Sometimes I Wonder About Myself...

In the last three days I have had a few experiences where I am wondering about my mental status. I am blaming it on the pregnancy secretly hoping it really isn't me that is doing these things. First off Monday evening I went to the gym to exercise. I am not an exercise enthusiast so when I go I usually just do the stationary bike because it is non jarring on my body. When I showed up Monday the gym was super busy. All the bikes were taken and there was only one treadmill open. Seeing as my options were either the treadmill or lifting weights with a whole bunch of musclemen I decided I had better take the last open treadmill. I headed over to the treadmill, hopped on and pushed the Quickstart button to get going--only nothing happened. I started pushing all the different buttons hoping to get the machine started somehow, but nothing was working. Feeling rather stupid because I couldn't get the machine working I tried to quietly get off and walk into the corner hoping no one noticed my feeble attempt to get a stupid treadmill to go. I was meeting a friend there so I couldn't just leave and come back later. As I was trying to decide what to do I heard a voice yell my name. A Mr. Muscles neighbor of mine had watched the whole failed attempt of me trying to start the treadmill and called me over. He was working on some machines behind the treadmill so he tried to give me instructions, but the gym was so loud he had to yell them at me so everyone in the immediate area could see my ineptitude at working exercise equipment. I found out the only thing wrong with the treadmill was me. The power button on the front of the machine was just turned off and that was the only thing wrong with it so now everyone knew how exercise inept I was--I can't even figure out how to turn on a treadmill. I was feeling pretty awesome about myself.

Another episode happened yesterday. Unfortunately I have not kept up on laundry and all of us have hit the bare bones clothes you only wear when there it nothing else. I found pants for Josh in the bottom of the drawer yesterday, but they were just a little short. To try and make them long enough since there were no others to wear I undid the adjustable waist straps to see if it would go to the tops of his shoes. With a sigh of relief they did so I finished getting the kids ready and sent them to school without another thought about it. When Josh got home from school as soon as he walked in the door his pants fell down to his knees. He kept pulling them up and I thought he was just kidding around. I had him find some other pants and went about the rest of our day. It wasn't until tonight at dinner I found out what happened at school yesterday. Josh told me some girls were going to tell on him yesterday. Trying to find out why, Josh wouldn't tell me. I finally coaxed it out from him that they were going to tell on him because his pants kept falling down. I felt awful after that. I kept apologizing over and over, but Josh seemed to take it in stride. I will find those pants and put them out of circulation to prevent this from happening again. I can't believe I sent my kid to school in pants that won't stay up. Too bad he wasn't wearing huge boxer shorts because then he could have been in style with his pants around his knees. I still feel awful, though.

The last episode happened this afternoon. Daniel's hands are so dry and chapped that they finally started cracking and bleeding today. I went and found some really good lotion and slathered it all over his hands and arms to help. About ten minutes later Daniel came back over to me showing me his hands and arms covered all over in hives. I haven't seen hives like that for a really long time so I really started freaking out. I went and found the lotion I put on him and on the front of the bottle in bold letters it was Coconut Lime Verbena body lotion. Hmmm--If I would have looked closer I guess the coconut part should have given it away, but of course I didn't check. I just knew it was good lotion so I put it on him. I had to go and scrub the lotion off his hands and arms, medicate him with Benadryl and find some good Daniel friendly lotion without any tree nuts in the ingredients. I guess he's still allergic to coconuts is the message I got loud and clear today.

Really the last three days have had me questioning my capability as a person and a mom!! That's why I will just blame it on the pregnancy and hope it will all go away after this new baby gets here ;).

Sarah and the Shower and Daniel the Butcher Manicurist

Sarah LOVES the shower. Every time she hears to water turn on she stops what she is doing and comes running. This was her this morning as soon as I had turned on the water:


Don't try and give her a bath because she will scream and try to get out the whole time--even though while in the shower she will sit on the drain and plug it up to create a mini bath while the water is on she still refuses to take a bath. She is just happy and content in the shower even with all the water pouring down in her face as you can see in the picture.

Another one of her loves she has newly discovered is climbing. She tries to climb anything and everything. She has figured out how to get on top of the recliner and I saved her yesterday in the nick of time from going head first right over the top of it. She has also discovered Matthew's ladder to his bunk beds. This morning just after getting out of the shower I went to grab her a diaper and in the minute I was gone she headed straight for Matthew's ladder naked and everything and was couple rungs up before I got her down. I have a feeling she is one I will really have to keep my eye on.

While I was taking care of Sarah in the shower Daniel decided it was a great time to clip his own fingernails. I had no idea what he was doing until he came running into the bathroom screaming that is thumb was "bleed". I told him to get some toilet paper on it until I had time to take care of him. When I got a chance to see the damage I saw he had clipped a pretty big chunk of nail off his thumb and it really was bleeding.

Now he wearing his band aid as his badge of courage--good thing it isn't his thumb sucking thumb. Hopefully he won't try clipping his own nails again anytime soon. At least he is milking it for all he can telling me he can't possibly grab or pick anything up--basically telling me he is too wounded to help clean up. I just have to roll my eyes and try not to laugh. He is our dramatic child if you couldn't tell. We'll see about that cleaning up thing later on...

I would really love to see what goes through kids' minds. What really made Daniel think clipping his own fingernails would be a good idea or that climbing over the top of the recliner and landing on your head would end well? I guess they just like to keep things exciting.

Want Some Nog?

Aaron was at the store last night and came across this nifty thing:

It is a soy version of Egg Nog that contains no eggs or dairy products of any kind. It is aptly called Nog instead of Egg Nog since there are no eggs in it. Aaron picked some up so Daniel could try some form of Egg Nog since he has never been able to have any. I always felt guilty drinking the real stuff in front of him so this relieves some of my feelings of guiltiness. I had to try it to see how it measured up to the real stuff since I am an Egg Nog-oholic. It isn't that bad. Of course it isn't as good as the real stuff, but if you have never had the real stuff then you would think it's great. Daniel tried it out this morning and loved it. That lets me know that Daniel is truly part of our family. If he didn't like it I would start to wonder if my baby got switched at the hospital because the rest of us love Egg Nog. Now if I could find a great substitute cookie with no eggs, nuts or dairy that still tasted good all would be even better...

The Co-op

From the urging of my sister I joined a food co-op two weeks ago. It's a great way to save money on produce and a good way to get fresh produce even in the winter. This morning was the second food pick-up and I am quite impressed with the variety of fruits and veggies they include. You don't get to pick what you get so it's different every time, but I guess that keeps things exciting. Here is the picture of this mornings harvest minus a few strawberries since Daniel got to them before I did: We had a breakfast of strawberries, oranges and watermelon. It was delicious! They also offer 9-grain bread that is Daniel friendly which is very hard to find so I placed an order this round just to try it. It's good. It was so cold this morning I am still trying to warm up. It is my own fault because I didn't wear my coat and it was 17 degrees this morning--brrrrr.

In other things I am not used to having someone with long enough hair for some serious bed head in the morning. Here's this mornings exceptionally frightening hair-do on Sarah:

I can tell it took all night to get it just right. As my Dad would say it is scary enough to haunt a 5 room house.

Quiet Time or Strep Time?

Today as soon as Josh walked in through the door after school he asked me if he could have quiet time. I should have known right then there was a problem, but I didn't worry about it. He dropped his backpack on the ground, walked straight over to the couch, laid down right next to Aaron and was asleep within seconds. When he woke up about an hour later he was burning up with a fever of 102.2. He had no other symptoms like a runny nose or cough so I decided to take a look in his throat. He did tell he it didn't hurt so I didn't think I would find too much. I took a look and couldn't even get past his tonsils they were so huge. I decided it would be best to take him in to get a strep culture done before the weekend hours started. It was about 3:30 pm on a Friday afternoon and that's about the worst time to try to get in to see the doctor. Luckily our pediatrician has a walk in clinic at that time so Aaron took him in. They did a rapid strep test which came back positive within milliseconds. Next time Josh asks for quiet time I will suspect somethings up. At least he will be starting on antibiotics and feeling better soon--I hope.

Kids can be brutally honest and it usually comes out in regular conversation. I was talking to Daniel and he asked me why I was his mom. I told him I chose him to be my son and he chose me to be his mom up in heaven. He then told me he wanted to choose someone else to be his mom. I asked him why and he said, "Oh just because." Thanks Daniel.

Great News!!

Yesterday was Aaron's follow up appointment for his knee after receiving the MRI. The great news is...no surgery!! YAY!! His knee is still bothering him quite a bit, but there is no permanent damage. The doctor showed Aaron the MRI slides and told him that his inner whole knee is very bruised including the bone as well as a sprained ligament. It was so bruised the doctor was very surprised said Aaron was very lucky he didn't tear anything by looking at all the damage and bruising inside his knee. He just has to let it heal. I am so happy our Flex Spending account won't take such a big hit at the beginning of the year since there will be no surgery. It is all around good news, except for the fact Aaron is still a gimp. That will eventually go away, though. Now I have to worry about what to get Aaron for Christmas instead of surgery because the surgery was going to be his Christmas present ;). However, I must say I am more than alright with getting him something else. I am just glad for the great outcome!

My Bedroom

I still haven't posted pictures of my redone bedroom. I was waiting until I got everything done the way I wanted it, but that hasn't happened yet and probably won't happen for a little while longer. I am a little indecisive and also a procrastinator to boot which doesn't turn out to be a very good combination to say the least. Aaron's sister Jill was out for a visit clear back in October when we got the majority of it completed, but it has been sitting since then until I can make up my mind what else to do with it. We painted the walls, got a new bedding set, new curtains and figured out a few things to put on the walls. It's nice to finally have a grown-up bedroom. The walls are still a little bare, but I don't know quite what else to put on them hence the unfinished status. Anyway, here's the pictures:
Nothing too new has been going on with us. We did have a little bit of a rough night last night, though. Matthew occasionally has bouts of extreme obsessive/compulsiveness and last night it reared it's ugly head. When Matthew got home from school yesterday we completed all of his homework including a moon chart assignment he had been working on for all of the month of November. For some reason at 3 am this morning he woke up just sobbing because he didn't know what his next assignment would be since his month long moon chart was now complete seeing as November is now over. We tried to reason with him and telling him he would find out the next day and for him not to worry about it, but he still ended up just sobbing until it was time to get up in the morning--about 6am. That made for one long night. I think all of us are going to have a little of a rough day today for lack of sleep. Hopefully, Matthew will get his next assignment today and be a happy camper again. The extreme stresses of school shouldn't be starting in the 3rd grade--poor kid!