I Should Be Sleeping

Well, today was like being in the middle of a tornado. I went to help out at MG's preschool today. We got off to a hint of a bad start when MG didn't want Mommy to take her to school. I guess the change of routine wasn't a good thing for her. She wanted Daddy. Things seemed ok except that she kept telling me that she was sleepy on the way over. She did great during story time until a little boy decided to tickle her during group time. Then she kept leaving the group to "visit" with me. She proceeded to have a tantrum, pull toys off shelves with a bang, hit me on the head with her fist (something she never does), and yell "NO! NO! NO!" at me in front of everyone. Then she calmed down, but I was so embarrassed. I'm sure my face turned several shades of red. Things didn't get much better after we got home. She wouldn't take a nap and she bit me, drawing blood!! Whew....it was as bad as it gets. She hadn't been to school for two weeks due to illness and then the holiday, so I suppose the change in routine wreaked havoc. She also wasn't feeling too good after eating too much chocolate. I can think of all kinds of reasons for her brattiness. Anyway, I sure hope she's feeling better tomorrow. She even put herself in timeout because she knew she was being bad.

Crazy Moments

Unfortunately, I tend to get blue during the holidays. It must be bad habit. It really is better with kids because I get to do extra fun things for them. When I was young, my mom had severe depression...especially during holidays. It really had an effect on everyone around her... especially me and my brothers. Now holidays are happier for me. I love doing special things and making traditions with my family, but I start getting a little blue anyway. It really must be habit. I got so used to feeling this way for years and years.

Tomorrow I'm the parent helper for my daughter's preschool class. This is a big event for me! I'm taking off from work to do it. Mark has been taking MG since I work on Monday mornings, so I'm excited to spend time with MG and her friends. I'm actually a little nervous about it too, which is very silly. I can't remember all her classmates names!

Speaking of work, I've felt so burnt out with it. This is really terrible because it really isn't a bad job at all. By the time my work shift rolls around, I just feel very drained emotionally. It's hard to care enough about my work for some reason. Maybe I'm still trying to balance my job as a Mommy with my part time "real" job.

Well, I think it helps to write about things to sort out my feelings! Usually I feel so much more positive about everything after actually getting some sleep. MB is cutting another tooth, and I should've learned by now that he really needs medicine. He got me up every two hours for the last three nights. I gave him the children's motrin tonight, so I think it will be better. His gums bleed with these top teething coming in! Poor little guy. It seems to bother him (and me!) most at night.

Ok! I'm done sounding off! Thanks for reading my "crazy moments" post!

Thanksgiving Snow

One Thanksgiving that I remember from the 1970s was a snowy one. I was very young...probably 3 or 4 years old. We always went to my maternal grandparents' house for lunch, but this year was different. Since we had an early snow, my family decided to go to my great-grandmother's house instead since it was centrally located and easier for everyone to get there. I remember stepping into the snow and onto the porch or Mamaw's tiny little white bungalow. I'm sure that it was difficult to cram everyone into that tiny house, but we had so much fun. Some of my cousins that we normally didn't share Thanksgiving with were there. I remember the warmth and laughter of family being together on a cold snowy day.

How do you like your pizza?

Last evening we decided to order pizza so that I wouldn't have to cook. I asked MG what she would like on her pizza, expecting her to say ham and pineapple which seems to be her favorite. Instead, she announced that she wanted popcorn and turkey on it! So what toppings do you like on your pizza?

Family Kicked Off Flight for BF

I just read this story about a woman who was kicked off a flight (along with her family) for breastfeeding her 22 month old daughter in public. Apparently, the flight attendant felt offended by it and asked her to cover up with a blanket. She refused, and the flight attendant had the family kicked off the flight. You can read the story and see a picture of the mommy and baby here. http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061114/NEWS/61114002

I think this is pretty pathetic of the flight attendant. What an idiot. Also, I don't blame the mother for refusing the blanket. I'd like to see a 22 month old who would be content to have her head covered up with a blanket while nursing! My two never liked being covered up. Also, it's supposed to soothe a young child go be breastfed for the flight! She was keeping her child happy and calm...something I'm sure the other passengers would appreciate! Can yo believe this?!

Today Got Better

What an awful last few days. I'm still learning when it comes to taking care of sick kids. MG had the stomach virus so bad. I've never seen anything like it. I thought that it was getting better yesterday, but it got a whole lot worse during the night and this morning. I was feeling a little panicky. I called the doctor today and was told that basically she shouldn't be eating anything but plain noodles and dry bread and drinking water and pedialite. Yum. We had been trying apple juice and water and mild foods, but some of those things were making the diarrhea worse! After eating noodles and cereal, she seems to be doing better tonight. Mark had it almost as bad as MG, but he is finally getting better too. He said that it's one of the worst sicknesses he's ever had! I think that MB has a touch of it. I've had to feed him plain rice cereal with water and mommy's milk since he's a little queasy. I had a touch of it too. Whew..taking care of MG took a lot out of me. We changed so many diapers and it was so gross that we had to put the diaper pail in the basement. What an experience. She has actually lost some weight and her legs look so thin.

I have to confess that I went on a little shopping spree because of the stress. I did a little Christmas shopping. I didn't go overboard, but it made me feel so much better. I felt a little helpless with making MG feel better after trying so many things, so it made me feel good to buy some things for her for Christmas. I did go ahead and give her a "fishing" game to give her something fun to do while being confined. She loves it. It was also nice to get out of the "sick" house for a little while. Hopefully this week everyone will be feeling normal again!

Sick Days

During my 7 years of working at my current job, I've rarely taken off sick except for the 6 months of maternity leave. I had to take off last evening and will take off again tomorrow. Tomorrow is our "staff day" where everyone in the organization goes to special workshops and we have a nice lunch. Well, I'm missing it for the first time and that feels very strange. MG is mostly better, but she is still sick enough that I can't have a babysitter tomorrow. The person who was going to take care of her has a child of her own who doesn't need to be exposed to the stomach virus.

I was actually kind of looking forward to being away for the day and have a mixture of feelings about it. Maybe I really need to make time for MM and I to go out somewhere just the two of us. We haven't done that since before MB came along and only once after MG came along! I love being with the kids and love that they are not in childcare, but it would be good to have a few hours to see a movie or go hiking or do something that we can't normally do with the kids. I guess it's kind of sad that staff day was the one day that MM and I were going to have time away from the kids together. I've been a little depressed about it.

I think I'll try to take the kids somewhere fun tomorrow if they are both feeling well enough. MB hasn't caught the virus (yet), but I think that mommy milk might help protect him from some things. If that proves true, I'm very glad that I've continued nursing him this long. We may have trouble with weaning, but I feel that he's a healthier little boy because of it.

I've had fun Christmas shopping this year. It's been a little tricky though. We have bought most things with the kids in tow. MG is getting a wooden train set with Thomas characters and a Cabbage Patch Kid newborn doll. MB is getting a LeapFrog train set and Barney shape sorter. He loves Teletubbies, but you can't find them in stores anymore!! I may order one from eBay for his birthday...which is right after Christmas! I have such nice memories of Christmas when I was a little girl, so I hope that I can make it magical and fun for my kids.

I really want to use a real tree this year. We're thinking of getting one that we can plant in the Spring. Our yard needs some trees! We only have one! When I was a little girl, my dad used to cut down a cedar tree every year from my great grandmother's farm. I can still remember the smell of cedar that permeated the house mingled with the smell of warm Christmas lights. Those old fashioned kind with big bulbs. My brother and I would scoot up under the tree, lying on our backs to look up into the branches. It was so pretty and we imagined that we were small and could dance among the little angels, santas, snowmen and elves. My brother would fall asleep under the tree.

Well, I'd better go. I need to think about Thanksgiving instead of skipping right over to Christmas. I think that my next post will be about my best Thanksgiving memory. When I was about 4 years old, we had a big snow on Thanksgiving. Instead of going to my grandparents' house, we had to go much closer...to my great-grandmother's tiny house. It's a fun memory. Take care! I'd like to hear about your holiday memories from when you were a kid!

Stomach Virus

Yuck...yuck...Yuck...yuck! Poor MG had a stomach virus that started last night. She was alternating throwing up and diarrhea all night long until 4 AM. We camped out in the living room in sleeping bags. She was really good about telling me each time that she needed to be sick or had a soiled diaper. She had a little pillow that she kept wanting to put on her stomach to make it feel better. Today she's much better. It may have been something she ate, but it seems that she's been picking up every little germ. She never had a high temperature with this, so I really don't know what it was.

MB was a little hyper today. He figured out how to open the boxes of puzzles to pull out the pieces to chew on. He distinctly said "kit cat" when he saw our cat Abner today. He has such a sweet little voice. It's hard to believe that he will be a year old in a couple of months!!!! He still seems like a little baby to me! I was looking back at pictures of MG when she was his age...it made me teary-eyed.

Someone asked us to be in a Christmas play to be Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. Uh...MB will be almost a year old by then and may very well weigh 30 pounds by then!! People will be saying "Look at big ole baby Jesus". I hope that they can find a younger baby to play the part. Or they might very well find an older baby who is smaller than MB!

Cussing Problems

I really do need to adjust my language. MG repeats everything that we say. I'm still trying to replace curse words with "Shucks!" especially if the other "sh" word starts to come out. If something wrong does slip out and it gets repeated, I tell MG that Mommy shouldn't say things like that. I told her that a few days ago, and she nodded her head and said "Shucks, Mommy". I don't know why it's become so easy to slip into the bad habbit of cussing. Got to find other ways to work out stress!!! :) I think that the hardest place to stop cussing is in the car when encountering people driving dangerously. It's so easy to scream out the horrible "Sh%# Far!" when someone does something dangerous that almost causes a wreck. That's southern cuss for "Poop Fire!" I feel really bad about this.

Full Moon Morons and Coffee Bean Poo

Today was an ok work day for me until I talked to an irate customer who was making threatening remarks. It was very odd, so I attribute it to the full moon. I sorted out his problem and he seemed to calm down after that. It was very bizarre, so it's hard to even describe. And I really don't want to talk about work on my blog!

MM laughed when he changed MB's diaper today. All that he had in it was a little tiny poo bean that looked exactly like a coffee bean. I must really be drinking way too much coffee lately to result in my son pooing a coffee bean!

On to more sane topics.... MB learned to do the following things this week! CRAWL, SIT UP UNASSISTED and ROLL A BALL back and forth with MG! We had begun to worry whether he was delayed in doing these things, but he doesn't do things gradually. It's all at once! It's amazing that he has made this giant leap. It all happened within the week. He's also trying to say kitty cat and push. I say "push" when trying to wrestle him into his clothes, so he was trying to say it this morning.

MG has learned her shapes and was identifying them for me today. I was surprised that she even knows diamond and rectangle. Mark really works with her on it. It really goes to show how important reading and books are to learning. She loves books and one in particular about shapes and dogs fascinates her.

I think that I've been a little down because of winter coming. It's not my favorite time of the year, although I do love the holidays. Oh well! I need to find a little sled so that I can pull the kids around in it when it comes a big snow! Having kids makes all kinds of weather more fun, so I'll quit moping about it.

"Too Much Sh#@!"

Today I was trying to get MG to come to the table to have lunch. The table was covered in toys, books and papers. I shoved things over and put her food in a clear spot and asked her to come over. She looked at the table and said, "No! There's too much shit on there!" Hmmm...I wonder who taught her that? It wasn't me this time! We decided that it was a good idea to clean the table before we ate.