Exercise of Futility

Most weekends at our house involve Dana and I attempting to accomplish something and by Monday morning it's still not done. I typically attempt to clean the house. The kids attempt (and succeed I should say) at uncleaning the house. So by Monday I still have dishes to do, a dirty floor, and laundry that needs washed.

In that respect, this weekend was no different. I did however accomplish something huge! I put 7 meals into the freezer in preparation for my surgery. We now have 2 meatloaves, 1 mexican style shephard's pie, 1 bag of beef stew, 2 dinners of southwest chicken (one with green peppers, onions, and rice; the other with potatoes), and an italian chicken and vegetables. I still have a few more dishes to make and freeze. Now I doubt I'll need all of these for surgery, and know I can use them most nights of the week when I'm scrambling to feed all of us before bedtime.

We also turned in all of our recycling, minus newspaper, picked up some items I lent a friend, and Mo and I went grocery shopping. Overall a good weekend, even if there is a huge pile of dishes to do tonight.

A First

Today I will pick up Morgan's first prescription. Amoxicillin. $4 and some change. Turns out at his 9 month appointment that he is advanced physically (crawling, standing and almost cruising), weighs 20.5 pounds, is already 30 inces high, and has an ear infection in his right ear. We suspected it, because of his tugging, but with teething, and an appointment already scheduled, I didn't want to drag him in unnecessarily.

I had to call ahead to the pharmacy to give them all of his information, including insurance. That's when I learned that Kaia hasn't had a prescription filled in over 2 years! She had 1 ear infection, a nasty burn requiring Silvadene, and Elidel for her eczema all before she was 14 months old. Nothing since.

I'm blessed to have such healthy children. They catch the colds going around, and always pass it on, but I haven't dealt with multiple ear infections, never had a trip to the emergency room, and no surgeries yet. Dana and I are still waiting on the broken limb Kaia is sure to get with all of her antics, though. That's why I have them on my insurance. $400 a month, but it's worth it, even if they rarely need it.

Breaking News!

Mo has 5 teeth now! After a long day of crankiness at grammy's (and at home before we even went to grammy's), tugging at his ear, drooling, throwing up and being feverish; I dared to stick my finger in Mo's mouth to see which teeth were bugging him now. I was startled to find a new tooth. Now if the other 3 that I believe are trying to break through show up, I will have a happy son that sleeps at least a few hours at night.

Kaia is 90% potty trained! Just as long as she's not wrapped up in some exciting activity, or someone is in the nearest bathroom, she does great!

Dana and I are both looking forward to a night of sleep tonight. All thanks to me having to work late, and Grammy June who the kids will be staying with. (Thank you, thank you, thank you!) I hope that they sleep better for her. And when I say they, I mean Mo.

Nothing else exciting, unless you count our new outdoor lights and new toilet that were all installed by Dana last weekend. But I don't think anyone but us cares.

Another Dream

I had another travel dream last night, which if you remember from my interpretation post is actually about progress toward goals. For once I see the meaning of my dream. I just hope that real life travel goes better than my dream travel.

Yesterday I scheduled a laproscopic surgery. I'm having a tubal ligation and endo removal. This is all in hopes that I can start living my life without the need for painpills several days per month.
This was a big decision for me for two reasons.
1) Am I really sure that there will be no more kids for me? This has been a decision that has taken me several months to reach. I didn't want more children, but was afraid if I changed my mind in 10 years. Once I realized how obsessively I'm trying to not get pregnant, and how afraid I am of becoming pregnant, and thinking how hard this up all night stuff is at 28 and then trying to imagine it at 38... No my 2 wonderful children are the last I will give birth to.
2) I hate anesthesia. I don't like waking up and being unable to move or communicate when I want. I hate that dream world, where I think I've moved my hand, but realize that I haven't. But I know that I'm an adult and need to make the decision that is best for me, not the one I'm least scared of.

So I've already begun some frozen meal planning to get us through until I'm up for real cooking again (Dana would probably say I don't do too much of that anyway). If you have any great ideas, feel free to share them. I hope to have some meals in the freezer and a clean house. I have exactly 3 weeks to accomplish all of that, and if you've seen my housekeeping skills, you know that it will take me the entire 3 weeks.

Trouble- With a Capital "T"

The kids are definitely growing up. For Mo that means going through the stage where he is in to absolutely everything. At Grammy and Papa's he crawled right over to the display case, and when Papa said "no," he turned and looked at him. Then Mo reached up to grab the handle. He was met with "no's" from Papa and me. Then Kaia chimed in yelling "No bad boy." He finally decided he wasn't going to get away with opening the case that time.

Toilet paper is another kid favorite that Mo now enjoys. He got grammy's roll and shredded some. He was attempting to get the toilet paper in our bathroom, and after being told no, looked at me, smiled and grabbed at it again. There is a devious little laugh and grin that he has perfected. So I don't have to see him doing something he shouldn't, to know that's what he is doing. I heard the laugh and looked over the other day to see him emptying the bathroom cabinet. (the only cabinet without child locks of course)

Kaia on the otherhand is becoming quite the little lady at times, and at others she seems a moody teenager. She now insists on wearing dresses every day! Yesterday after Dana did her hair and she dressed herself, she stood on the counter watching herself in the mirrors. She was holding out one hand, then the other, then waving both; all to see what her reflection would do.

She loves to repeat "rules": I wear pull-ups in the night time and panties in the day time. She has started to describe things to us, which is always good for a laugh. The most common description is : I'm looking for my dress. It's white and blue and it has flowers on it. She asked Dana if he like her fish. When he didn't reply immediately she launched into: He's pink and white and he has blue spots. (He's red white and blue, but she insists it's pink).

The moody teenager phase I think is to make sure we don't let our guard down. If we don't guide her and bring her up right, she could be wicked to deal with at 13! This morning she was talking and I asked her what she said. All of a sudden she began shouting "Stop, Stop." Everytime I asked what was going on she kept up the "Stop, Stop." I put down the hairbrush and went to see who or what she was yelling at. Nothing was going on so I asked her what she was talking about. I shouldn't have asked because she said, "Stop talking to me!" with all the attitude she possessed.

Luckily I did most of my degree training working in the 13-18 age group, and Mo's mischevious stage is the second one I've dealt with. Watching the two of them grow up really makes all of this fun, through the frustrating parts.

MLK Jr day 2007

Today had it's ups & downs. Big down: Mo, Kaia, and I all have colds. Big up: Mo slept last night! Quite a bit of the time was in Kaia's bed, and she was in ours, but he did sleep. Down: I never did convince the kids to nap at the same time. Up: Mo has taken 3 needed naps. Up: Kaia never took a nap so she should go to sleep on time!

Yes, life here does revolve around the sleep schedule of the kids. If they don't sleep, then I don't sleep. If they do sleep, I might get a night full of sleep. We did get some dishes and laundry done today, and I finally was able to make a big pot of split pea soup. I'm putting two dishes in the freezer for lunches later, and one dish will be my lunch tomorrow.

Nothing exciting to report today. I didn't get to watch MASH, and I'm only one page farther in my book. I did get to color Kaia's castle, and help Dana with some filing when we took him lunch. The fishtank now has a light and a new filter, and in a week or two will have an algae eater. The guy at the petstore said a specific kind would do well in our tank, but unfortunately he didn't have any small ones in stock. Kaia then threw a fit because a) we didn't by fish b) we didn't get a hamster and c) we didn't get a kitty or puppy. Now I'd like to point out that both b and c weren't even choices (no kitties, puppies or hamsters to be found at this shop), but that didn't stop a fit.

Now it is time to make dinner, and hopefully get these munchkins to bed, so Dana and I can actually see each other for an evening.

Overdue

I've determined that peace doesn't exist in our home. If it's not one thing, it is another. If Kaia is content, then Mo is upset. 3-day weekends pre-children meant I could spend the day relaxing and catching up on movies. Now it means that I will attempt to entertain the kids while doing dishes & laundry. If I'm lucky enough to have Mo nap and Kaia watching a movie at the same time, I may get some reading in. This is the reason I constantly owe the library $$.

You see I joined a book club with some friends from BabyFit, and I try to the read the book within the time-frame the library allows, but everytime pickup the book something else requires my attention. Like right now, I'm singing the Hokey Pokey for Kaia. Dana is watching tv with Mo. Dinner is in the crock-pot, and I'm hoping that tomorrow will at least bring a bit of extra sleep.

What do I like?

My grandma posed a very interesting question to me today. "Please tell me or show me one thing you like. Something for you." That got me thinking... what do I like? Sometimes my life revolves around the kids so much, that I forget all about me. So I started to think about the things that I like and enjoy.

I like to:

read books (novels, non-fiction, self-help)

read my 1950's Western Family magazines

play in my garden

ride my quad (Dana got me hooked)

read cookbooks (no storyline, but exciting to me)

chat with my friends online

knit (new hobby inspired by Ann, and I love it!)

listen to music

go hiking

go camping

watch classic movies

watch MASH (thanks mom and dad)

Now the example she gave was hats. Grandma loves hats and collects them. I used to collect cats, but started feeling like there were too many, and they aren't useful. I guess now I love to collect cookbooks and Western Family magazines. I get great recipes from them, and can spend hours looking at them. I'm also very protective of them, but have let Kaia look at the cookbooks with me. She loves Emeril Lagasse, and the Betty Crocker index card recipes.

If there is anyone in my family I'm most like, it is my grandma. The other day talking to mom she said, "your grandma would be proud." I can't remember exactly what I did, but she would have. We seem to think alike. We are both tightwads, and wear that name proudly. Grandma is also inspiring to me and my friends. They love to hear how she just up and moved to Mexico. They love hearing how she lives and how she lost so much weight. I keep her picture up for all us new mommies trying to lose the baby weight. So although there are thousands of miles between us, Grandma is always near in my thoughts.

Just because it's been quiet here...

Doesn't mean we haven't been busy. Yesterday I had to take Kaia to the dr's because she broke out in a rash over her entire body! Turns out it was from the Nick Jr moldable soap I bought her Wednesday night. So now I have to be a mean mom and take away all the cool Diego soap. I know she has sensitive skin, but I figured it was kids soap so it would be ok.

Kaia is doing better today, we are smothering her in cetaphil and drowning her in benadryl. I'm sure it was the dye in the soap. We only use white soap at home and she can use scented lotions and bubble bath but those rarely have much dye in em.

The moldable soap was great for a laugh though. Mo wanted to join Kaia in the tub, so I dropped him in his bath seat and he played away. Kaia decided to decorate him with "putprints" and put her hand on his forehead. He looked like he belonged on Lord of the Flies. The handprint on his forehead resembled the ball on Castaway and there were streaks on his cheeks. Too funny, and the camera was apart, so no pics and with Kaia's experience we won't have a chance to take one in the future. Good news is that Mo doesn't have sensitive skin and he came out of the bath just fine.

I learned today that Omeprazole is just generic Prilosec. And Prilosec is available over the counter. So Dana hasn't been able to sleep or eat for 2 days because he ran out of Omeprazole and we are waiting for it to come in the mail. All I had to do was pick some up at Target or Shopko when I was there and I would have saved him all the sickness.

I on the other hand got my first night of sleep in weeks! Mo only woke once for a 2 a.m. feeding! It was awesome. It felt so good to sleep. His top two teeth are just right under the skin, so they aren't bugging him anymore, and I expect them to be through any minute. Here's hoping we all sleep well tonight!