at the moment, so it is a mystery.   What in the world?  I'm sure they'll turn up in some ridiculous and hilarious place.  I just hope they'll be in one piece.

Post Holiday Weight Loss Plan

1. Get sick after several days of caring for sick children.

2. Become so stuffed up that you can't smell or taste food. (Last night I was making dinner & chopping cilantro, and I couldn't smell it at all, so I tasted a piece.  It tasted like nothing.  So, I checked the label and it WAS cilantro, but I made Kevin taste it because it had no flavor whatsoever. Or, rather I couldn't taste it at all.  So, really?  Why bother?)

3. Become so stuffed up that eating creates an inability to breathe.

4. Cough so hard that your entire stomach is sore! Who needs to do crunches?  Cough your way to flat abs!
See, isn't that easy?  Not eating really takes off those holiday pounds!  Even though I had gained a few in November/ December I'm right back where I was pre-Holiday eat fest. Which is nice since I haven't been able to exercise since my kayak incident.  My foot was feeling better from that, and then as I was getting the Christmas ham out of the freezer, the Publix bag it was in broke and it fell on the same foot. Really, I think this stuff only happens to me.  So, as soon as I thought maybe I might be ready to run again, I came down with this raging (according to the doctor, I'm not just being a total baby here) sinus infection.  Also, there is fluid in my ears!  Fun, right?  But, antibiotics are a wonderful thing!  And, of course, we have to look on the bright side.

Over My Shoulder

Something I have to watch out for now is boys reading over my shoulder.  I keep the blog family friendly, but often I don't necessarily want them to read what I write about them.  Because sometimes I feel overwhelmed and spill that here, but they don't need to know that necessarily.  Anyway... they've developed a habit of reading over my shoulder.

Most recently, Eric commented on the fact that I don't indent my paragraphs. It's been  a long time since I've taken a course in grammar but I'm pretty sure a blank line is sufficient to denote a new paragraph.  Also, my smart oldest commented on my propensity to begin sentences with "and."  I do that...  I have no excuses.  It's my blog and I'll abuse grammar rules if I want to. :) Stop reading over my shoulder!

Pneumonia with a side of croup (make that two!)

Eric's been struggling with the asthma lately, and we've been keeping his wheezing and coughing mostly at bay with the nebulizer, but Monday night things got worse and I realized he'd probably not make it to school the next day.  I hoped, mostly for his sake, that he wouldn't get sick. It was a fun week at school, and he does NOT like missing things like candy cane walks and such.  Yet, when Monday morning came it was clear he should stay home. I was on the fence whether this was something that we should go to the doctor for, or if we should just treat him at home so I decided to wait it out a day.  He didn't have a fever, and this seemed like it could be an asthma flare up.  By 4 PM I was cursing that decision, as he spiked at fever, and was breathing rather rapidly.  I'll admit, I fleetingly thought of pneumonia, but thought it was just me being my paranoid self.  We went on in to urgent care, just to be safe, and after a long wait, found out he did in fact have pneumonia (plus a double ear infection! Bonus!) and left with antibiotic scripts in hand.  At least this was plenty of time to be better by Christmas, I thought.

This morning, Zack woke up with a croupy cough, and before the doctor's office opened Ben started with it too.  No fevers, but we made an appointment with our pediatrician (who, incidentally, I adore!) We experienced a bit of a Christmas miracle as she was right on time, and we were in and out in less than an hour, with plenty of face time with the doctor.  And we left with scripts for all three boys that were with me. Including the one she wasn't seeing, since she thought Eric would need steroids as well after listening to his lungs (even though he didn't have an appointment.) Woooohoooo! A round of steroids for everyone!  I'm particularly looking forward to that side effect that makes them very.very.cranky.  But they'll be breathing, so life is good!

As for me, I definitely am NOT feeling a tickle in my throat.  And my chest isn't feeling a bit heavy. My ears aren't aching either.

*I'm editing here to add a link to a really great post my friend Shanna wrote about taking control of your healthcare (and your children's) and how to follow your instincts and get a second opinion if what the doctor says doesn't jive with what your Mommy Instinct says.  There is seriously a ton of good info in here! 

The 5K that never was

...so I was all set to run the 5K. I was soooo ready for it. I was even envisioning blogging after the fact how exhilirating it was. How, I blew my last time out of the water!  How I hit the mark in 33 minutes!  I was there, I did it twice in the week leading up to it.

Only, I didn't run it. I wanted to. I woke up at 4 AM the day of the race wondering if my foot could handle it.  I obsessed and tossed and turned and decided I would try.  Then I would change my mind and decide I didn't want to risk further injury.  I went through that process approximately 72 times before I finally realized that I was being ridiculous and there was no freaking way I was running that day.

Because, the day before, I was helping Kevin get his kayak down so he and Eric could go fishing, and I dropped my side on my foot.  60 ish pounds, straight down, from over my head, and it hurt pretty badly.  

The part that really surprised me is how unhappy I was to miss the race.  I haven't run since, but I plan to start back up tomorrow.  There are plenty more races where that one came from.