Over the course of the past week the following things have happened in our house: One surgery, 2 bouts of I-swear-it-is-the-flu-no-matter-what-your-stupid-"flu-test"-says-Dr.-Knowitall, one double ear infection, one case of bronchitis, one overflowing toilet, one emergency call to the on call pediatrician, and one Bigfoot sighting. Okay, maybe that last one was a Nyquil induced hallucination. But the others, yep, those all happened.
It was quite a week.
I won't go into the unpleasant memories of all the sickness because it would send me running straight for the Nyquil again but suffice it to say, we are glad to be better. And I stand by my statement last year that NOTHING is worse than the stomach flu. Through all the fevers and hacking coughs and 20 boxes of kleenex, I still thanked God that no one was throwing up.
The toilet overflowing could have just been a big annoyance but it came at a time when we were all a little loopy from sleepless nights and head colds so it was kind of hilarious. Ace was sitting on the toilet at the time it started overflowing and he swears it was trying to swallow him. Now he requires a spotter every time he needs to sit on the toilet just in case the water decides to go the wrong way again.
Last night, thanks to 2 new humidifiers and Julia's amoxocillan finally kicking in, I got my first decent night sleep in a week and woke up this morning ready to finally face the world. We've pretty much been in hibernation since last Wednesday so it felt good to get out of the house. Hayley and Ace were at school so Julia, Lucy and I went birthday shopping for Andy and to Julia's 4th favorite place, Trader Joes. She loves her Joes. It was fun to buy actual food after a week of soup, applesauce, and Popsicles.
Tomorrow night Andy and I are going to a retirement party for one of his bosses. I got a sitter for the older kids and she is actually our teenage baby sitter's mom so I know she is more than qualified to watch Lucy too, but I'm just not ready to leave her. She has hit a peak with her stranger anxiety plus she is nursing at least every 3 hours so she may scream the entire time and even if she didn't, I would have to leave after just about an hour and half of the party. It seems like infants are usually accepted at most social functions because people understand that parents don't want to leave them behind but is 5 months pushing that? She is still young enough just to sling it the whole time so I can't imagine her being any sort of disruption. It's not a formal event and my sling looks great with my dress. She'll be my best fashion accessory. We'll see how it goes. She is so stinking cute I really would be surprised if anyone is offended.

He's just not that into me. Alternate Title : Katherine's favorite post ever.

You know how sweet it is when you child is sleepy or a little sick and all they want is you and your hugs and your kisses and your cuddles? Well, I don't. Because apparently, when my kids are sick, my hugs and kisses and cuddles are pretty far down on the list.
Ace has been fighting congestion, runny watery eyes, and a croup-y cough for over a week now and he's okay during the day but has been sleeping kind of restlessly and waking up in a daze for the past few nights. He's a sleeptalker on a normal day and when he's feeling bad, he gets really chatty. Last night we had this conversation, and my heart broke a little.
Time: 2:18am, Mommy alarm goes off when I hear Ace coughing and mumbling to himself and rush to his bedside, ready to soothe and comfort him with my presence.
"Hi Buddy, are you okay, do you want some water?"
"No. Go way"
"Oh, okay. Don't you want me to lay down with you and rub your back?"
"No, I need Grandma"
"Grandma is in Carolina, remember, and I think she's probably sleeping"
"Is Uncle Tan in Carolina, because I want him here. I have a baseball"
"Yeah, well, he's in California sleeping. Do you want to come lay down in my bed?"
"Is Katherine there?"
"No, Katherine has her own bed in California"
"I want to go there"
"Okay, we'll go there tomorrow. Goodnight, Buddy, I love you."
"I love Katherine"
"Katherine loves you too"
"And Tan"
"Yes, and Tan"
*silence*
I get back in bed and I hear his sweet little voice calling for me and think he wants me to come back because he's remembered how much he loves and needs me. But...
"Mommy, will you bring my my picture of Tan and Katherine"
Ouch.

Love will find a way

It's Valentine's day and love is in the air. And all over my living room floor. Hayley as made approximately 746,778 valentines and they are scattered all around the house. To be honest, I can't verify that they are all from Hayley because they are signed "admerer" so really, it could be anyone of my many admirers. But since Hayley is the only one who can write, I'm 40% sure it was her.
Andy, who knows my directional deficiencies as well as anyone, got me a navigation system for the car for Valentine's day. And really, what says romance more than "I don't want you to get lost driving to the Stop and Shop and end up in New Hampshire. Again." I blame genetics. We grew up smack dab in the middle of North Carolina and my sister once drove west to get to Myrtle Beach. True story. So that was really the best Valentine's day gift ever.
Grandma sent the kids some cool cards and they each got a box of Jellybellys. Interesting fact: Ace's favorite flavor is now licorice. That makes him my new favorite person to share a handful of Jellybellys with because I hate licorice and they interfere with my enjoyment of the other flavors. My gift to everyone is a fancy Valentine's dinner. Coconut shrimp, pot roast, potatoes, and strawberry shortcake (vegetables, you say? Who needs em!) Then the kids get to stay up late to watch Madagascar 2 and Andy and I are watching Fireproof (or, if he wins the coin toss, Wanted with Angelina Jolie).
Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Fail

Do you ever want a Mommy Do-over? Today I sure do. I blew an opportunity for some much needed Mommy/Biggest-Baby-Girl Bonding time this weekend. Last week Hayley came home with a notice about the big 100th day project. Anyone with a first or second grader probably did a similar project this week, you have to create a project using 100 somethings. We chose hearts. And the point is to spend some quiet, fun, educational quality time with your child, working together to create this masterpiece. At least that's how I read the instructions. We started the project Saturday, but it turns out Hayley can't cut out a heart yet and since we needed 100 of the suckers, Andy and I decided we would do that part for her and then work on the design and the construction together. So Saturday we cut out 100 hearts. Good start. Sunday we talked about what to do but for some reason, Hayley was in La la land and was suggesting ideas like "Lets make the hearts into the shape of a nickel". She was somewhat confused by the instructions so Andy and kind of took over that too and then decided she was maybe a little overtired and we could work on it while she was in bed. So today, Andy was at work so it was up to me and Hayley to finish the project and I got frustrated and pushy and grumpy and I don't think anyone enjoyed the project much at all. Hayley got frustrated too and Ace started hitting the poster with his sword and I ended up putting it up and finishing it after she was in bed. So much for bonding time. I sneaked in to wake her up to see if she wanted to come help and she mumbled something about cheese and went back to sleep. I feel like I deserve a big old F in parenting today.

Three things that made me laugh this week...

Ace and Hayley have these new platypus stuffed toys from Uncle Stan's trip to Australia and they have been carrying them around since Monday, inventing games for them. Hayley named hers Elliot and Ace named his Big-Mean-Pirate-Thing but he says for short we can call it Boog.

Julia sticks her finger up her nose when she is faced with an unfamiliar situation. I think it is because she has figured out that it may keep people at a distance if they suspect she may pick her nose.

Ace got 2 shots yesterday which made him feel kind of icky and also stayed up really late to go to a movie night at Hayley's school last night so he was kind of tired today. Our babysitter came over and when we came home he was sitting on the couch wrapped up in a blanket talking. Debbie, the babysitter, said that he had been there for about an hour, talking nonstop but not moving from his spot on the couch. He continued that for another hour or so, even if everyone else left the room he would just yell "I have something to tell you" so we would come back in. Then he would come up with something random to say like "I go to school on Tuesdays, not Mondays". I'm not really sure what that was about, if he was feeling sick or just lazy. He reminded me of Yoda. He also had Boog with him the entire time.

Oops

Some trouble posting pics, more later...

Wednesdays

Wednesdays are usually my third favorite day of the week because it is the day that Ace has storytime at the library and I get to spend an hour with a group of really funny women, catching up on small town news. But today, thanks to a delayed opening at Hayley's school (7 inches of snow, I was hoping for a real snow day), we missed storyhour and I was bummed. Still, as Ace pointed out as we got home this evening, it turned out to be "some fun of a day".
I borrowed an idea from another blog and filled cookie trays with dried beans and Julia and Ace spent at least an hour playing in them with Ace's new mini construction cars and trucks. Then Lucy took a 3 hour nap and I dozed off while the bigger kids watched Kung Fu Panda. Andy had a morale day at work (Bowling. Really? That boosts morale?) so he got home early and we went to get the kids much needed haircuts. We decided afterwards that they looked so clean cut and dapper that we should show them off so we went to a pizza parlor for an early dinner. Stuffed and happy, we got home just in time for homework, baths, and bedtime.
Like I said, some fun of a day. Here's a picture of the kids enjoying their bean trays. Remember, this is pre-haircuts.

4 Years Ago....

From Feb 2, 2005...
Andrew Thomas was born at 9:42pm on Feb. 2! What a blessing my little man is, he is even more beautiful and precious than I imagined.
All Tuesday night and Wednesday morning I felt awful, I could barely sleep even with the help of extra strength tylenol. I knew that if I was not in labor, something was wrong so I made an appointment with my ob. After she determined I was indeed in labor and my BP was high, I was sent straight to the hospital. I was in triage at the hospital for a few LONG hours, not in high spirits because I thought I was going to be sent home. The only reason to keep me was the elevated blood pressure. I was not contracting much and was still only around 2 cm dilated. Around 3 the nurse examined me again and I was 3cm so I started to think MAYBE I was there to stay. At 3:30 all my questions were answered when my water broke. After that, things progressed quickly. DH dropped Hayley off with our neighbors and joined me at the hospital. I was admitted to a room and the contractions were coming hard and fast. I asked for my epi and got it around 4-5 cm. It only took on one side so they had to redo it. That was the only really unpleasant part of labor and it wasn't too bad. After that I was really numbed up and progressing fast. At around 9:30 I was fully dilated and I started to push. Since I couldn't feel a thing, pushing was a breeze and it took about 15-20 minutes. I was talking with the nurses the whole time and just incredibly excited. The doctor I had in the delivery room was awesome and kept me motivated. After maybe 15-20 pushes, I saw my baby boy! They laid him across me so DH could cut the cord and then he was right beside me getting cleaned and checked out while I was getting stitched and cleaned. Then we spent a few minutes with him before he went to the nursery and we went to the Mother/Baby room.
The first night and day in the hospital are kind of a happy blur. We just held him and watched him. I enjoyed not having to do anything and finally feeling GOOD! My recovery so far has been very easy. I am a little sore and crampy but mainly feel good, I can walk and move around easily. Last night Andy stayed at the house with Hayley so it was just Baby Ace and I, we had an all night party. He was happy to just eat and stay awake and alert so I got about an hour of sleep.

It's been awhile, it must be the winter doldrums setting in because not much is going on around her worth blogging about. Yesterday Ace's party brought some much needed excitement to the house. For 2 hours on a Saturday afternoon, our house was transformed to Camelot, with knights, ladies, and dragons all here to celebrate a very special little guys Fourth birthday. There was bubble jousting, daring swordfights (Four year olds vs. Stuffed dragons, the four year olds emerged victorious), treasure hunting, and of course, one incident of mooning. Don't think knights didn't moon each other in the days of Camelot, because they so did.
I think everyone had a great time, I know I did. My mom did a lot of the planning, decorating, and cooking. Basically, I filled bowls with cheez doodles and chex mix and called it done. My mom made sword cookies (yes, sword cookies look exactly like penises and yes, we all commented on them repeatedly) and stuck one in the cake (the inspiration for the theme party was Ace's love of Sword and the Stone) and the kids thought that was awesome. Besides the "bubble joust", we also had a bean bag toss into a cardboard and aluminum foil castle, the treasure hunt for a chest of Hershey's nuggets and gummy bears, and crafts like decorating crowns and coloring pages. The girls enjoyed the party too. Hayley had a few friends here age here, Lucy spent most of the time in our neighbor's arms and our 12 year old neighbor spent much of the party catering to Julia's every whim and keeping her snack plate full. Good times!
Tonight the party weekend rolled along as we had a special dinner and Grandma and Grandpa's and a Boston Cream Pie for dessert. Yum!
Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Ace, we love you!