3 weeks and counting

Yup......my last time as being pregnant is almost up. In a little over 3 weeks the Bean will make her arrival into the world.

Weird as this sounds, but this is really the only time I've been ready well before the big c-section date to have it over with. Maybe because this is my last pregnancy, or maybe I'm just ready to be off work for 11 weeks. I'm thinking it's the later. Then again I'm already dreading going back to work after being off 11 weeks.....I know my notes/procedures are good, but I'm not sure the guy covering my duties is that competent.

"Mommy, when are you going to hatch?"

Yes - that was the question posed to me Wednesday night by S. Apparently Easter is still fresh in his mind, and I won't be giving birth but will be hatching.

Luckily he does understand that he, and T came out of my tummy (both were c-sections), and that's how the Bean will arrive in this world on May 30th. He did inform me that if I needed it he would kiss my big owie to make it feel better. Even with all of the ADHD issues and such, how can you NOT just love that child?!?!?

Bedrest SUCKS!!!

Even if it was for only one day. I applaud and am amazed at the women who are on it much longer.......after one day I was about to go insane.

Anyhoo - having weird pains near my right hip so doctor wanted to be cautious and have me take it easy one day. Also, I have a lovely bladder infection. She's not sure the two are or aren't related but since I have a non-stress test day she's gonna have the u/s tech take a look and just check things out.

He's finally seeing it my way

Like every man K has his toys. Unfortunately his toys are expensive toys: truck, trailer, and 4-wheeler. (Of course we're still making payments on them.)

I have no problem with him and his toys, but he wants the whole family to be able to enjoy the 4-wheeler and camping. I love to go camping and I think this is a great idea, but the boys are 5 1/2, 3 1/2, almost 2 and not quiet here yet. Not the most ideal situation.

Anyhoo - the man, on his own, has been talking for the last few months about just selling everything so we can pay off our debt that much faster and get a house. Well, this last week he did it. The trailer (enclosed toy hauler) is already gone as of this last weekend.

He listed the 4-wheeler and the truck today in the Auto Trader. (Along with a classic car, his dad's motorcycle, and his dad's 4-wheeler.)

SO - instead of being out of debt by the Spring of 2011 we will be outa debt hopefully no later than the Spring of 2009 - if not sooner. Which means we can get a house!!!

It may have had to plant this little seed in his brain over 9 mos ago.....but hey, he finally got it!!! Patience does pay off!!!

Outa the mouths of babes....

Everynight when I put S to bed we always chat about his day or other things. Last night was no different. Lately he's been asking how many days I have to work before I'm off. Since last night was Sunday I told him 5 days. He then proceeds to tell me that "you need to goto work so you don't get in trouble and don't catch on fire".

Catch on fire? Ah....took me a second.....Get Fired.

OMG - I'm impressed I didn't just dye laughing right then and there. However, I'm still chuckling about it today.

Gotta love the boy!

Ahh....the imagination of a 2yo

Daddy's out playing with his R/C cars so it's just the T Man and myself. We've been having a grand old time just playing around, and for once I actually made the bed.

T has decided he's going to pretend to be asleep. He crawled up on the bed, got under the covers, and has proceeded to make snorring sounds. Now he's just chillin' with the TV remote.

Disappointed our digital camera isn't working (aka batteries are dead) 'cause it's the cutest dang thing ever!

What an A$$

My ex-H calls me this morning on his way over to our house to drop S off. He wants to know if we have breakfast food (frozen waffles, pancakes, sausage, etc) for S since they were running late and S didn't eat breakfast at his house.

WHAT THE *UCK!?!?! No dude, we make the boys starve until lunch time. Seriously, what would make him ask a question like that???

Better yet - he calls and asks me, and I tell him yes we have stuff at the house (since I was already at work). But he then asks K when he gets to the house.

Good thing he's not my problem anymore....well, not 100% of the time.

The closer B-Day gets . . .

. . . .the more nervous I am about having my tubes tied. I know in my mind that it's the right thing to do. We can not financially afford another. Emotionally I know we could handle another. However, physically not sure my body can handle a 4th pregnancy. Then there's the birth control factor - don't need to worry about it!

Then again there's my heart......and the "what if's". I guess it's because it seems so FINAL, and this wil be the last child I'll give birth to. There goes my chance to experience a vaginal delivery......dang hospital and their policy. The last one I'll breastfeed, the last one to share those first experiences with, etc. Crap - now I made myself get all teary eyed.

Yeah - the hormones are ragging and emotions are running high....but I know in the end we've made the right decision.

Ugh.....5 1/2 is too young for his first visit to the Principal's office

Background: S is in a pre-K program that is grant funded but run by the school district. He currently attends the local grade school for this program. (It's also where he'll goto K next year.)

Friday night I get home and go through S's backpack from school. He doesn't have school on Friday's, but since he went to his dad's on Thursday night I knew I needed to check it. On his daily progress report is the following hand written note from his teacher "Stephen had to talk to the Principal about NOT standing on the toilet in the boy's bathroom". Yes, the NOT was underlined.

How embarassing is that?!?!? I know it stems from my post of yesterday about his dad's move which is yet another reason I'm pissed at the man. Never mind the man has NEVER looked in S's backpack to see how he did in school that day.

Of course we talked about it. Bascially what rules apply at home apply at school and vice versa. Unfortunately it was too late for any punishment (aka sleeping on the bottom bunk versus top), but I did tell him how disappointed/sad I was that he got in trouble. Which hopefully got the point through to him. Deep down I know he wants to be a good kid, but if I can't get his dad to help out I can only do so much.

At least he seems to be somewhat better this week.......knock on wood.

Why can't he be a father rather than fun-daddy????

No, this isn't a post about K, but about my ex-H C. C moved 3 weeks ago (slowly) into a new house about 15 minutes away from us. I called him twice to tell him he needs to talk to Stephen about how great the new house is, how it's okay to be sad about leaving the old house, and how neat his new bedroom will be. Unfortunately Stephen's behavior the last 3 weeks speak to the contrary.

It's not that he's having horribly bad days.......but there are bad episodes. With his ADHD he does not like change, and it will ruffle his feathers. BUT if you explain and talk about it he will do much better than he has been. I've been trying to talk to him about it, but I'm not the one that moved - his father did. Don't get me wrong it helps - but he needs to hear those encouraging and comforting words from his father as well - if not more so.

Why can't the man just grow up and be a father? He's not helping Stephen one bit and everything I say or do just gets ignored. (Like getting Stephen to bed at a decent hour.....the boy's lucky to be in bed by 10pm at his dad's, but at our house he's in bed no later than 8:45pm.) Of course I get to be the "bad" guy and make Stephen do all the things he doesn't like.

Seriously here - the boy is 5 1/2 yo. He can dress himself, bathe himself (mostly), do chores, etc......yet at his father's house his dad just does everything for the boy because it's easier and faster - but it's not better. How else is the boy to learn to become a self-sufficent adult if Daddy does everything for him?

Okay - enough ranting now......oh, and if you care I give the same lecture to K about Raymond. Keith - be 'fun-daddy' and your boy will end up like my ex-H. Amazing how quick he's tried to turn that around and be a real father to his child. At least Stephen has to good male role models in his life: Keith and my father.

Our flowers survived Mother Nature's ill will!!!

During the same weekend that the boys were digging for worms I decided to buy some cheap Dollar General packets of flower seeds and their cheap potting soil. (I spent a grand total of $7 - $1 for four packets of seeds, and $3 each for 2 bags of potting soil.) The weekend before the cold weather hit they had just started to sprout....then a week of cold weather......and this week it's beautiful out and they're still alive!!

The boys are all excited, but impatient at the same time for the flowers to grow and bloom. However, we've been using it as a good teaching experience about how things take time to grow. And with a new baby soon to arrive who won't be able to play immediately this is an important lesson.

On a side note: the iris' my dad transplanted from my mother's garden may not make it. They were planted the same weekend we planted our cheap-o flowers.

Things nobody tells you about pregnancy....

....cause if they did there'd be a decline in the population of the human race.

Okay, I'm only half serious here, but being that this is my third time being pregnant you'd think I'd know just about everything.....NOT. So for those that are thinking about getting pregnant or those that have been here's my little pieces of trivia on the subject.

1. Did you know that if you've geen diagnoised with Gestational Diabetes a quick ultrasound and measurement of fluid will tell whether or not you've been lying about your glucose numbers? Apparently if you have a lot of fluid then you haven't been keeping your numbers under control.

2. Did you know you'd get weird pains where you never thought you could get weird pains. I'm talking about pelvis spreading, to muscle spasms in your ribs, to cramps in places you didn't even know you had muscles.

3. Getting kicked in your cervix or belly button from the inside is just as painful as it sounds. Seriously the cervix is worse, but the belly button is a close 2nd.

4. If you have a c-section did you know they'll remove the staples before you go home and replace them with some super duper sticky "band-aids"? I shit you not....kinda freaks one out the first time.

5. Did you know that you most likely won't feel the epidural when you're in labor.....however, without labor it is pretty uncomfortable. With my first son I was already in labor when they decided to do the c-section.....I was in more pain from the contractions than from the epidural itself. However, with my second son we went straight for the c-section and the pain from the epidural was a little bit of a shock.

6. You can break your tailbone during labor....not just delivery and not know it. My labor with my first son progressed so fast that and he dropped pretty quick that he broke my tailbone.....yes, it can happen with a vaginal delivery, but since I had a c-section no one suspected that was my problem for 2 years.

7. You're hair will change....and not for the better. No amount of moisturizing shampoo or conditioner will help my hair. And then after delivery I'll shed profussly and my straight hair will gain some natural curl. Go figure.

8. Towards the end of your preganacy you'll need a sign that states when you're due, what the gender is, and what number this is for you.....oh, and if you have other children what their ages are and gender. Everybody and their dog will stop and ask you.....especially at work.

9. Any good sneeze or cough and you'll wet yourself. Mostly happens during the 3rd trimester....but can happen anytime. Yes, even after you just went to the bathroom.

10. Vaginal discharge. Not a pleasant topic, but it'll get annoying. I swear it's worse with each pregnancy. How stupid do I feel buying panty liners while pregnant?

11. Memory loss.....yes, this really does happen. Before pregnancy I could walk into a room maybe once a month and wonder what I'm doing there.....during pregnancy and during the first few sleep deprived months after giving birth it'll occur 2-3 times a day. Annoying yes...but hey it's exercise all that walking around trying to figure out why you're where you're at!

This is what I have so far.......oh, and for those wanting to get pregnant don't worry.....it can't be all bad if I'm willing to do it 3 times and would have more if we would financially and emotionally aford it.

Mother Nature is just a big TEASE!!!

The weekend before Easter was beautiful! I mean sunny, little wind, no rain and in the 70's. Felt like Spring had finally arrived. The week before Easter everything started to go down hill.....got cold, windy, and rainy. Heck that Friday before Easter saw a few little snow flakes. It's been like this for the whole week, and now that bitch is tossing snow into the forcast for Saturday!!

It's the friggin' middle of April in NE Kansas and we're supposed to get SNOW?!?! What's the deal?

Then with her sick sense of humor the forcast is sunny and 60's on Sunday. I don't dare look at next week's forcast.

Latest on the "Bean" front

Had my 32 wk check-up yesterday afternoon. I've lost another 4 lbs, but per my doc that's okay since it means I'm doing good on the diabetic diet and my glucose numbers look good. (Overall I've only gained 2lbs total - YEA!!!) Measured a week bigger, but that's to be expected. The "Bean's" heartrate was around 140.....until she starting doing her swimming exercises and jumped up to 153....which is normal.

Well, that's the good news. Bad news is that starting next week I go twice weekly for non-stress tests. The tests aren't bad I just lie around for 30-45 minutes while the monitor the "Bean" and see if I'm having any contractions. No biggie. Unfortunately I have to do these test with the Sonogram/Ultrasound Tech. She's only in from 9am-4pm M-T, 1pm-4pm Wed, out Thurs and 1pm-4pm on Fridays. Do you know how much work I have to miss!?!?! I figured out it's about 6 hours a week.

This is soooo not good. I finally have someone to train at work, and I don't want to burn my PTO (paid time off) for this crap. I'd like to have some time left to take off once I'm back from maternity leave. Hopefully my boss won't turn into bosshole about me making up the time during the week.

Another reason this is my last child......don't think I could go through 9 mos of all of these appointments, diet, and testing.

We have the official date

Dr. just called to tell me I'm scheduled for a c-section bright 'n early the morning of May 30th. Still don't understand why I need to be at the hospital at 6am for an 8am c-section.......oh well, at least Gma Sue is willing to be at our house at 5:30am to keep an eye on the boys. Plus she'll bring them up for a visit later that morning.

Now we just need to get our act together and go out and buy a carseat & a stroller.....the only two things we need this time around. Besides the obvious diapers, wipes, and girl clothes.

My co-workers are trying to sabatoge me!

Okay - yesterday it was a plethora of baked goods.....today it was muffins and bagels. What is with these people?!?!? Luckily I've been in meeting after meeting this morning and have been able to resist the temptation. Wonder what's on the menu for tomorrow?

I do have willpower afterall!

Well - so far. It is only day 5 of my new diabetic diet. Yet, twice now I've resisted the urge for the "good" stuff. First time was Sunday. I just had to have a Cherry Coke......not only did I get diet, but I was fine with getting K a treat and not myself. Second time was today at work. Some gal brought in a bunch of stuff she'd baked over the weekend.....all of it looked good and all of it was chocolate. However, I resisted the temptation.

Now the real test will be this Friday - we're having pizza for lunch. Just not sure how that's going to fit into my new diet.

Boys, and mud, and worms...oh my

It rained off and on most of last week and even Friday night. So, Saturday morning we awoke to a beautiful breezy, yet sunny day.....however, not enough sun to dry everything out. Of course with all the rain this means worms.....and with 3 boys they go hand 'n hand.

I think S & R spent about an hour digging for worms. By then I decided I needed to put those worms to good use: plant some flowers. Went to the local Dollar General and picked up 2 bags of potting soil for $4 and four packets of flower seeds for $1. The boys helped me plant the seeds, etc. Of course they then had to dig for worms, but since it was getting cooler and the wind was picking up (and nice gray storm clouds looming overhead) we decided it was time to go inside for the night.

You all can guess what they wanted to do today. They probably spent a good hour or more off and on looking for worms for our newly planted flowers.

See I don't mind the mud or the worms or even the boys getting themselves and their clothes dirty.......it's the fear of what if this little girl isn't a tom boy? I mean I'm out there helping the boys looks for worms and basically giving them amo to torture their little sister. And to be honest I wouldn't understand her "fear" of them. Hate to say it, but this is one time I really hope nuture wins out over nature.

I'm a failure!!! :(

Well, Saturday March 17th I did the 3-hour glucose test. Luckily this time the lab tech listened to me and stuck with the one vein that worked. However, I failed the first two figures and the last one was close so I've been diagnoised with Gestational Diabetes.

Yesterday afternoon meet with the nutrionist/educator and got my monitor. So far, I just test my glucose levels and stick to a new diet. My numbers in the afternoon and evening look good.....it's my morning numbers that stink.

I think the hardest thing to give up will be the Regular Coca-Cola and Cherry Coke from the fountain. Not that I drank a ton, but I did treat myself to a small cup almost everyday. And before you tell me about the diet drinks out there you can just stuff it........they don't taste as good and are no where near as satisfying.

On a good note I've only gained about 7 lbs as of my last appointment. Not bad for being 27wks......just as long as I don't gain a ton in the next 11 weeks I'll be estatic!! Techincally I'll be 29wks tomorrow for those that are truly anal and keeping track.

Keep your finger's crossed that I don't need to continue this once the Bean is born!!

Sorta good news. . . .

. . . .ex-H dropped off S last night after the KU vs KY game. It was later than our agreed upon 6pm exchange time....but hey, KU was playing so no problem. Anyhoo - he tells me that as of April 1st they're moving. Moving to Ottawa.....30 minutes away.

Apparently the rent is cheaper by $300/mo, they'll be closer to his wife's work and her parents. He said it was that or Kansas City and since wifey-poo refuses to live in KC they moved to Ottawa.

As you can guess this will change our custody arraingment. Personally I think for the better. Yes, ex-H will be just a weekend dad....but since I can't get him to actually parent the boy this will be in the boy's best interest.

Ironically I was thinking of filing a modification to the custody agreement this summer. Now that S will officially be starting school in the fall it just seems like the right thing to do. Basically I was going to cut-out the Wed-Fri visit on the opposite week of the weekend visit.

On a side note - I'm wondering if I've finally got through to him in regards to money....either that or his student loan lenders calling me and my parents wanting current contact info. Glad his debt and spending habits aren't really my problem any more!

Lying and Biting, oh my!

You'd think a 3.5yo would know better than to bite. Nope. He's not a chronic bitter, but someone gets bit every weekend he's here. The time before it was K, this time it was S. R knows it wrongs 'cause as soon as he did it he started saying, "I'm sorry" repeatedly.

To be honest that's not the bad part about the whole incident. FWIW - R did leave a nice nickle sized bruise on S's upper right arm. It was the lying about it. I asked R three times if he bit S.....each time "No". After a quick reminder, he was sent to his room to finish crying.

Once the crying was over I told him he could come out of his room and talk to me. Asked him again did he bite S. Once again told "No". Showed R the bruise on S's arm and said I knew that he had and I would like the truth. So, I asked him again. This time I got the ellusive "Yes".

I then proceeded to explain why lying was bad, etc. I really hope he gets it soon.

Speaking of people NOT listening

Friday I had the day off from work. It was a great afternoon just running errands by myself and coming home to a nice quiet house - until the boys got home.

One of the errands was to pick up my new glasses. Now before I ordered them I made sure I told the gal that I'm very sensitive to certain curves, etc.....and the last time I got new lenses the center point of each lenses was off a few mm. Okay - this may not be much, but when you look through the wrong part of the lens you get a vertigo like feeling. So the gal measured everything to confirm measurements before ordering.

Well - of course something was wrong. I tell her this, but she insists on fitting them and tells me to try them for a week. HA! After wearing them for 5 hours I had the worst headache and was on the verge of puking.....wait a week my arse.....I'm calling today. I should mention that I repeatedly tell her that there's something wrong and I should know.....I've been wearing glasses since I was 10 yo.

Unfortunately - I'm not sure when I'll be able to get in to get everything remeasured. Plus I do need new glasses as the lenses in my current frames are cracking. Flaw with these lenses when used with rimless glasses......didn't know this at the time I ordered them over 2 years ago.

I just hope they take care of this issue without treating me like an idiot (like the gal did on Friday)......otherwise I'm off to find a new optometrist.

Ugggg.....blood tests

This is the one thing I absolutely hate about pregnancy......all the blood work. It's not that I hate needles per say....it's just that I have one good vein per arm and if you screw it up you ain't getting anything.

The point to this little blurb.....I did the 1 hour glucose test on Saturday morning. I made sure I drank plenty of water on the drive there and while waiting for the lab to call my name. First draw of blood was easy....the vein in my left arm cooperated. Drank that nasty orange stuff, tried not to puke and drank more water for the next hour. My hour came and went and the lab called me in.

This is where it gets fun. Tried the one good vein on my right arm....nothing. Tried another....nothing. Do you see where this is going? Anyhoo - about 10 needle pricks later on both arms the lab tech thinks she has enough - the vein she found to cooperate colapsed. I'm not a very religous person - but at this point I was praying to God that it was enough. I was also praying that 1) I passed the 1 hour test, or 2) if I do have to come back and do the 3 hour that she's not there.

So - luckily it got colder on Saturday as the day went on so I put on a long-sleeve shirt to hide all of my "track marks".

Oh - and I don't understand people who don't listen. I told her that if the right arm doesn't work she needed to go back to the good vein on the left arm. As you can see above she didn't listen.....even then when she finally got a vein to cooperate.

Ahhhhhh.....a vacation day!

Today S and I had dentist appts bright and early this morning, and then I have my monthly pg check-up at 3:45......so I took the day off. Not only do I get from 1pm to 6pm to myself I get to actually go get my haircut, pick-up my new glasses, and go wondering around a book store. This may seem like no big deal.....but I honestly can't remember when I just took time for myself.

Bonus is that I've even had time to just play with the boys (S & T) from 9:30am - to now. Yeah I made lunch but K has been taking care of everything else in regards to our abode.

As a belated b-day present to myself I'm stopping at DQ on the way home tonight to pick-up an ice cream cake!!

Birthdays

Birthdays come and birthdays go.......when you're younger you look forward to the following milestones:

10 - you're in double-digits now
14 - get your learner's permit
16 - get your driver's license
18 - buy cigarettes
20 - no longer a teenager
21 - legal to do just about everything
25 - lower car insurance

After those......they're pretty meaningless......that is until you hit 35. Let me re-phrase that - until I hit 35.

Yes - today is my big 35th birthday. 29 didn't bother me and neither did 30.....but for some reason this year my birthday is actually a little depressing.

I've come to the conclusion I like my 30's.......but turning 35 means I'm half done with them and also half way there to 40. 40....sounds bad even typing it out.

Guess I need to focus on the positive. When I'm 40 I can look forward to:
* Having a 10yo, 8yo, 6yo, & 4yo.....which means no more diapers!
* Less time to get out the door to go anywhere
* The only debt I'll have will be my mortgage payment

Dang - that's it?? Hmm.....better start thinking of other things otherwise the next few birthday's are going to be just as depressing.

March Madness! ! !

Okay - from my previous posts you'd never guess I'm a huge KU B-Ball fan. (That's the University of Kansas Jayhawks for the uneducated and/or uninformed out there.) The Big 12 (our conference) post-season tournament starts on Thursday and then next week the selections for the NCAA tournament begin. I love this time of year!

Only down side is that Keith and I are so busy watching games that our house goes to $hit. We're lucky if the kids are fed, clean and clothed.

Anyhoo - if you don't have any one to cheer for in the NCAA tourny......we'll take your support!

3 hours......

. . . . .to go through the boy's closets, decide what we keep and what we donate, and then fold and put away their clean clothes - and this was with my mother's help. I can't imagine how long this would've taken had I been doing it by myself! Never mind that T wanted to help - and he did until he decided that everything that went in the boxes must come back out.

I still have two boxes of T's old clothes to go through, need to reorganize their closets - especially S's, and drag out the boxes of S's old clothes that we've been saving for R & T.

Never mind I then get to make room in the shed to store the 3 boxes of donations.

I know I shouldn't complain as saving the clothes is saving us a ton of $$ - but it would be nice if K would help out.....even if it is to entertain T. Luckily I only really do this twice a year - spring & fall.

Anything else. . . .

. . . is what I'd rather be doing than going through the mound of laundry. Yes, a mound.....it graduated from a pile a week ago. Keith does a wonderful job of taking care of the kids and the house and yes, even the laundry.....but neither one of us seems to have the time to put it away. Plus we really need to start sorting through T's old baby clothes and only keep what's gender neutral, and boxing up all the stuff that's too small.

Luckily my mother is a saint and for the small price of Ham 'n Beans and/or Chili w/cornbread she's coming over to help - and bringing tubs to store clothes in!! I know - I could have Keith help, but he's a guy and well, guys just don't get the clothes things unless they're gay - which he's not.

Actually this works out great. T's down for a nap, K and my dad are over working on a mobile home we're selling, and mom will get here around time for lunch at the same time dad and K are done and T's up from his nap.

Unfortunately I get to first sort all of the clean laundry........guess I better get my butt off here and get to work. :(

Finally found the right Currency

For you non-parents out there "currency" refers to what your child would do anything for to obtain. In my case I'm referring to S and his problems with hitting/tripping. This is one of the little issues with ADHD and expressive language issues they don't tell you about. For S his currency is sleeping on the top bunk of his bunk beds.

Seriously - this works. K thinks it's nuts, but I told him if it works we stick with it. When we started focusing on the hitting/tripping issue he'd do it everyday and most days multiple times. We started with time outs - they helped and the incidents were down to one/two times a day a few days a week.

Then my dad and K got their act together and got a railing and ladder built for the bunk beds in S's room. Not sure how it happened, but S was on top and R was on bottom and they weren't going to sleep.........fine, S on bottom and R back in his room.....that's when I noticed that S saw sleeping on top as a reward/privaledge - not just a right since he was the eldest.

So, every night while we're having dinner I ask S how was his day, what was the report from school and did he hit/trip? It was a slow start, but this last week he went all week w/o getting in trouble for hitting/tripping - even with R here most of the week.

In a few weeks if he keeps it up I'm going to add following directions the first time he's told/asked to his list of things we expect each day. It's a slow progress.....but hey we're making progress! Too bad I can't get his dad to actually do anything about the boy's behavior. Once again I think this summer I'm going to request a slight change in our custody schedule so that the boy is at our house more.....especially now that he's going into K next year.

Oh, don't get me wrong......it's no easy task discovering your child's currency......especially when you have more than one kiddo and each is different. Now I'm off to discover T's........I'll post back in a few years when I figure that one out!

WoW - my latest addiction

That stands for World of Warcraft. Keith got the game cheap and started playing. Playing all the f-ing time. So, one night when it was just T and myself and T went to bed early I hopped on and created myself a character. I just had to see for myself what was the attraction.

In the early stages I loved playing by myself in the game and completing quests, etc and attaining level after level - and eventually training and keeping a pet (FuzzyWuzzy the Bear). However, now that I'm a level 21 (I think the game goes to like level 60+) I'm discovering the quests are harder to do by my lonesome.....and I now need to interact with other people in the game.

Unlike Keith, who has about 40 people in his WoW friends list, I have two: Keith and some guy who we mutually helped complete a quest last night. For some reason I just can't get into the cyber chatting with all of these "strangers". But what's even more strange is that if I met all of these people in person I'd have no problem making poliet conversation, etc.

Guess I either need to suck it up and start playing with a regular group or just suffer dying every 10 minutes doing it all myself. Either way I really need to cut back my play time.......and you'd all agree if you saw the ginormous pile of laundry sitting on my bed this morning. (Seriously K and I are both out of underware and the both boy's dressers are about empty.)

BTW - Did I mention how addicting this game is?? I got T in bed last night by 8:45pm and from 9pm to 1am (yes - 1am) I played this damn game. I had plans to log-off around 10pm and go cuddle with Keith......but that's hard to do when at 9:30pm he's snoring so loud I'm glad T's at the other end of the house.

Ah - back to reality..........in my case laundry and taxes. Sounds like a fun weekend don't it?

You know you need a hair cut when. . . .

. . . . multiple people start calling your 20mo old son a GIRL.

Yup - Keith took in the treats for S's V-day party at school and brought along R & T to join in the festivities. Everyone kept commenting on what a cute GIRL T was.

On the way home after the party Keith stopped at the local beauty shop and got T's hair cut. Gone are his cute curls in back....but you can still tell he has curly hair.

It needed to be done, and Keith did make sure they saved some of T's hair.......but I just wasn't ready for my baby to become an offical toddler/big boy. Yeah, I know.....we've got one on the way, but it doesn't make it easier. He does look exceptionally cute......and if I think about it I'll post before and after pics.

The woes of child support modification

My ex-H was unemployed for over 2 years (read no child support), he then gets a job through a temp agency. However, since it was a temp agency the courts couldn't amend his child support. Finally in the spring of 2006 he's hired on full-time, and by June 2006 we're back in court to get child support modified. Of course it goes up and he's pissed - but I don't care.

He decides to file a motion for a re-hearing in the Fall of 2006 since Stephen is no longer in daycare. Well, we goto court on Jan 9th at 11am. Basically it was a hearing to see if a re-hearing was needed on the original child support modification - in other words was there information available now that wasn't back in June - NO. The judge told ex-H that the re-hearing was denied but that he could ask for a court hearing to modify child support.

Ex-H of course heard none of this - he was just pissed that he was going to have to pay more money. I have no sympathy for the man - especially on the way into court he asks me if his car payment is taken into consideration when calculation child support. The Asshole is living well above his means and thinks he can cut his expenses by paying less child support.

Two days later Keith gets a visit from SRS (child protective services). We both knew it was ex-H that called in.....but we had to wait another 5 days to get all of the details. Apparently we were turned in for child neglect for the following items:
1. Not bathing S regularly - excuse me the boy has excema you can't bathe him every night!
2. For a cat scratch on his face that happened 15 mos ago - freak incident and I took S to his
regular doc as well as a plastic surgeon to make sure it was healing okay
3. S playing outside w/o supervision - umm....the boy needs to learn responsibility and we
live on a dead-end street
4. S in the street - have no idea about this one
5. Mysterious bruises on S's legs - the boy is a clutz, has been since he was a toddler.
6. Living near registered sex offenders - hey dumbass, there will always be registered sex
offenders living near you.

Now, not only did they need to talk to us all together (Keith, myself, S and T), but they talked to Keith and I each individually, and then talked to S at school.

Throughout this how ordeal ex-H kept denying he'd called, yet SRS told us the call came in Jan 9th in the late afternoon......hmmmm - same day as our court date.

After my mom and his mom were discussing this whole mess my ex-mil confessed that ex-H did indeed call SRS.

Didn't really matter as I had ripped ex-H a new one any way.........if you have a problem with my parenting then talk to me about it. Plus I'm not the one that has the parenting issues.

So - as a way to be a big B - I call and let him know anytime S got hurt and will show-up at his house with a bruise or mark. I know it annoys him - but he asked for it.


Update: Just got the report from SRS - everything was unfounded. Too bad I can't take that lovely little piece of paper, shove it in his face and shout "nanny-nanny-boo-boo" loud enough for everyone to hear!

Feeling ashamed of myself

Yesterday afternoon L, my ex's new wife, called to ask if I'd heard from him. I said "no", and then she proceeded to tell me that she's helping one of his co-workers on a personal issue and as she was talking to him he asked how C (ex-H) was doing. She had no clue what was going on, but apprently ex-H went home sick as he was having blurry vision accompanied by a horrible headache. She was just curious if I'd heard anything........she was worried she'd get home and find him passed out on the floor or something.

Here's where I feel ashamed of myself - my first thought was maybe he's dead?!?!? Now please understand I do not wish for my son to lose his father, but it would make out lives easier. (Plus the $125k in insurance money wouldn't hurt either.)

Anyhoo - if you care she took him to the ER and he has an impacted sinus causing the headache. (Once again - dang!)

On a side note I just didn't have the heart to tell L that this is typical ex-H........you have no idea how many times I'd try and call him at work only to be told by his co-workers that he's home sick or went home sick. Yes, his lack of communication is something he still posses.

Of Shoes, Clothes, and Toys

I never thought I would have to explain the difference between these to my 5 & 3 yo - but when they pick-up their toys and shove them in their closet...so go all the clothes and shoes lying around. Apparently when I tell them to put the toys in the proper room, etc that doesn't apply to clothes and shoes.

What prompted this post you may ask......30 minute search for Tyler's right shoe. In Stephen's closet I found 2 slippers (non-matching of course) and then in his toy box I found a shirt and one sock. In Raymond's closet I found a pair of underware, two more slippers (non-matching to each other and the first two), two non-matching socks, and yes finally Tyler's right shoe.

Sometimes it's the little things that get on my nerves...........running through the house screaming at the top of their lungs after being cooped up in the house all day doesn't faze me, but for some reason this little thing pisses me off. Go figure.

FINALLY - I can get in and post!!

Okay - switched over to Blogger.com's new format and for some reason I haven't been able to get in lately. So - here's the latest in our little family.

Stephen - Per his teacher he's definitely ready for K next year. This is such a relief. I was sooo afraid he wouldn't be ready, but the behavior modification/medication, etc seemed to have really helped. Occasionally Stephen does have bad days, but the good still out weigh the bad. Now that my dad built a rail and ladder for the top bunk S get's to sleep up on top when he's had a good day.......and right now a good day is all smiley faces from school and no hitting.

Raymond - Is finally potty trained during the day. However, we'll still end-up with two in diapers here in a few months. He's doing good - and will be ready for preschool this next fall.

Tyler - Well, he's just a little pistol. Into everything and eats everything in sight. His four eye teeth finally cut through....now all he's got left is his 2yo molars. He's still addicted to his bottle, but he only gets it at naptime and bedtime. Slowly working on getting rid of it at nap time, but Daddy keeps giving in. He's slowly getting a vocab going: dada, thank you, ut-oh, love you, owie, out, up, and down.

The Bean - well, the bean is a girl. So far we've agreed upon Addison Sue Margaret for a name. (Addy for short.) Kinda nervous - this is unchartered territory afterall. At least we can start getting rid of the boy baby clothes for now. Now we just get to wait until after May 25th - hopefully we'll know a c-section date sometime in April.

Misc Stuff - Keith and I are doing good. Him doing the SAHD thing is awesome. My work is kicking butt - but hopefully a proposal I put in will get approved.

Think that's it for now.

DumbAss

Yup – that word has been added to my 5yo’s vocabulary. Unfortunately the first time he used the term he used it correctly and Keith and I broke out laughing. Bad parents I know – but seriously it was pretty funny.

Another downside is that I’ve come to realize that I too use that word – much more often than I should. Even substituting Dumas for Dumbass doesn’t work anymore.

Luckily though S has only called Keith a dumbass – three times. First time he was just told not to do it, 2nd time he got time out, and the 3rd time he got timeout but was well warned that if he called anyone that again he would be getting timeout and a nice little reminder. At least the boy is picking up when to stop and lay low….it’s been a week and the only person calling Keith a DumbAss is myself (when the boys are out of ear-shot of course!).

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! ! ! !

Wanted to wish everyone out there in cyber-ville a very merry Christmas and happy holidays to those who celebrate some other holiday.

Overall this has been a very stressful year. However, now that we're all getting into a comfortable routine and some things have been straightened out life has been easier. Unfortunately I'm a little behind in getting a few things done, but they will get done.....especially if I want to itemize my taxes!!

Everyone have a safe Holidays and I'll be back in full force at the first of the year.

Let's play catch! (Catch-up that is!)

Anyhoo - let's see:

1. I'm 12 wks pregnant - and yes the rents know. This will be number 4 in our household (#3 that I'll have given birth to). Yes, even after 3 boys I'd love to have another.....the thought of a girl scares the living sh-it outta me! The best part is that I have yet to gain a pound per my scale at home......I vow not to gain the 30lbs like I did with Tyler and Stephen.

2. Stephen's still doing great in school - we have about 1-3 bad days a month (usually when he's over-tired or not feeling well). He's becoming a pretty good big brother - even with the "Tyler/Raymond is bothering me" episodes.

3. Raymond has turned into the Terrible 3's monster. We get told "No" to absolutely everything. Better yet we hear "my arm/leg/etc is broken, you do it". Teach me to ask him the ol' "Is your arm/leg/etc broken? No? Then you can do it."

4. Tyler - he's an independent little cuss and a spitfire. He's now decided he needs to stand on the step stool when brushing teeth and refuses to let me help. Oh, and the tantrums are hysterical. Tell him "no" and we lay down on the floor and start crying and trying to be dramatic. (My mother of course thinks this is just down right funny as her curse has come true.)

5. Keith is really liking the stay-at-home-dad gig. However, I think he's a little worried about next Fall when I go back to work after maternity leave. He'll have an almost 6yo, a 2yo, and a 3mo old to watch after. Luckily Gma Sue is close if he needs a little sanity break.

6. Work - still swamped, but now I know I'll get some help as I gotta train someone to do my job while I'm out 11wks on maternity leave. However, I'm a little nervous as I'm afraid I'm going to have a lot of problems to clean-up.

Hmmm.....think that's about it. Questions?? Comments?? Anyone??

Parent - Teacher Conference

Let me preface this post by stating that even though Stephen is on medication for ADHD, and we as the parental group have changed our behaviors I still believe we all have a lot of work to do. Especially since I'd love to get the boy on a lower dosage and if possible wean him completely off of the meds.

Anyhoo - week or so ago we had our Fall Parents-Teacher conference. All were in attendance (me, Keith, ex-H and his new wifey). Stephen's teacher and speech therapist had nothing but glowing and positive things to say about Stephen. In his IEP (Individual Education Plan) he has 5 goals - and he met one!!! This was the one I was most concerned about: sitting still for 10 minutes and following directions.

Needless to say I'm estatic that he's making such great progress. Now if he can just keep it up - keep your fingers crossed!

$90 worth of prescription butt cream

Yes, you read that right. Due to T's bacterial infection he developed some majorily bad diaper rash, and Desitin, et al weren't doing the trick. So, off on Sunday we goto the doctor. Doc prescribes the super duper diaper rash cream. Went to the pharmacy to get it filled and they only gave us a tablespoon of butt cream for $18. Of course as much as the boy was poopin' we had it refilled on Monday - same amount of cream for another $18. By this time we're going through the stuff pretty quickly so I finally call the docs office and ask for a larger quantity. Get that called into the pharmacy and my mom just happens to be in town so she volunteered to pick it up.........only to call me later. It was $50 f-ing dollars. I told her pay for it.....the boy's butt is all red and we're going to need it. Plus this shit is the bomb!!! His butt when from "OMG that's nasty" to "Hey that's looking sooo much better" in 36 hours.

Hmmm.......so mentally in my head $18 rounds up to $20, so $20 + $20 + $50 makes $90 we spent in 3 days for super duper diaper rash cream. Now the $50 co-pay on my insurance is for "controlled substances". In my mind I'm trying to figure out why a butt cream that had to be compounded and contains a steriod, antibacterial, and antifungal would be considered a controlled substance. Seriously - did my health insurance really think my almost 17mo old son could become addicted to his butt cream????? Can't you just see him grabing the cream and a diaper and begging to be changed even though he's not wet or poopie!!!

Anyhoo - called my insurance company and come to find out rather than listing each drug seperately the pharmacy gave this super duper diaper rash cream a name......a name that was not covered which meant it got a $50 co-pay. So now I'm off to fight and get almost all of my $$$$ back......per the gal on the phone "you shouldn't have paid more than $20 total for all 3 prescriptions". Joy.

Now I'm just waiting for the claim form.........luckily I'm anal and of course I have everything showing the 3 meds they used and my 3 receipts with the amount paid. Sometimes it comes in handy to be an anal retentive accounting geek. :)

Of sickness, cars, kids, and life

Hmmmm......what's been going on the last 3 or 4 weeks at our little abode

1. Stephen - some bronchial thing. Was sick for a few days, but got over it pretty quick.
2. Tyler - caught some nasty stomach bacteria that cause bloody diarhhea and the worst case of diaper rash I had ever seen. (Ended up having to use a prescription cream that was an antibacterial, antifungal, and steriod to clear it up.)
3. Stephen's birthday and party - of course a child came to the party sick and exposed all of us to Whooping Cough. (JOY!! Luckily the antibotic Tyler was on killed the crap he had and this so no one came down sick.)
4. Found out I'm pregnant - not sure when I'm due but we're guessing early June. Major OOOPS, but life goes on.
5. Traded ex-H his BMW for our minivan.....of course did this before I figured out I was pregnant. Now we're looking for a large SUV to replace not only the BMW, but Keith's truck. Need something large enough to not only haul 4 kids and 2 adulst comfortably but that call haul the trailer with the 4-wheelers in them, but isn't tooo old and doesn't cost much more than $7,000 (which is what we think we can sell the other two cars for).

Whew - think that's it. Oh, and if any family is reading this I'll kill you if you tell your parents about #4. We're waiting until my Oct 30 appointment before we say anything.

Ahhhh.....reasons I'm thankful I only have sons

1. Not having to get creative with names for genatils - it's Penis and Balls (or nuts)
2. They fall down they get back up - only cry if seriously hurt
3. Can entertain themselves by wrestling in the living room for a good 45 minutes before someone gets hurt
4. Cars, bugs, superhero's and dinosaurs are much cheaper than Barbies, make-up, dress-up clothes, and that Disney Princess crap
5. No bathroom in sight - just drop trou and pee on a tree
6. Playing outside does not mean just swinging on the swing - it means getting dirty and having fun
7. I get to shape 3 young boys into great husbands (or wives) for someone someday

15mo old son with shoe fetish

How do I know this there are many reasons:
1. Lovingly walking around the house chewing on a Croc or two
2. Making sure he has a matching pair and putting them on his hands
3. Throwing them all outside when Daddy's not looking
4. Carrying them to unknown parts of the house to watch the adults go looking for them
5. Bringing the correct person their shoes - a suttle hint he wants you to go outside with him
AND
6. Mom getting to work this morning and noticing teeth marks on her sandles

At least it's not the usual twigs, dirt, leaves, or crumbs from his meal off the floor - see it could be worse.

Being too good at what you do can be a curse

And for those of you with dirty minds - get your mind outta the gutter!! (However, I do appreciate finding a kindred spirit!)

Anyhoo - back in January 2006 I took on a new role/job here at dUMB Bank. Got a new boss, got a bigger desk, still kept my flexible hours as long as I put in 40 hrs a week, did lose my work from home one day a week and didn't get a raise, but I actually had a job to do and I knew I would like it.

After two months in my new job I found countless errors of overpayments and even some underpayments of incentives for one division (7 different plans). So, not only was I doing the monthly and quarterly incentive payments I was doing research and analysis. Then after 1st quarter my boss adds another division to my calculation list. Things are going okay - I have just enough to keep me busy as most of the problems from division #1 have been resolved.

Then for the 2nd quarter I get another division added - so now I'm up to 3. Division #2 has major problems that are taking all of my time. Division #1 has new problems popping up all over the place and Division #3 is just a problem in itself.

As you can see I'm slowly running out of time and my request for help the last couple of times I've meet with my boss have seemed to fallen on deaf ears. Now we do get a management rotation program peon - but that person will only be here 3 or 4 months at a time. So by the time I get someone caught up to speed I get to start over.

Here's where the title of my post comes into play. My boss thought we were going to need to hire someone full-time back in May, but since I was doing such a great job and got more accomplished than he expected he cancelled the request. Which now makes it difficult to get us anyone else. The word DUMBASS comes to mind.

Then the icing on the cake is that I need to work with our computer/programming geeks to get all of this automated. When the hell am I to find the time?!?!?! You see this was to be a temporary assignment until things were automated but that too has taken longer than expected.

So - doing my job well and getting recognition has come back to bite me in the ass big time. However, I know in the end I'll be looked down upon when things don't get done even though I did ask for help. I'm a smart woman and I know my limitations - and pretty soon (oh in about a week here) I'm going to drown.

Can someone send me a cute male life guard to do CPR please?!?!?!

I'm waaaaay to comfortable with this!!!

Labor day weekend we went camping one night. Of course we went to a place that was geared towards riding 4-wheelers/ATV's. We used this as a practice run, and it didn't go to bad. Especially after we got Stephen on the little 70cc ATV. He absolutely loved it. He loved it so much we were able to use that as a bribe for him to not hit/kick/push or basically hurt anyone for this last week and it WORKED!!!

What's weird is that S's father is concerned and so are my parents that he'll get hurt. Which is true he can get hurt......but can't he get hurt just riding his bike or playing in the yard?? Plus I will admit I was a little nervous about letting him ride, but after watching him ride I just knew this was the right time and thing for him. Seriously, he watched to make sure he had enouch room when the other kids passed him. He knew to slow down at the corners. When other kids approached from behind he would look back while he kept the ATV on the little track. And after 30 minutes we has asking to go faster. I should mention that even though this thing has 4 gears and can go 30mph we can restrict the gas so it only goes so fast, plus we haven't taught him how to shift.

I'm assuming that all of the practice he had driving his power wheels dune buggy around The Farm, and all the rules of driving I and/or Keith drill into him when we go for walks have paid off. Plus he's not the fearless kind of kid........that is until he has mastered something and his comfort level is at high.

However, even knowing all of this I wonder if I'm being tooooo blase about all of this. Then again I was 7yo and riding a motorcycle (80cc) around the pastures at The Farm.......so isn't a 5yo on a ATV safer?? Everyone just agree with me or just agree I'm nuts!! :)

Addictions suck!

Tyler, the cutest toddler currently on the face of this Earth, has a serious addiction: his Bottle. He never took to a pacifier.....but the Bottle is it's substitute and is just as addicting.

Lately we've really been working on getting him to put himself alseep, but he needs the comfort of Ba-Ba. Being the good parents that we are we do cave and give him Ba-Ba, but with water. Crying it out just don't work.......plus this was one of the downfalls of breastfeeding him.....he was a snacker and would only fall asleep at the boob.

We've tried getting him hooked on sippy cups - but that doesn't really work either. He doesn't want a sippy of his own....he wants his big brother's cup. Oh, and we've tried water, milk, and juice....it really doesn't matter he wants his brother's cup!!!

We really should just tough it out and give him sippy cups more.....but seriously is it really worth the aggrivation and added stress to our lives?? Will Tyler be scared for life if he keeps his Ba-Ba 3mos longer?? We've got a plan in place to slowly substitue Ba-Ba for a sippy so that maybe by the time he's 18mos old he'll be weaned from his Bottle addiction! I don't think so!

However, I do admit I dread the day we have to tell the boy that he can't take blankie to preschool. S and R already wonder why we (his parents and grandparents) call him Linus.

Benefits of small town livin'

I'm serious here - I'm not being sarcastic. When we lived in Lawrence I always felt clueless on how to get involved and how to get my children the services they needed. However, now that we're in Baldwin I just feel more connected to the city and the people there.

Here are examples of what I mean
1. When we were in Lawrence we knew who our neighbors where, but we did not KNOW them. Here in Baldwin I can tell you the names of everyone living around us, and if we or they need help we or they know that all you gotta do is ask.

2. Stephen's speech therapy: Lawrence Sch Dist was ready to dismiss him however I and others felt that was a little premature to be doing this. Had him evaluated through the Baldwin Sch Dist and not only did he qualify for speech therapy they got him enrolled in the school district sponsored preschool program. (It's grant funded!)

3. Stephen's tree nut allergy: OMG the Baldwin Sch Dist has been awesome. They had us fill out a ton of paper work, but in the end it was worth it. They make sure that all teachers, regardless of whether they actually come in contact with Stephen, know about his allergy and what to do. Not only that, but they sent a letter home to all the parents explaining in detail about the allergy and what not to bring to class for snacks. Then his teacher was very accomadating when I told her I had a box of tree nut free snacks for Stephen as a "just in case".

4. Stephen's behavior issues: Not only is his teachers willing to work with us, but so is the school. Heck his teacher is even having Stephen help her fill out daily reports. (Just basic reports on whether or not he had a good day or bad day.)

5. Developmental evaluations: Voiced my concern to our PAT (Parents-As-Teachers) gal that Tyler might be delayed in speech. She got us an evaluation with in a week.

6. The community: We don't have to really worry about anyone stealing anything from our yard (kids toys), and there's hardly and crime.


I know Keith would love to move closer to Raymond, but he's beginning to see why I don't want to leave. I know that if any of the kids would need any type of special services that these people will do what they can. Our kids are people - not just another number or file. I know he's presented the idea to his Ex-W that with him staying home with the boys that maybe their rolls should reverse: he have Ray during the week and she could have him every other weekend. Heck he even offered to continue to pay child support.

Oh well - guess only time will tell.

Stay-at-home-Dad Land

Well, Keith finally decided that since he can't find a job close to home that makes decent $$ he's going back to school. However, without him working we were in a finacial bind. Through my creative genious and some help from our family bank we were able to refinance our debt so that we're making a 40% less payment each month. So, he gets to stay home with the boys (S & T).

This is not a job to be taken lightly by any person - let alone a man. Personally I couldn't do it - hence the reason I'm working. By nature men are not quiet as nurturing as women - let me rephrase that men are not quiet as nuturing as mothers!

He's been at his new job for a few weeks now and him and the boys have settled into a nice routine. Helps that they don't get up until 7:30am, S goes to school at 11:50 and doesn't return until 3:30pm, and since S doesn't get a nap he's in bed between 7:30pm-8pm. He really does have it easy. However, since Keith can't start school until this spring he's trying to get a job working the evening shift so we can save some money.

There's an added benefit to all of this - with Stephen's current diagnoises of ADHD and ODD the boy could use some one-on-one and Keith is able to provide that as well as a schedule each day. I love coming home to happy kids, a clean house, and laundry that just needs to be put away. ;)

Return of Snot Monster and Mr Pissy

For the last month or so we've had 100 degree weather everyday (give or take a few degrees). However, last weekend it started to cool down into the 80's which was heaven......until, Tyler started to have green snot running out his nose on Tuesday night. Of course that night he slept like shit and was up 5 or 6 times.....I lost count after a while. Last night was okay, up only twice but the second time was at 5am and he decided he was up for the day. Great - not only did I not get to work on time my ass is draggin even more.

However, it was nice this morning to introduce Tyler to the classic cartoons of Tom & Jerry while we grabed handfulls of Yogurt Cheerio's out of the box to munch on. He loved both, and after a while refused to let me get his Cheerio's out - he had to do that himself.

Oh well - Left Snot Monster doped up on PediaCare and Ibuprofen with Daddy this morning. Hope he gets a nap in before Mr Pissy makes an appearance - otherwise Daddy will be Mr Pissy tonight when I get home.

Hey Y'all we got o'selves Hitched

Well, we finally took the plunge. Keith and I did the courthouse weddin' yesterday afternoon (August 29, 2006) followed by a cheap honeymoon at Buffalo Bob's BBQ and then to our house. Took S and T with us, unfortunately we couldn't find a day during the week that we'd have R. Believe it or not the ceremony just didn't feel complete without him there.

Haven't told my parental units yet. Not that I'm ashamed, just curious how long it'll take for someone at the courthouse who knows my dad to get the word out to them. I know I'm horrible and will probably spill the beans here shortly, but in all honesty the offical marriage was just a formality.

On a side note I'd like to do something a little more fancy in about 5 yrs or so - that way all 3 boys will be old enough to understand and take part.

Oh, and if anyone cares I'll be keeping my last name. It's just toooooo much of a hassel to change it all and all of Stephen's teachers, doctor's etc already think Keith and I are married and know we have different last names.

Per my teenager....er 5 yo I'm a DumbAss

Yup - walking out of Price Chopper (grocery store) I asked Stephen some innocent looking question, and his response was "Mom, don't be such a dumbass". I went through shock, then anger, then denial, then amusment, and finaly guilt. Guilt - yes, I'm famous for calling people a dumbass while in the car and of course I forget that the little sponges are in the back. The ironic thing is that the boy knows his mother pretty well 'cause she is a dumbass for saying that word in front of him.

At least he hasn't dropped the F-Bomb.....however, he'll probably do that around his father. :)

Accidental Exposure - Incident #1

Well - now that Stephen is on a Tree Nut free diet I've made sure that everyone knows about his allergy, has tried the practice EpiPen at least once, has read the instructions on what to do, knows how to read a label, and know where his meds are.

Apparently that wasn't enough. Stephen was over at Gma Sue's today playing with his cousin Hailey. Poppie (my dad) was doing the good Gpa thing and took the kids with him when he went to go get coffee. Of course S and H just had to have a snack. And of course they picked out a brownie. And of course mom reads the package after he had ingested it once back at the farm. And of course the damn brownie not only had Tree Nuts - but WALNUTS in them.

Mom calls me in a slight panic. Told her 4 tsp of Zyrtec immediately and to watch for vomitting or breathing issues. She called an hour later and told me no reaction so far, but I did warn her that he may end up with diarreha. Good thing I sent an extra set of clothes.

Well - we all seemed to survive accidental exposure incident #1, but I really don't want to go through that again. However, it is nice to know that I can remain calm under pressure.

Oh, and Poppie got another quick lesson on learning to read labels, and Stephen was reminded that he needs to always ask if something has nuts in them.

Moo Moo & Woof Woof

Tyler - the cutest toddler currently on the face of Earth has entered into what I like to call the Parot stage of development. Within the last two weeks Tyler has picked-up on the following:
1. Woof Woof
2. Moo Moo
3. How to bang his head up and down - to music even
4. How to furrow his brow
5. How to take his shirt off (if at least one arm is already out)
6. Car noises - while driving them around

Never mind the fact that we've been working with him for over 4 mos to say the ellusive "Mama" and/or "Dada". Guess we should be grateful that he hasn't decided to just blurt out "Oh SHIT!"

Doctors, Medicines, and Test - Oh My!!

Well after countless sessions with the therapist, and everyone completing the "Connors Assesment" Stephen has been diagnoised with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and ADHD. He's now on Metadate. We started Wed, Aug 23rd at 10mg and began to see slight but noticeable changes in his ability to focus. Today, Tues Aug 29th we increased the dosage to 20mg. He's more somber and just looked sad overall before getting on the bus for school. I really think that 10mg wasn't strong enough, but that 20mg is too strong.

Then there's the behavior modification therapy. Basically we're to use timeout more.......okay, I don't get this. I know I (and I do mean I) need help in dealing with him as he's got it in his little mind that Mommy's a push over. I know it's us as the parental units that need the behavior modification rather than Stephen. Once our behavior is more appropriate in dealing with him then he should fall in line. Really the boy is only reacting to his environment and all the crap that he's gone through since birth.

Let's see:

1. 15mo old - new daycare
2. 18mo old - overnight stay in hospital
3. 18mo - 3yo - sick and home with mom 2 dys every 2-3 weeks
4. 20mo old - beginning of daily zyrtec
5. 25mo old - speech therapy and we move
6. 28mo old - start on flovent daily
7. 2.5yo - mom and dad seperate, mom moves in with her parents
8. 2.75yo - mom moves into apartment with another man, dad starts dating woman with own child
9. 3yo - mom moves again & starts dating
10. 3.25yo - dealing with step-sibling at mom's house
11. 3.5yo - arrival of new baby brother
12. 3.75yo - leave daycare and move again (mom), start new "school"
13. 4yo - dad moves into another house with previously mentioned girlfriend
14. 4.25yo - stop all asthma related meds.
15. 4yo-4.5yo - at 3 different daycares due to his behavior issues
16. 4.5yo - dad remarries, dad moves again

With all of that no wonder the boys has issues and problems. I honestly believe that once we get his ODD under control that there will really be no need for the ADHD medication. I think it's a by product of him being unhappy and ODD.

Oh well - overall I'm in a weird place in my life. Glad that Stephen's getting help, but I don't think it's enough help.

Living with Snot Monster & Mr Pissy

The Snot Monster has arrived at our little abode. At first we thought he was just teething, but nope it's a full blown summer cold with an extra pinch of yellow/green snot thrown in. When he's not the Snot Monster he transforms into Mr Pissy. Mr Pissy is much worse than the Snot Monster - at least with the Snot Monster you can take care of him with a kleenex or two or three or a bulb syrenge or drugs (Tylenol Cold & Cough is our drug of choice at the moment). Unless you're too slow and then your shirt becomes the next best thing......should I mention that my shirt has dried snot all over it??? Anyhoo - Mr Pissy doesn't know what he wants. At first he wants to be held, then 3 seconds later that isn't good enough so he wants down, but on second thought I want to be held.......ad nausem, etc, yada yada......it goes on like this with everything.

I forgot to mention with Mr Pissy we get the added bonus of objects being flung across the room - either for his enjoyment or because well - he's pissed off about something. This usually isn't too bad, except when the missile being flung is a full 8oz bottle and it's headed for you and no matter what you do your foot is going to hurt. Guess I should mention that Mr Pissy can't decide on what toy to play with so of course he gets out everything. So rather than having your foot pelted with an 8oz bottle you'll usually end up steping on something - either way you as the Caring Loving Parent lose.

However, I think between the drugs, humidifier, warm baths before bed, a ton of cuddle time and of course love - Snot Monster is on his way out.......however, I think Mr Pissy might be around a little longer as he seems to be working on tooth #8. I'm hoping that's drool - either that or snot has found a new way out of his little body. Might explain my shirt though.....hmmm.......

Ahhhh.....the joys of parenthood.

EpiPen and life with a food allergy

A few weeks ago Stephen was at Grandma Sue's (my mother) playing for the day. As any good grandmother would - she had fresh chocolate cookies for the boy. However, this time she put in the fateful ingredient: English Walnuts.

Apparently Stephen had a few cookies and within a few minutes he vomitted. My mother just thought it was because he was jumping up and down as he was excited they were going to go get my niece. She told me about the incident and I agreed.

However, later that night at his dad's apparently he had more of the said cookies and vomitted again. (The good grandmother that she is made him a goody bag to take to Daddy's.) Leigh Ann called to tell me what had happened so I in turn called my mom.

After a few minutes of talking and confirming that everyone else ate the cookies with no ill affects my mom remembered that this time she put nuts in them. After talking some more I realized that Stephen has never had anything with tree nuts in them. Not that we avoided them on purpose - we just didn't think he'd eat anything with nuts in them.

So, on Wednesday (last day of my vacation) I took Stephen to the asthma/allergy doc. Yup - the boy tested positive for English & Black Walnuts as well as Pecans. All other tree nuts were negative and so was peanut butter. Basically he has a severe allergy to Black Walnuts and a mild allergy to English Walnuts and Pecans. I add this because if my mom had used Black Walnuts in those cookies Stephen's reaction could've been sooo much worse.

Now were the proud owners of 2 EpiPens as tree nut allergies are known to cause an anaphylatic reaction. Plus since he's has asthmatic issues in the past this will be the most likely reaction. Great - the boy is finally out growing his asthma and now I get to deal with this. The sad thing is that due to his age and severe lack of ingesting this food he will most likely never outgrow this allergy.

Off to inform everyone in Stephen's world about his allergy and what to do should he accidentally ingest them.

Well - we survived (part 3)

Sunday S and T were up early so I took them to eat b-fast in the lobby while Keith and R slept. By the time we got back it was 7:30am. Keith got up, but we let R sleep until 10am. Once again we headed back out to the reunion, and once again we made a b-line for the pool. At this point I feel it's necessary to mention that the boys are fine, but Keith's head and shoulders are sunburnt and well, so was my shoulders and back. Yup - we're a couple of dumbasses.

This time everyone got lathered up in sunscreen - see Keith and I aren't complete dumbasses. This time the boys were in life vests (our hosts had found some in their attic and they were the perfect size for S and R). R of course headed straight for the diving board, but it took S a little longer - but hey he did go and kept going.

Basically we stayed for lunch (leftovers - even crabs), and by late afternoon we were back at the hotel for naps. That evening some of Keith's relatives had a brilliant idea - they invited us to their house to stay Monday night. This of course was perfect for the following reasons:
1. Their house was about 45 minutes away from the airport compared to 1.5hrs.
2. They had a pool.
3. It was free and would save us $70

So, after we all went out to dinner with the afore mentioned relatives I got us packed so we could be ready to leave at 9am. By Monday morning I was a pro at the b-fast thing, and we were indeed ready and in the car by 9am.

By 10:30am we made it took the relatives house in Seabrook. Helped unload cars only to discover that the a/c wasn't kicking on. Tried flipping the breakers - didn't work. Keith and his dad (who don't know the area at all) decided to go off by themselves to find a hardware store to get a breaker tester. Never mind that we hadn't unloaded our crap from the minivan, but I'm left in hot ass house with 3 boys with no diapers and no swimsuits. They finally fumble around and make their way back by 11:30am.

After going to get lunch we hit the pool to await the much anticipated arrival of the repair man. I need to mention that we were back to the arm floaties for S & R and this time it didn't matter - both were fearless. Mainly due to the slide. We didn't have anything for T, but he still got to get some relief from the heat.

Here's the fun part of my tale: the compressor on the a/c was dead. The repair guy said they don't carry them and they would need to order one. Luckily for said relative the a/c was still under warrenty - but that did little to ease my misery. Keith, DumbAss, decided we could tough it out in the basement with a few fans and no a/c. What DumbAss failed to realize is that in Maryland it doesn't cool off at night like it does here in the midwest - it stays f-ing hot.

SO - not only was it hot and humid the boys were cranky, R's asthma was acting up, and S kept waking up. Eventually DumbAss at 1am decided we could goto a hotel - yup we got to pay $$ for a hotel that we only used for 3.5 hours. You see - we had to be up and on the road by 4:30am to catch our 7:30am flight home.

Getting to the airport was a breeze - the boys slept on the way there. It was security that sucked ass. This time we decided to not check the stroller immediately. Then apparently everything - and I mean everything had to go through the x-ray machine: from the kids stuffed animals and sippy cups to the f-ing stroller. It was ridiculous.

Anyhoo - we got to the gate and S/R were having fun watching the airplanes take off and T of course was wondering around. The boys did have a little issue with their ears last time and with R's asthma we gave S/R 1/2 tablet of Dramimene and then a little bit of benedryl. The meds plus the lack of sleep overall turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Before we even took off Raymond was out, Tyler fell asleep during take off, and Stephen was alseep shortly after take off. All 3 slept the whole way home - 3 hours.

We got smart about getting our selves packed and home. Ken and I and the kids waited for our luggage while Keith caught the shuttle to pick-up our car. (See I'd prepaid via the internet.) By the time we got our luggage and were getting it outside Keith pulled up. We were home by 10:45am cst.

The rest of the day was pretty good - especially when the boys, all 3 of them, fell asleep at 1pm and didn't wake until around 5:30pm. I was a little worried they wouldn't go to bed on time - but never fear they were all alseep by 9:30. Not bad - only an hour past bedtime.

Overall it was a good trip - and an experience none of us will forget.

Well - we survived (part 2)

Well - Friday I woke and went and got everyone breakfast. (The hotel offered free Continetal breakfast.) Little did I know that once we were all fed, dressed and loaded in the car that that is where we'd be for the next 2.5hrs. Yes - we drove all over Maryland for two reasons:
1. To visit an old friend of the family - we only stayed 10-15 minutes
2. To visit Keith's great-grandparents grave

Yes - these were places of interest to Keith, his dad, and his grandparents - but seriously, what 4, 2, and 1 yo care?? It also doesn't help that by the end of this little excursion S and R were restless and being down right horrible. They all did get a decent nap, albeit short, and we were ready for the "Meet and Greet" at 7pm.

That went okay, except Keith was sooooo busy socializing that he left me to deal with the 3 boys and by 9pm I'd had it. Not only was it hot, it was humid and I was the main buffet for the 'skeeters. Of course the boys were awful on the way home - they were hot, tired, and hungry (as S & R refused to eat any of the snacks provided.)

Saturday was MUCH better. I did the b-fast thing again and we were on our way to the "official" reunion by 10am. After lathering all 3 boys in sunscreen (notice I say nothing about myself or Keith) we all headed for the pool. The boys had a blast - even T. R & S only had floaties on (those stupid things on your arms). S wasn't as confident as R, but he still had fun. I feel I should mention that R is fearless when it comes to trying new activities - within 30 minutes of being at the pool R was going off the diving board. S, however was more cautious and was holding on to 3 noodles for dear life. T actually wasn't too sure about the water at first, but they had one of those divices that he could sit in. The best part was that he feel asleep in the pool. It took 4 of us to get him out without waking him. Try as I might he just wouldn't let anyone else hold him or sleep in the stroller. So Keith was on S/R duty and I was T's mattress.

I think around 1:30pm we ate lunch and the boys were eager to get back in the pool. I think we finally left around 3:30 to go back to the hotel to get a little nap. Everyone, but T and myself, got a nap. I didn't mind - I got to goto the Perryville outlet mall. Got myself 2 shirts and a skirt for $30, and got 5 pieces of clothing for the boys for $30 (3 shirts, 1 pair shorts, and 1 pair of overalls.) Oh, and I even did a load of laundry. We headed back out to the reunion location around 6pm.

Once again S/R/T were in the pool. Keith and I took turns watching the boys. However, I did get screwed - the DumbAss left me with all 3 boys while he went and ate crabs for about an hour. I'm still waiting for him to make it up to me. As you can imagine the boys were exhausted when we got back to the hotel around 9pm. Only problem was that R's asthma was acting up and it took 'til about midnight before we could get him doped up enough to get comfortable to sleep.

Continued once again..........

Well - we survived (part 1)

Well, last Wednesday night we had everything packed and loaded in the car, had our clothes laid out for the next morning and the alarm clock set for 5am. Yup - we were all up at 5am, dressed and loaded in the car by 5:20am.......all 6 of us. (Keith's dad stayed the night so he could catch a ride up to the airport since he was on our flight.)

Parked the van at the Parking Spot (www.theparkingspot.com) and caught the shuttle to the airport terminal. Our driver was kind enough to drop us off right at curb side check-in. It was great. All 3 bags, 3 carseats, and stroller were checked and ready to go. That left us with about 40 minutes before our 8:00am flight to Baltimore. Should mention that the parking spot was curtiousy of my work having at 20% discount - so we paid $45 for 5 days of covered parking - cheaper than long-term.

We made it through security without any issues, and got seated to wait for the announcement that we could board. The boys did pretty good - being brilliant that I am I had 2 sticker books already for Stephen & Raymond. They were engrossed in those until we were ready to board. Tyler we just let him walk every where - knowing that he'd have to be contained for the 2.5 hr flight.

Boarding wasn't too bad - except we had to goto the back to get 5 seats together. Keith, Raymond, and Ken (Keith's dad) sat in the row in front of myself, Tyler and Stephen. Some teenage girl was brave enough to sit next to us. About every 20-30 minutes we had to pass Tyler back and forth, and with about 45 minutes left of the flight the older two started getting antsy. Other than that they were actually pretty good. Should mention that Keith thought I was nuts to bring all the stuff I did for S and R to play with - but it worked to keep them occupied. T had a few toys as well - but he was more interested in checking out everyone. Also - the bag of treats I packed for them worked as well. Thanks to all my PIMs for the great suggestions.

By the time we got all of our luggage, got the rental car and made it to the hotel in Perryville MD it was around 1:30pm (aka 12:30 cst). We all got naps and then headed to find some relatives that were already here. We had a crabcake feast and the boys goto play and burn off some energy.

Overall it wasn't a bad day and all the boys were in bed asleep by 9:30pm. Will admit though that they were all hyped-up and excited so they were a little unrulely - but other than that they were pretty good.

To be continued..........

I'm finally in PANIC mode . . . . .

. . . .in regards to our trip next week. I'm surprised I've held it together as long as I have. However, now that I'm behind at work (damn shit that nobody thinks about and I get to clean-up) and we're leaving in less than a week the panic is slowly creeping to the front.

I will admit with Keith not working this last week has probably hendered the onset of my panic. You see he's been able to keep the dishes done, make dinner, and sorta keep up with the laundry. All I've been doing is get the boys ready in the morning, leave for work, work, come home, eat dinner, bed....and do it all over again the next day.

I know I owe him so that is why I haven't complained one bit about him going 45 minutes away tonight to race his ATV (4-wheeler). He won't be home until late - but I don't care. He deserves this. Hell, I even drove 45 minutes from work in the opposite direction of home to pick up his ATV so he'd have it for tonight. Some of you are thinking "SO?" - well after picking up said ATV that made my drive home at 2hrs so I did not arrive at our little abode until 8pm. Doesn't give me much time to spend with the kid(s) when they goto bed at 8:30pm.

Anyhoo - I just keep running through my mental list of shit that has, and I mean HAS, to be done before we can fly out of KCI Tuesday morning. Hopefully with Keith gone I can get the last of the laundry folded and then packed (why put it away when it's going to end up in a suitcase in two days anyway???). Then we have all weekend - both boys are at their other parents house and Stephen's with his dad until Tuesday. As long as Mr Needy (aka Tyler) cooperates I should be able to get a lot done.

Breathe deeply...........hell, just breathe. Before I know it I'll be chasing 3 kids around the airport at an ungodly hour of the morning and starting the first leg of our adventure.

The fine art of LYING

At some point in our lives we learn to lie. Usually this is learned from other people and most likely occured by ripe old age of 4 - sometimes sooner.

Stephen, almost 5, didn't start lying to us until he was 3.5 almost 4yo. Okay, let me clarify we didn't notice he was lying until he was that age.....he could've started earlier but we just didn't catch him at it. With him it was blantent lying. We'd see him do something wrong, ask him about it and he'd of course deny doing whatever it was. Eventually he'd own up to the wrong doing, and now that he's older doesn't do it as often. As with all kids he still tries here and there - without success of course 'cause now we're on to him. Ultimately Stephen's goal with lying was to get out of trouble. (He's only once tried to blame something on someone else - that I'm aware of.)

Raymond, almost 3, just this last weekend was caught on several occasions lying. Not only was he trying to get himself out of trouble but he was telling lies to get Stephen or Tyler in trouble. Stephen was easy to deal with and after asking him what happend he'd tell us the truth. Raymond on the other hand would repeat the same story over and over again......however, with a little work at rephrasing the questions we were asking we'd get to the truth.

I admit - gotta give the boy credit for creativity, that and realizing Daddy's a sucker. Yup, Daddy I don't think wants to believe Raymond can do any wrong - none of us want to admit that about our children. However, Daddy's eyes were opened this last weekend and Raymond was not happy about the consequences of lying. But what goes for one child will apply to the others.

My only fear now is what will Tyler try and pull in the lying department on his "unsuspecting" parents??

Damn personal life is interferring with my work!!

I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but my paternal grandmother (only grandparent I have left) has been in and out of the hospital since around Easter. She's currently battling the following:
1. Kidney failure - only working at 20% and she refuses dialysis
2. Congestive heart failure - on pills for this
3. Diabetic - was on the pill, but now on shots
4. Bleeding ulcer - this is the latest

The old woman is 87 years old, and all of this is finally taking it's toll on her. She's been in the hospital since last Friday, however we (all 5 of us) didn't go and see her until last night. (Dad said she wasn't very "with it" on Friday and Saturday and by Sunday night looking/sounding better.) The boys did pretty good. The older two weren't really sure what to think, but they did give her a hug. We didn't stay long as the boys needed dinner.

Then there's our daycare provider. She's unexpectedly pregnant and has been having a hard time of it. She's took days off last week and she's off again today and probably tomorrow as she's concerned about they bleeding she's been having off and on. I really feel for her as I know this was totally unplanned pregnancy and it's hard enough coming to terms with having a 3rd child but to then to lose that child.........

Oh, then there's packing and making arraingments for our trip to Baltimore. Pretty sure we've got a plan of action - but we still need to figure out the stroller and carseats.

And above it all there's the guilt I have about not spending enough time with my boys. I haven't been getting home until 7pm or later and I'm going to have to work this coming weekend. I'm starting to feel the stress and if you ask Keith it's showing.

Just wish my personal life would stop interferring with work so that I can get my work done so I'm not drowing when I get back from vacation. Anyone want to trade lives for a few days??

110 heat index and how to entertain 3 kids

I really shouldn't complain. We've had decent weather most of the summer.....that is until this last weekend. By noon it was 94 each day.....and after that I stopped trying to care. However, when it's that hot it's hard to just go outside and let the boys burn off energy.

Saturday started out okay - we did the pool, sprinkler, and slip 'n slide thing in the morning. After lunch and naps we couldn't decide (make that DumbAss wouldn't make a decision) what to go and do. So we stuck it out inside ALL friggin' afternoon and evening. By the time it was bedtime I was in serious need of booze and drugs....for the kids, not me. Let's just say the rule about running through the house got thrown out the window about an hour after they were up from their naps. In all seriousness they all did play well together - even with me cleaning out their toys and organizing their rooms.

That night I told DumbAss, errr....Keith, we better have a plan for Sunday as I don't think I'd survive another Saturday. Sunday we slept in, made breakfast, had a light snack for lunch and then miraclously all 3 slept at the same time. By the time they were all awake is was almost 3pm. By 3:15 we were out the door and headed to Googols (www.googolsoffun.com). For 2 hours of energy burning fun the $15 was worth it. Oh and the $10 on tokens for the games. After that we headed to Cici's pizza for dinner. Got home around 7pm. By the time we got all the kids bathed and ready for bed it was 8pm. Watched a little TV and by 8:30 all were sound alseep in bed.

Those of you who don't know Keith don't understand what a cheap ass he is. I'm pretty sure this is why we didn't go anywhere on Saturday. Never mind I had a free family pass to the children's museum 30 minutes away - he just didn't want to spend the gas getting there. However, after Sunday I think he's realized that $15 is much cheaper than losing our sanity. Plus it's not like we do this every weekend.

No more fear of public toilets

Yup - as a teenager and even in my 20's I did not really like to use public restrooms. Especially if I had to do more than just pee. As a mother I rarely use the bathroom alone at home - but at work I go when I want and by MYSELF!! I hate to admit this but I almost prefer to use the bathroom at work anymore. Yes, even to take a crap.

Now most fathers can still enjoy the bathroom by themselves. However, Keith has started to realize why I never get anything done quickly anymore. He's been home with Tyler the last two days and as almost all 13mos olds do - they follow the adult that's in charge, and yes even into the bathroom. Of course I'm just laughing when he calls to tell me this. Welcome to the world of motherhood.

He WALKS!!

Only someone with kids will understand the feelings I'm having at this moment. Tyler (at 13mos old) has finally decided he wants to walk. And walk he's been doing. All over the house in fact. He's been on the verge for the last month now.....but sometime between Saturday morning and yesterday evening he decided it was time that he choose walking as the preferred method of transporation over crawling.

I'm relieved as we won't have physical therapy, but also a little nervous.....he's now more likely to fall and get hurt. Yes I have two that are older and I've been through this before - but until he's 2yo or even 2.5yo they're still a toddler and in my mind's eye my baby.

Of course he's still unsteady - and you almost forget how cute they are when they first learn. So cautious, afraid, yet proud of their accomplishment.

The sweetest thing....

.....happened Sunday afternoon. Tyler was playing in Stephen's room and was dragging out anything and everything into the hallway. This included Stephen's baby doll. Yes, you read that correctly baby doll. Tyler of course goes hardly anywhere without his bottle.....while playing with Stephen's baby doll he proceeded to share his bottle with the doll. I kid you not. I couldn't believe how sweet it was that he was sharing - especially for only being 13mos old. Heck, the 5yo and 3yo hate to share sometimes. Even the adults in our house hate to share - especially our liquor.

Of course not only were the batteries dead in the digital camera, but my nice 35mm camera as well. So, during my drive home I'm stopping at Wally World or Target and buying some damn batteries!!!

Sign me up for therapy now!!!

July 27th at 6am we'll be headed out the door to catch our 8:20am flight out of KCI to Baltimore. Yes we are flying with all 3 boys. God help me - okay, {insert name of good prescription drug} help me. Being the planner that I am I've already had to create a list of what we need to take just for the boys, what will be used as carry-ons, and what we're going to do for suitcases for all of us. Actually I've had to control the urge to start packing NOW!!! Yes, I'm nuts and by the end of this trip I WILL need serious mental help.

Then to top it off this trip is so we can attent Keith's family reunion. They've invited everyone they can who's related to his great-great-granparents (his grandmother's grandparents). I'm worried about how many little kids will be in attendence (under 6yo) - but Keith says I shouldn't worry about it. Easier said than done - if our 3 are the youngest it means that the "kids" activities will be geared towards older kids and they won't have anyone their age to play with but each other. And for anyone who's been on a family vacation with just your sibling to pal around with you all know the first few hours or day your fine, but after 5 days you're at each other's throats.

Not sure where this post is going - I guess right now I'd be happy to get the confirmation of the rental car with carseats and the hotel room. Off to start drinking!!!

YEAH!!! Keith got a new job!!!

Induldge me here. Keith's prior job was a pretty good job, except:
1. Didn't know until the day before if he was working or not
2. Never knew what time he'd get off work
3. Had to work Mon-Fri and Saturdays.

If he was single or we had no kids this would be a great job as he got overtime out the ass. However, since we do have kids this left pick-up and drop-off at daycare all to me. Which menat I wasn't getting in a full 8 hours at work and bosshole actually kept track.

The new job starts Monday and hours are 6am-3pm, Monday through Friday. Which means I do drop-off and he can do pick-up. Plus it gives him about 2 hrs before daycare closes for the day to get stuff done so I can still have the perks of a house husband!!!

Only downside is that this is a temp to perm job which means no insurance benefits for at least 4mos. This is a problem as Keith is the one required to carry the health insurance on Raymond. Before anyone says anything - no we're not married so I can't add R to my health insurance.

Not sure what we're (okay he) going to do - his ex-bitch will complain even though she has health ins through her work. Guess we'll have to figure something out that won't cost us and arm, leg, & a kidney!

At Work on a SATURDAY

Yup - you read that correctly...........I'm here at work and it's a Saturday. Between the holiday on Tuesday and our e-mail and most of the network out of commission on Friday I'm behind.....especially if I want to go on vacation July 27th without worrying about my work.

I know it's work....don't worry about it. However, when you're the one responsible for calculating and paying over 300 people in 3 divisions their bonuses you hate to have it late or screw it up. Actually things are going much better and faster than they did last quarter-end - but now that I've said that some stupid problem is going to come up and just ruin my timeline.

I swear - if I'm here next Saturday I'm bringing a six pack with me!!!!

Oh well - to those who have the day off - ENJOY!!!

Reflections

Okay - I was thinking the other day of all of the things I have learned now that I'm a parent. I will admit that some of these things I may have figured out later in life.......but I doubt it, I'm not that smart. :)

Anyhoo here are just a few things I've discovered about myself and life:
1. What works for one child may or may not work for other children. Same could be said about co-workers.
2. If you're always in a hurry to get to the next step you'll miss out on the world going on around you. I was so anxious for Stephen to reach the next mile stone as an infant that I completely forgot to enjoy just the day to day activities.
3. The dirtier the child the more worn out and happier she/he'll be. Seriously - they're just clothes and soap/water will clean them up and the kid. Isn't the point of being a kid to have fun and enjoy life? What better way then to go outside and play and not worry about if mom/dad are going to be upset that your clothes are dirty?
4. Doing things because others like them - you might find out you actually enjoyed your self. This is true in adult to adult relationships and parent to child relationships. I've done many things I wasn't overly thrilled about for my ex-H and Keith - but in the end we had a pretty good time. Same for my kids - let the laundry or dishes wait, and go dig up some worms or go on a bug hunt. Not my favorite - but the smiles, looks of awe and giggles are all worth it.
5. Having kids does NOT mean you have to completely grow up. Seriously here - when playing with your kids (or nieces/nephews) let the little kid in you out. We all need a chance to unwind and/or relax - and letting your inner child out is a great way to to this. As an added bonus the kids you're playing with will think you're a GOD!!

Oh, I know I still have a lot to learn and luckily, as Keith tells me all the time, I have the patience to wait until I do.

I'm sooo the guy in this relationship

Okay - when I was in HS I was told that women reach their sexual peak around 27-29. So, when I didn't get mine I was seriously pissed. Little did I know they LIED!!! Now that I'm 34 I've been horny for the last two years. I thought getting a younger man would be in my best interest. NOT!!!!

He wonders why I'm bitchy and always in a pissy mood.....hey DumbAss you walk around horny all day for days at a time and see how good of a mood you're in!!!!! And self pleasure just isn't as satisfying!!!

Seriously - he's turned into the girl (I'm tired, I'm just not in the mood, can't you take care of that yourself) and I have turned into a horny teenage guy (you wanna, come on, what about a quicky, that's it I'm getting a dildo bigger than you). Okay, not many horny teenage guys would go out an buy a dildo (unless they were bisexual or gay) but you get my point.

Guess there's not much I can really do about the situation - however, I figure on my way home I'll stop and get a little sex toy or two and buy the man a porn. Maybe THAT will get him in the mood.

Update to my week.....

......which did get better.

Thursday night was nice and relaxing. Got T again to bed at decent hour and he SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!

Friday was okay - but knowing I would be at work Saturday I just couldn't muster any energy to get shit done. However, I did at least put together a couple of analysis pieces for a dept I'm soon to be working with. Only downside is one of the depts I work with decided at 4:30pm that I need to do a commission payment analysis on 6 people since 2003 - and it's due July 11th. WTF?!?!? I'm working on quarter-end and month-end commission payments for 9 departments (aka over 200 people). Luckily the other gal that supports this dept has volunteered to help out - basically I've got the data and she's got the time.

Dang!! I was hoping this would be a valid excuse to start drinking at work - oh, well

Anyhoo - hopefully today should be fun. I've been up since 5:15am and at work since 6:15am. I'm hoping my happy tired caffinated ass can leave no later than noon.

Oh, on a side note: the greatest man in the world graciously took care of Tyler this morning and went to pick-up Raymond for the weekend. Don't worry he's been paid with great sex and Red Lobster last night......if he's lucky (okay, if I'm lucky) he'll get more today - sex that is.