SBW is sick. He's been running a fever since yesterday. I took him to the doctor this morning. She said it is a viral infection that needs to run through his system. Ugh.
I've forgotten what it is like to hold a sick baby. He is burning up with fever and just wants to be held. Even when he had the pneumonia in the fall, he wasn't lethargic.
I don't like it. The kids DON'T LIKE IT. JC doesn't like it. The kids are worried. Where is our happy SBW?
When the first three were his age, they were sick pretty often with ear infections. I have vivid memories of sitting in the chair and rocking and rocking and rocking those sweet babies. #4 was a pretty healthy baby. So far, I feel like SBW has been pretty darn healthy.
Keep fingers crossed. I hope my leaf eating baby is back to normal tomorrow. Without the leaves, of course.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday Behind Afterthought
For the record...
I don't care if you read and tell your kids. I just wish you wouldn't. But I AM the one putting the stuff out into the universe, so I need to be prepared to answer the questions now.
And plus, it is not like I am completely being my normal cynical, sarcastic self. I save that for the face to face interaction. :) heh heh
I don't care if you read and tell your kids. I just wish you wouldn't. But I AM the one putting the stuff out into the universe, so I need to be prepared to answer the questions now.
And plus, it is not like I am completely being my normal cynical, sarcastic self. I save that for the face to face interaction. :) heh heh
Monday Behind
So here we are again. 6:18pm. Monday. Life is good. Two girls sitting in front of me working very quietly on their homework. I strategically position the kids so that they can't read what I am writing.
It isn't that I'm telling any deep dark secrets (today at least), but I just don't wanna share this. Not yet. This is the one place that I am kid free. Oh, except for the fact that I am constantly writing about them. Isn't it ironic. Like a no smoking sign on my cigarette break. A little too...
#1 asked me about the blog the other day. Seems that some folks read and tell their kids. Then my kids find out things third hand about our life, or things that I've said about them. It is a bit of a weird situation. I am still living in the fantasy land that our kids aren't young teens and that their friends aren't asking me to be their friends on facebook/myspace. I mean for goodness gracious, what if I want to air our dirty laundry? Or say the 'f' work. Maybe I wanna talk about how drunk I got last week and how I had some crazy wild sex with my lover and *holy shit* I could be pregnant again. I mean, not that another baby would be a bad thing, but I'm just sayin'. And then there are those facebook/myspace friend requests - I just ignore them. I would be pretty bothered if I knew OUR kids were asking other grown-ups to be friends. But maybe I am just weird that way. And by the way, if one of our kids does ask you, you better tell me!!!!
I am happy to report that SBW is doing well. He is acting like his attempt at being a human composter never happened. Too bad that I can't chill out and act the same way. I think I pulled a muscle in my leg while jumping over a clothes basket trying to get to him and get something out of his hand. That something turned out to be part of a rice cracker. Geez. And the best part is that I ended up having to sit on the floor and laugh at myself because I am sure that I looked like a nut. I mean more of a nut than normal.
In my constant quest to get more light in the house, I have removed all of the blinds off the rear of the house. Our yard has quite a few trees, so there is only a slim chance that the neighbors can see me walking around in my birthday suit. The neighbors behind us are getting new decking on the backside of their house. We sit perpendicular to each other, so they don't look right into our yard, but I am sure they can see in the house when the lighting is just right. They are re-decking all three stories and last week I happened to see one of the guys fall off the ladder. He was pretty high up, but he seemed to be okay. Today the same guy was kinda balancing between 2x4's and singing along with the radio with all his heart. It really made me smile. He was happily belting out George Strait, Kid Rock, Alan Jackson and Carrie Underwood. The Carrie Underwood Jesus Take the Wheel was my very favorite. I was intentionally in the kitchen washing dishes so that I could enjoy the show. Maybe we should hire him to hang out on their deck all of the time so that I can get some stuff done in the kitchen! :)
We are on the countdown for school to get out. Only 34 days left. Or I think - I am relying on a 5th grader for my facts at this moment. We are all looking forward to the summer. This summer we will go on a family vacation with all of JC's family. 8 adults and 8 kids. We are all looking forward to it. It will be a lot of driving, but a ton of fun. It has been such a long time since we were last in Lake Tahoe. Oh, I can't wait. The kids have been saving every penny and we have all been cleaning out and trying to sell our stuff at garage sales so that we have vacation money and money to buy Sea World season tickets. Sea World has an offer right now where you get a season pass for the same price as a single day ticket. We haven't been to a theme park in three years. This is a great and easy deal. Sea World is close enough to our house so the gas won't cost a fortune and we will only have to pay for parking. We can make sandwiches to take and spend time in the regular park or in the waterpark. The only way that we won't end up with the tickets is if we don't earn enough money at the garage sale this weekend. Fingers crossed - we are half way to our goal!
Okay - 7:01pm. Gotta go.
Geez, where does the time go.
Should have more for tonight.
It isn't that I'm telling any deep dark secrets (today at least), but I just don't wanna share this. Not yet. This is the one place that I am kid free. Oh, except for the fact that I am constantly writing about them. Isn't it ironic. Like a no smoking sign on my cigarette break. A little too...
#1 asked me about the blog the other day. Seems that some folks read and tell their kids. Then my kids find out things third hand about our life, or things that I've said about them. It is a bit of a weird situation. I am still living in the fantasy land that our kids aren't young teens and that their friends aren't asking me to be their friends on facebook/myspace. I mean for goodness gracious, what if I want to air our dirty laundry? Or say the 'f' work. Maybe I wanna talk about how drunk I got last week and how I had some crazy wild sex with my lover and *holy shit* I could be pregnant again. I mean, not that another baby would be a bad thing, but I'm just sayin'. And then there are those facebook/myspace friend requests - I just ignore them. I would be pretty bothered if I knew OUR kids were asking other grown-ups to be friends. But maybe I am just weird that way. And by the way, if one of our kids does ask you, you better tell me!!!!
I am happy to report that SBW is doing well. He is acting like his attempt at being a human composter never happened. Too bad that I can't chill out and act the same way. I think I pulled a muscle in my leg while jumping over a clothes basket trying to get to him and get something out of his hand. That something turned out to be part of a rice cracker. Geez. And the best part is that I ended up having to sit on the floor and laugh at myself because I am sure that I looked like a nut. I mean more of a nut than normal.
In my constant quest to get more light in the house, I have removed all of the blinds off the rear of the house. Our yard has quite a few trees, so there is only a slim chance that the neighbors can see me walking around in my birthday suit. The neighbors behind us are getting new decking on the backside of their house. We sit perpendicular to each other, so they don't look right into our yard, but I am sure they can see in the house when the lighting is just right. They are re-decking all three stories and last week I happened to see one of the guys fall off the ladder. He was pretty high up, but he seemed to be okay. Today the same guy was kinda balancing between 2x4's and singing along with the radio with all his heart. It really made me smile. He was happily belting out George Strait, Kid Rock, Alan Jackson and Carrie Underwood. The Carrie Underwood Jesus Take the Wheel was my very favorite. I was intentionally in the kitchen washing dishes so that I could enjoy the show. Maybe we should hire him to hang out on their deck all of the time so that I can get some stuff done in the kitchen! :)
We are on the countdown for school to get out. Only 34 days left. Or I think - I am relying on a 5th grader for my facts at this moment. We are all looking forward to the summer. This summer we will go on a family vacation with all of JC's family. 8 adults and 8 kids. We are all looking forward to it. It will be a lot of driving, but a ton of fun. It has been such a long time since we were last in Lake Tahoe. Oh, I can't wait. The kids have been saving every penny and we have all been cleaning out and trying to sell our stuff at garage sales so that we have vacation money and money to buy Sea World season tickets. Sea World has an offer right now where you get a season pass for the same price as a single day ticket. We haven't been to a theme park in three years. This is a great and easy deal. Sea World is close enough to our house so the gas won't cost a fortune and we will only have to pay for parking. We can make sandwiches to take and spend time in the regular park or in the waterpark. The only way that we won't end up with the tickets is if we don't earn enough money at the garage sale this weekend. Fingers crossed - we are half way to our goal!
Okay - 7:01pm. Gotta go.
Geez, where does the time go.
Should have more for tonight.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
The Legend Lives On
Three days since the mud extravaganza. More kids in our backyard this morning that missed the big event and they are dying to get in.
Nope. Not happenin'.
Can you even believe what a mean mom I am???
Oh Saturday
Today started like any other Saturday. Oh except for the part about all of the games being cancelled due to rain! Yippee. Saturday at home. Woo Hoo. I'm going to share a small glimpse into our day with a little bit of a photo story. Stay with me because I know your eyes will probably wanna glaze over about halfway through me showing you pictures of our kids. :)
The morning started out like most others. I slept late. JC took #3 to get donuts for everyone.
Once I shook out the morning cobwebs and took a few aspirin, I got busy with the kids trying to clean up the back yard. This included scrubbing mud off of the back wall of the house, the fence, the picnic table, the cooker, oh and let's not forget the deck!
After most of the work was done, #1 headed out to play with his buddies, #2 went with her friends to an Earth Day Festival, and #3 went to play with a couple of friends down the street. #4 basically stayed naked all day and hopped between the computer, the Wii and the TV until early evening. I worked on laundry, played on the computer, grocery shopped and cleaned (kinda). JC worked in the yard and played Wii with #4.
Around 5:30, I decided to take the kids to the Capitol to play. Seems like an odd place to play, you know since it isn't a playground, but our kids have grown-up playing on the lawn of the Capitol and never get tired of rolling down those hills. We told our best buddy Terry and she met us there with two of her kids, which made for a PERFECT evening. I even remembered to bring a blanket, cut up apples for the kids, drinks and a little rice cracker for SWB. These six big kids have spent hour upon hour on this lawn. They've picniced, slayed dragons, played in the sprinkler and had good quality time laying on the grass watching the clouds go by and building a true friendship that none of them will ever forget.
So there we are on a perfect evening watching the kids have the time of their lives while Terry and I solve all of the world's problems. The SBW is sitting on the sheet with us just crawling around and having a good time. I was up and down taking a bunch of pictures. Terry was base for the kinder kids that were sword fighting and she was also helping me keep an eye on SBW. I sat down and we were just talk talk talkin' when I realized that SBW was choking.
Now, as to be expected, he puts everything in his mouth and has had more than one occasion to sort of choke or gag. This time was different. I kind of started to panic because I could just tell that something wasn't right. He was still breathing, but there was something in there that he was struggling with and he was getting pretty red and really really gagging/choking/struggling to catch a good deep breath. I was holding him and Terry and I were both trying to help him clear his airway. He was doing a little bit of the super saliva gagging and he wasn't stopping. I handed him to Terry in a panic and we both decided that I should call 911. The operator that help me was very very kind. She reminded me not to pat him on the back (which Terry had already said) and to keep him upside down (again, Terry had already said). At some point I got so frazzled that I grabbed him from Terry and handed her the phone because I felt the need to run with him. I few times while I was quickly walking to the street with him halfway upside down, I called out to Terry who was a few steps behind me that I thought he wasn't breathing. He was REALLY struggling. She kept reassuring me that although he was having a hard time, he was still breathing. I stood on the street barefooted, freaking out, and shaky legged waiting for them to come and take care of my baby. We heard them first and within' two-three minutes of us dialing the number, they were there. Terry saw them and they started to pass the street, but she waved them down. They pulled up and I was practically handing him to the guy as he opened the door to the ambulance. He had me get in the side door with SBW and he immediately starting checking him out. At this point SBW is still gagging on something. He took his oxygen level and it was low, so they put the oxygen on his nose and tried to get him to breathe through the face mask.
I guess it took about 10 or so minutes for him to not be gagging in such a desperate attempt to get whatever it was out. He was slowly getting better and becoming more like the sweet interactive baby that he normally is. And then, there was one last big gag. After that one, he kinda looked around dazed and then gave a big smile. The paramedic that was sitting across from me noticed something in SBW's mouth when he smiled. So he and Terry were trying to get him to smile again so that he could fish it out. Turns out, it was a leaf. A LEAF. And it was actually only part of a leaf. I suspect that the other part will come out the backside in a day or so.
I guess I was with the paramedics for about 40 minutes. They were great to make sure that he was completely okay before they let us go.
Terry took this picture with our camera of the ambulance. I am inside with the baby. You know that she is a really good friend because she knew I would want a picture and took the time to find our camera and make sure to take one. :)
She was going back and forth between me and the six big kids that were waiting for everything to be okay. At dinner tonight, they were retelling the story again. Going over every single detail. They said that they were all crying and praying that SBW wouldn't be choking and wouldn't die. And apparently Terry's #2 was praying in Spanish, which just tickles me to death. The girls have been dotting on SBW all night long. Now everyone is being overly cautious about him being down on the floor. Myself included.
I hafta admit that I had the shaky leg until we got home. I had to sit by myself in the car for a while and take a moment to calm down. We've never had to call an ambulance before for one of our kids. And when we had to take a kid to the emergency room, it wasn't because they couldn't breathe.
Here is SBW after he receives the final all good from the friendly paramedics. The second shot is of the big kids getting a tour of the ambulance and the third is all of the kids and paramedics outside of the ambulance. The last shot is me and Terry and the once again smiling SBW before we all got in the car to go home. I am so so so thankful that Terry was with me. I couldn't have done this by myself. What a gift she is. And she never even looked rattled.
So once we got home and everyone got settled, the girls were back to their normal diva selves. Oh brother.
JC was in charge of super tonight - you know with me being so emotionally fragile and needing to sit and nurse my baby and drink a coke.
He told me earlier in the day what he needed to make dinner. He was watching iCarly with the kids and apparently they made spaghetti tacos for dinner. So that is what he did.
He didn't tell them what they were having until we brought it out to the table. Needless to say, they were thrilled. OVER THE MOON. Those 18 tacos were gobbled up by those five kids faster than you could even believe! I was kinda bummed too, because I wanted to try one. And of course, everything is great with SBW and he was back to his normally smiley self. He was thrilled with his carrots and peaches tonight.
The night ended with all the kids washed up and ready for a movie. #4 sat with JC to watch the movie and insisted that JC wear his genuine coyote head. JC let #4 put it on him, adjust it and watched the whole movie wearing it. What an outstanding dad.
I am gonna lay my head down on the pillow soon. I've got two sleeping kids in the living room and three in their beds. And SBW is in our bed with JC. I will close my eyes tonight so thankful for each of my people and their friends. I will thank God again tonight for my friends and my husband. And I will let that sweet baby nurse all night long if he wants.
What a day.
The morning started out like most others. I slept late. JC took #3 to get donuts for everyone.
Once I shook out the morning cobwebs and took a few aspirin, I got busy with the kids trying to clean up the back yard. This included scrubbing mud off of the back wall of the house, the fence, the picnic table, the cooker, oh and let's not forget the deck!
After most of the work was done, #1 headed out to play with his buddies, #2 went with her friends to an Earth Day Festival, and #3 went to play with a couple of friends down the street. #4 basically stayed naked all day and hopped between the computer, the Wii and the TV until early evening. I worked on laundry, played on the computer, grocery shopped and cleaned (kinda). JC worked in the yard and played Wii with #4.
Around 5:30, I decided to take the kids to the Capitol to play. Seems like an odd place to play, you know since it isn't a playground, but our kids have grown-up playing on the lawn of the Capitol and never get tired of rolling down those hills. We told our best buddy Terry and she met us there with two of her kids, which made for a PERFECT evening. I even remembered to bring a blanket, cut up apples for the kids, drinks and a little rice cracker for SWB. These six big kids have spent hour upon hour on this lawn. They've picniced, slayed dragons, played in the sprinkler and had good quality time laying on the grass watching the clouds go by and building a true friendship that none of them will ever forget.
So there we are on a perfect evening watching the kids have the time of their lives while Terry and I solve all of the world's problems. The SBW is sitting on the sheet with us just crawling around and having a good time. I was up and down taking a bunch of pictures. Terry was base for the kinder kids that were sword fighting and she was also helping me keep an eye on SBW. I sat down and we were just talk talk talkin' when I realized that SBW was choking.
Now, as to be expected, he puts everything in his mouth and has had more than one occasion to sort of choke or gag. This time was different. I kind of started to panic because I could just tell that something wasn't right. He was still breathing, but there was something in there that he was struggling with and he was getting pretty red and really really gagging/choking/struggling to catch a good deep breath. I was holding him and Terry and I were both trying to help him clear his airway. He was doing a little bit of the super saliva gagging and he wasn't stopping. I handed him to Terry in a panic and we both decided that I should call 911. The operator that help me was very very kind. She reminded me not to pat him on the back (which Terry had already said) and to keep him upside down (again, Terry had already said). At some point I got so frazzled that I grabbed him from Terry and handed her the phone because I felt the need to run with him. I few times while I was quickly walking to the street with him halfway upside down, I called out to Terry who was a few steps behind me that I thought he wasn't breathing. He was REALLY struggling. She kept reassuring me that although he was having a hard time, he was still breathing. I stood on the street barefooted, freaking out, and shaky legged waiting for them to come and take care of my baby. We heard them first and within' two-three minutes of us dialing the number, they were there. Terry saw them and they started to pass the street, but she waved them down. They pulled up and I was practically handing him to the guy as he opened the door to the ambulance. He had me get in the side door with SBW and he immediately starting checking him out. At this point SBW is still gagging on something. He took his oxygen level and it was low, so they put the oxygen on his nose and tried to get him to breathe through the face mask.
I guess it took about 10 or so minutes for him to not be gagging in such a desperate attempt to get whatever it was out. He was slowly getting better and becoming more like the sweet interactive baby that he normally is. And then, there was one last big gag. After that one, he kinda looked around dazed and then gave a big smile. The paramedic that was sitting across from me noticed something in SBW's mouth when he smiled. So he and Terry were trying to get him to smile again so that he could fish it out. Turns out, it was a leaf. A LEAF. And it was actually only part of a leaf. I suspect that the other part will come out the backside in a day or so.
I guess I was with the paramedics for about 40 minutes. They were great to make sure that he was completely okay before they let us go.
Terry took this picture with our camera of the ambulance. I am inside with the baby. You know that she is a really good friend because she knew I would want a picture and took the time to find our camera and make sure to take one. :)
She was going back and forth between me and the six big kids that were waiting for everything to be okay. At dinner tonight, they were retelling the story again. Going over every single detail. They said that they were all crying and praying that SBW wouldn't be choking and wouldn't die. And apparently Terry's #2 was praying in Spanish, which just tickles me to death. The girls have been dotting on SBW all night long. Now everyone is being overly cautious about him being down on the floor. Myself included.
I hafta admit that I had the shaky leg until we got home. I had to sit by myself in the car for a while and take a moment to calm down. We've never had to call an ambulance before for one of our kids. And when we had to take a kid to the emergency room, it wasn't because they couldn't breathe.
Here is SBW after he receives the final all good from the friendly paramedics. The second shot is of the big kids getting a tour of the ambulance and the third is all of the kids and paramedics outside of the ambulance. The last shot is me and Terry and the once again smiling SBW before we all got in the car to go home. I am so so so thankful that Terry was with me. I couldn't have done this by myself. What a gift she is. And she never even looked rattled.
So once we got home and everyone got settled, the girls were back to their normal diva selves. Oh brother.
JC was in charge of super tonight - you know with me being so emotionally fragile and needing to sit and nurse my baby and drink a coke.
He told me earlier in the day what he needed to make dinner. He was watching iCarly with the kids and apparently they made spaghetti tacos for dinner. So that is what he did.
He didn't tell them what they were having until we brought it out to the table. Needless to say, they were thrilled. OVER THE MOON. Those 18 tacos were gobbled up by those five kids faster than you could even believe! I was kinda bummed too, because I wanted to try one. And of course, everything is great with SBW and he was back to his normally smiley self. He was thrilled with his carrots and peaches tonight.
The night ended with all the kids washed up and ready for a movie. #4 sat with JC to watch the movie and insisted that JC wear his genuine coyote head. JC let #4 put it on him, adjust it and watched the whole movie wearing it. What an outstanding dad.
I am gonna lay my head down on the pillow soon. I've got two sleeping kids in the living room and three in their beds. And SBW is in our bed with JC. I will close my eyes tonight so thankful for each of my people and their friends. I will thank God again tonight for my friends and my husband. And I will let that sweet baby nurse all night long if he wants.
What a day.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Extreme Soccer 2009 in Pictures
I wish I had taken more pictures of the backyard Extreme Soccer match. I totally missed getting a group shot when #1's friend Uncle P showed up. (Don't ask - that is just what they call him.) I wish I had shots of them all taking turns running and doing belly slides through the mud.
Oh well, we've got the memories. I LOVE that this is another great example of the boys and girls of all ages playing together and it not being weird. I am SO glad that they can still hang together with no freaky-ness.
And for the record, I asked every parent first, provided all the kids with a set of old clothes to wear in the mud and provided showers after all of the fun.
Each team had two boys and one girl. I am not sure if they were counting points based on how many times the ball went into the goal or how many times they were able to fall in the mud when trying to get the ball into the goal.
The best of friends! And YES - girls can do anything that boys can do.
Here comes #3 and her best buddies. They watched through the window for quite a while and then decided to jump right in. They were the last ones in and the first ones out.
I really enjoy watching our kids hang out with this group of friends. They are all great kids with parents that we like a lot. I am always thanking my lucky stars for the really good kids that our kids hang out with.
Sadly, there were a few friends over today that weren't here for last night's festivities. They were BEGGING for a do over. Ummmm...sorry. I'm thinkin' not today.
Ahhhh, life is good.
Extreme Soccer
It's been raining for the last couple of days. Thank God for the rain. Soccer practice was cancelled last night. There were a lot of kids at our house. The backyard was muddy.
Kids + soccer ball + backyard mud = a whole lotta fun.
Enjoy the video. There will be more to come!
And BTW, this is #1, #2, S, P, L, A, C and F.
Kids + soccer ball + backyard mud = a whole lotta fun.
Enjoy the video. There will be more to come!
And BTW, this is #1, #2, S, P, L, A, C and F.
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