as soon as you make the call

So I was not poisoned by food, I was attacked by a bug - the stomach bug that seems to be rockin' the nation. Oh yeah, it's nasty. But, short lived. At least for most of us.

I was weak but surviving on Friday. Which was good since Baby J has been sick since Friday when he first threw up...as in lots more puking, dehydration and a variation of lethargy and playfulness. He's been holding his food down a bit better since yesterday, but still not perfectly. I finally broke down and called the doctor and he's to be seen in a couple of hours - too many days of throwing up for a little one. Of course, now he's playing his heart out, happy as a lark. Yup. Soooo glad I need to spend a copay on the booger. Sigh.

Of course, Miss C has been a crank pot all weekend with no appetite - and ran 101.3 last night. A dose of Motrin and she was right as rain - just still not eating much of anything and complaining of a tummy ache on occasion. That's it.

Oh, and Little B puked last night. A lot. He's on the mend, too, though. I wish he'd done it yesterday morning so I could send him to school today. He had perfect attendance until today, so he's bummed, but then our regimen of couch time and TV for the sick makes that a lot better.

And in trade? The kids gave me the cold they had last week. Gotta love a good trade.

ick

On Monday, all three of my kids got runny noses, sneezes, etc - classic colds. The last cold we had started during Thanksgiving break and followed the domino effect - first, Little B, then Miss C, Baby J and finally me. Those were a LONG few weeks as this was also when I had eliminated tons of food from my diet to figure out Baby J's allergies...Oh, and it was SO the cold-that-never-ends, it went on and on my friends; some people started getting it not knowing what it was....

Monday, I dreaded what the week would hold - would it be better to have it all at once and be done or would it take forever to go away and I'd be stuck with three miserable kids for two weeks? Five days later, I'd have to say it's definitely better all at once - after all, they can all get up in the same 1 hour window in the middle of the night (while my husband was working late, no less) and then follow up with a variety of problems: Little B is weathering it fairly well, truth be told - sneezing, dripping nose, and hanging in there, thank goodness. But Miss C was really fun - wheezing at 2am which ultimately took us to the doctor yesterday morning since her last round of wheezing was so long ago that her inhaler was very expired (she's not an asthma patient...yet). I'm just grateful they gave me a sample to get it started and it seems that's all we'll be needing, no extra meds. She's doing much better today. Then there's Baby J He is puking mucous this morning. Oh fun. And he wakes up miserable in the night with some coughing and sneezing. Overall, though, he's on the upswing, too...which means day five and we're well past the worst of it. I cannot tell you the relief that brings me.

Especially since I got food poisoning yesterday. Well, I'm feeling fairly certain it came from Wednesday night's pulled pork at a nearby BBQ restaurant (we had to make an ill-timed trip to W-mart and that was close by). Something didn't set right after that meal and by last night - boy howdy, nothing was set right. My her0, my husband got home right before the fun really began and then he got a taste of my nights in true form: how often Baby J wakes up, how as the morning draws closer he can't be laid back down and so it goes. I told him that over the holidays he let me sleep in and helped a ton around the house (which drew much compassion and kindness and "I don't know how you do it - I'm going out of my mind" scenarios, though he's always very nice about it anyway); last night, he got to see the other side that led up to my double exhaustion every day - the constant waking up all stinkin' night long. I was just too weak to hold Baby J and it made me dizzy to carry him over to his crib. And so, my husband was awake every time the little one was. At first, not so bad. Then, before 4am he could no longer fall deeply asleep and would stand and scream as soon as we laid him down. After half and hour, he willingly fell asleep next to my husband - though a little later he woke up and puked which began that part of the fun. By 5am, my husband just got up. We took turns holding Baby J until he had been sacked out so long he slept in his crib without flinching.

This sleep thing - it's something we're trying to figure out. His tummy is bothering him in the early hours, we think, and have started a little extra meds (per the dr) to soothe it, but since he is a "crib sleeper" versus in our bed like the other two, the early hours of nursing and being moved back to his crib are too much transition. We don't know how to solve it - and giving him his "own" space seems, well, difficult. Which child should he share a room with, etc? Sigh. That's it's own post for another day perhaps.

Today - I'm so weak. So sore. Still not done making potty trips. I really hope my mom can come help out - at least you can't catch food poisoning and the colds are on their way out the door.

first steps

About a week ago, Baby J started taking a couple steps at a time. Just one or two before collapsing into giggles in my arms. Last night, he made it about 7 or 8 steps before the giggling heap landed. He's so thrilled with his new accomplishment.

This morning he's been exceptionally tired and cranky which made for less productive walking practice which made for less than happy results - he was mad he wasn't making it as far as last night.

I definitely have a third child on my hands. Both of my other kids walked at 14 months. We're a week into 12 months with this one. And yesterday, he tried to climb the baby gate. As in, finding foot holes in the lattice-style gate. He also climbed onto a toy that nearly propelled him over the gate (I did get a picture before moving the toy and the baby . . . patting myself on the back). I can see that my gate choices will be changing very, very soon.

Now, I must get off the computer. I must. I'm spending far, far too much time on it this week and easily avoiding all other tasks. Of course, I'd rather be napping like Baby J, but that doesn't appear to be an option with a nearly four year old on the loose who wants to play a game with her mama.

on tags and late fees and misc silliness

I forgot to get my emissions and tags taken care of before my birthday. This did not occur to me until Sunday afternoon on the way home from church when we passed a sign that said, "Emissions". It actually startled me! (The mental lapse is no doubt a sign of my aging...)

Yesterday, I made a trip to get emissions, changing locations so I could drive through without taking kids out of the car. Then, I went home to pay for the tags online, hoping to avoid a trip to the DMV (especially since the nearst location was closed on Mondays). But Miss C wanted to sit next to me in the passenger seat (this is a special treat when Baby J is sleeping and I dare not move him and we sit forever with the car running in the driveway). Thing was, Baby J was NOT asleep. He was fussy and wanted out of his car seat. So, I brought my laptop out to the van, let Miss C climb into the passenger seat and put Baby J in my lap where he turned on windshield wipers, accidentally honked the horn about eight times (which made him turn and jump into my arms alarmed but giggling every time), rolled down windows ("Mommy, why is my window going down when I didn't push the button?!?!"), turned up the radio (which also made him turn and jump into my arms alarmed but giggling every time), and tried to play with the laptop I was working on between the seats.

Only partway through the process I noticed the late fee didn't show up so I called to talk to a real person to make sure I was still allowed to pay online since I was, indeed, late. (No need being penalized by the tags not going through and my not knowing it or something. ) The lady gave me a new "RIN" (Renewal Identification Number, for those who have never done this) to log in with and said if I used that, there would be no late fee "today only". I must say, that was a bit like a late birthday present!

When at last I was done, my kids were still having the time of their lives wondering why windows went up and down all by themselves and jumping into mommy's arms with alarmed giggles while she posted her hilarious status on facebook. It was too good of a "status" NOT to post it, you know?

Then, I drug the kids inside as I was completely done with the close quarters.

my turn

So I turned 33 yesterday. I totally remember turning 30 and posting that on here. I guess I've been around for a while, huh? I'm not really as diligent as some in keeping track of how long I've blogged or how many posts. I do remember when I started blogging and I know I can see a count of how many...but, I digress.

33.
That's what I was going to talk about. I must tell you that I no longer care if anyone remembers my birthday. And it used to be SO IMPORTANT. All I wanted was for a few of my closest friends to remember me on that one day of the year. Now? Uh, feel free to forget, because I forget it myself! I never understood how my mom could possibly forget it was her birthday. I get it now. In fact, we had Baby J's 1st Birthday "Party" (meaning one other couple and us, that's it) on MY birthday. When one of my best friends called that evening to wish me a happy birthday, I was totally surprised that it really was my birthday. Kinda cracked me up. (The irony is that I had about 16 birthday wishes on facebook - not that I minded...heheh!)

No, I had not forgotten all day...but it was not foremost on my mind upon waking. We did have brunch at a favorite restaurant. And we stopped at a garage sale on the way home (yeah, you know you live in the deep south when there are garage sales in JANUARY). I got a new table and chairs at that garage sale; we made it my birthday present. haha. Life is simpler that way.

And the evening was reserved for a wonderful dinner with our friends - surrogate/extra grandparents for our kids (my own family all had other things planned....hohum). Ah well. I saw them today. And we lunched together and enjoyed our Lord together, so that was far better than just dinner anyway.

So, that was my 33rd birthday.
And now, Baby J needs to get to bed, so I'll bid you adieu and see you soon....

one

Baby J is one today. A year ago, I was gazing at the sweet round face of a new little person in my life. A little person I have been completely in love with every since.

This morning, I was dozing and holding him at the same time that he was born - 6:30am. I wish I had been more alert - I wanted to think on it and gaze at him...of course, I've done that much of today anyway. He has been extra lovey on me, bestowing so many kisses on my face, snuggling and just being sweet. I cannot believe an entire year has passed. He amazes me and delights me and exhausts me (which I know I've covered thoroughly, so I will spare you another round).

Truly, everywhere I go, people stop to look at his sweetness. They comment on how very happy he is - and they're right. He's a happy boy. He's also mischievous and finds his way into laundry baskets and bins, under the piles of laundry he delightfully unloads from where ever I am folding (or not folding), and has the cheekiest little grin matched with deep, sparkly blue eyes. I am even more enamored now than a year ago, if that is possible.

Happy birthday my little one.



(When I can relocate the cord for downloading pictures, I will show you one...I really will!)

a recap:

So it's a new year, and I am praying that it's not quite as difficult as the past year has been. Truly, the lows have swung pretty low, but the highs have been wonderful, so it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride.

Baby J has been amazing to add to the family, but the past months have been a trial of needing sleep and tummy agony for him. I do think I've probably solved his issues: eggs. They were the one food that instantly caused the issues to resurface - within three hours! Poor, poor baby. I've double checked that to be sure it wasn't incidental, and I know it's eggs. Man, I'm missing them, too. I would almost give up my beloved dairy for some good french toast, omelets, fried eggs over easy, BROWNIES (even baked into the food it bothers him ...boohoo). We even had an allergy test that didn't show this, so who knows what's really going on with it. I have a couple more foods to add back, but they're not as likely to be a problem. Even dairy - the thing neither of the other kids can have - doesn't appear to phase him. Though after 7 weeks without any type of dairy in my diet, it was a little tough to add in - my body had to readjust! I no longer care for milk. It is hard on my stomach and increases the whole drainage in the throat thing that I'm not a fan of. Not badly, but I never noticed it until it was gone. Now, I'm thinking that limited dairy is a more pleasant thing anyway. I'll just turn into a vegan. It'd be easier!

Of course, nights are not perfect yet, but what with trying to walk and cutting big bad teeth in the back of his mouth, that's pretty normal. "This too shall pass." I must remind myself.

There has been a lot of deep, long-needed healing in my family. Not with one another - we're a fairly close, small family, but many years ago we went through some things and this year the Lord has brought healing and closure and moving forward into our lives. We are so blessed beyond words. His healing can go much deeper than anything we can try to do ourselves.

For the past week and a half, my wonderful husband has been home. I love that man, I really do. He let me sleep in every single day. Well, I got up early once because it just worked out, but that was through no fault of his. And by sleep in, I mean 9:45 to 10am...every time. I have not felt so rested in ages (I'd be up in the night, but the last 3 or 4 hours were uninterrupted, deep, amazing sleep!). In fact, the whole family benefited from a less grogged-out mommy and wife who could hold her temper a bit easier. :) He also did dishes every day and a long honey-do list was man-handled. Sweetness, I tell you. I'm so sad to see him return to work today. But mostly, it's because I just loved seeing his face and talking to him all day long.

Today, I sliced open my thumb pitting an avocado. It bled like the dickens, too. But, it's doing all right and I'm surviving. So typical of me. I tell you, knives and me, we don't get along so well as history has proven.

On the bright side, I opened an early birthday present. No more waiting - at my age, that's not worth it. I'll just enjoy it a few days longer this way. What I got? A most wonderful book on crochet stitches. From my friend, bluehose, who was home for the holidays and when we met up she listened to me whine that the right kind of book wasn't on the shelves at the bookstore. So, she found what I wanted and mailed it to me. Now, I need to go gaze longingly at it... :)