Our trip to COOL!

Today we went to the new water park that just opened here in town. I figured I would be able to watch Beau while sitting with baby, well...didnt' work that way. The boy is a fish! How many times have I said this?????? He knows NO limits in the water. Luckily they supplied life jackets at no additional cost, he had to have one on! However, once he had that sucker was on he decided he was Superboy. He quickly figured out how those things work, keeping him suspended on top of the water, and so made many attempts at a quick escape over to the water slide, and 6ft deep section, I had to run, jello butt jiggling, Leah in one arm, slipping and sliding to catch him before he jumped in! It was insane, next time, NO LEAH, and Mommy must be in swimming attire. Fat butt and lactating boobies, no excuses! At one point he got so wild in the water, he gulped and puked, right next to these 2 young, first time mommy's, which then made them quickly leave the pool FOR GOOD! HA! That'll teach 'em to flounce around in thier itsy bitsy teeney weeney halter strap and thong bikinis ! Some day, some day, it will be their child puking in the pool...I can't wait!

Got It!

YELLOW JEEP BEWARE...I HAVE YOUR PLATE NUMBER, AND I AM CALLING IT IN...

LET THE WORLD SEE IT HERE!

YXP 252

BAD "GUG"!

Ohhhhhh, my poor boy got stung by a bee today! He was playing with his bucket and shovel in the yard, then saw a bee, poked it, and it stung him right on the finger tip of his first finger on his right hand. My MIL got the stinger out with tweezers, and put baking soda on it, then gave him some benadryl to help the swelling. I tried to put ice on his finger, but he just wanted to eat it. Then I tried to put a bandaid on it, but he decided that the band aid belonged on his left shin instead. So, for about 3 hours he walked around stinky binky in mouth, and holding up his right finger in the air. He wouldn't even pick up his tippy to drink, so I had to hold it for him while he drank his juice. The redness, and swelling went down pretty quickly, and by bedtime he was back to normal. Don't think he'll touch a bee again...or any 'gug' for that matter!

Beach Baby

Today we went to the coast to escape the horrible humidity here in the valley. First we dropped some crab nets in the bay, then had lunch, and made our way to the nearest beach. The boy's first time, as far as he can remember, to the beach, and he was scared to death of the sand! He would not walk at all in the loose, dry sand, and when it came to the wet sand, he tiptoed around all the foot prints, and so it took him forever to get anywhere. He finally loosened up some, and would atleast walk on the wet sand nearest the ocean. We found "treasure", agates, seashells, 1/2 broken sand dollars, and a crab back. He put them in his little "treasure" bucket, and his coat pockets. I took him to the water, and at first he was scared to go into it, till I got showed him what to do, then, as we all know he is a fish anyway...he wanted nothing more than to take off all alone running into the water!!! He loved running down the beach chasing all the seagulls, and clapping his hands at them to make them fly away. The baby slept most of the time in her stroller...the girls made many attempts at creating a sand castle, with no success, so they just used the sand molds to make stars, flowers, cars, etc. in the sand. It was a fun day all in all, something we need to do more often for sure!

SLOW DOWN...small children at play!

Saturday night I was working my 2nd day of the week. I got a phone call from the hub about an incident at home. He starts with, "the girls asked to ride their bikes, so they went out and were riding in front of the house , and a yellow jeep came around the corner..." He stopped there, my heart starts racing, "WHAT?" He goes, "Dont' worry, they're okay...the girls said the jeep was swerving trying to hit them, and laughing, then a grey suburban came up beside them and started calling out cuss words then flipped them off and drove off." Yellow Jeep, huh? Well a week ago we had a yellow jeep with what I thought was a blonde girl driving it parked out front of our house for about 10 minutes brights on at 11:30 pm. The girls said they were teenage boys, a long haired blonde one in the jeep...okay...my husband did not get the license plate number, too late to get out in the front. Today, I called the sherrif's office, and they would do nothing but send out a request for extra patrole unless I got the license plate number. So, I said, "Oh, I WILL get the license number then." And so...the girls cannot even ride their bikes in front of our house without us being right there anymore...I am sooooo angry that this occurred.
They will pay for it, PUNKS!

A new Puppy!

We now have a puppy. She is a rhodesian ridgeback/boxer mix, and is just beautiful! Our daughters named her Evie. We wanted her for the boy. He needs a little buddy, and it is working out great! He gets a little upset, like when she runs after him biting the butt of his diaper. It is so hilarious to watch them! She follows him everywhere. We introduced her to our Rott 2 days ago, and he was okay with her until she started following under him biting his dog weenie. LOL! If the boy is naked, as he was most of yesterday, (it was sooooo hot here), then she follows after him and tried to bite his little boy weenie, he gets so mad, he stands there bent over, whining, clapping his hands at her. I just have to crack up! OH, and back to the boy being naked yesterday...he was standing in front of Daddy, facing Daddy, Daddy was on the phone, and all the sudden a stream of pee started shooting into the air, right onto Daddy's feet and into his shoes, he couldn't get up and out of the way quick enough! The boy was quite confused, he looked at his winky, moved it around a bit, looked at me, the started giggling. Then he let out a few real good farts, still naked, then looked at me, confused somewhat again, and then kept grabbing his butt for a good 10 minutes afterward. BOYS!
It was so hot yesterday that we had to stay outside till I think almost 10:30pm, whew! And even then, inside was still too warm. So, we ate sandwiches outside, the kids played FOREVER in the pool, and on the slipnslide. The hub was drinking a beer, or two, and as we were distracted with the girls and puppy, the boy found a crazy straw the girls left outside, and managed to get Daddy's 3/4 drank beer, put the straw in it, and start slurping...I caught him just as he swallowed, not sure if I he liked it or not...can't say he didn't, he didn't make a yuck face, so maybe he did like it. In any case, NO MORE BEER IN BOYS REACH DADDY!
Oh, this reminds me of another incident. My husband has the most utterly disgusting habit of chewing tobacco. He ALWAYS sets the can on the counter top, near the edge, and the boy has been fishing for items to pull off the counter. He can reach pretty far onto the counter too. Well, the other day he got it while we were in another room, and as I came upon him, he had opened the can of chew, and covered almost the entire area of carpet between the kitchen and our bedroom door!!!!!!! I think Daddy will listen to Mommy now to put it somewhere else.

Gems are paying off!

Drew bought her own Hula Hoop!


(thanks to earning gems)

Outdoor Fun

Today, I remembered about my mountain bike, and that it has an infant seat from way back when, (1998), and that I have a toddler helmet left over from Drew (2001), and soooooo I took the boy for a ride. He had a blast! It was so nice to get on the old bike again, even though my butt is now 3x the size it was when I first got the thing, but I was still able to ride it without my butt grazing the road as we rode. We went down our street, then up the hill to the left, turned around, then let our bikes glide all the way down past our road to the next, rode down that, them came back up and home again. Drew was so happy I was riding a bike along with her, that she giggled the whole way. It was nice to see such a thrill in her eyes. It reminds me how much I need to do these simple things with them. Make memories.
After the bikeride, we were a little sweaty, so I started filling up the pool. The boy noticed that the hose was on, and walked over, started with touching hose, moved toward splashing his arms in the water, then before I could get to him and take of his shoes, and socks, shorts, and shirt, he just got on all fours and climbed in the darn pool! He was already wet, so no hurry to get him out, huh? I just had to laugh!
As I have said SO many times before...THE BOY IS A FISH!




I just adore Motherhood...today!

How little one's think...

I am a vaccume-aholic. I have this uncontrolable urge to vaccume every inch of carpet even if only the carpet beneath the highchair has crumbs on it. I think this means I am some what of an obsessive/compulsive personality. Well, it has apparently rubbed off onto my adoring 18 month old son, Beau. Two days ago as I was getting out the vaccume, he began clapping his hands and giggling... as I started it up, he stood there in awe, then ran off, a few seconds later returning with his little kid lawn mower and began following behind me with it pretending to also be vaccuming as I was. I had to laugh. It was priceless.

The boy has somehow come to the conclusion that he is big enough to pick up and carry the baby...well, the other day he came up to me as I was holding Leah in my lap facing me, wrapped his arms around her belly and started to pull her away from me. I literally had a bout of tug-o-war with him over Leah, he just would NOT let go!

Last night we made Jiffy Pop popcorn, you know the kind that you have to rub on a burner on the stovetop until the big aluminum foil bubble fills with popcorn? Well, he had never seen this done before, it sorta scared him as it started to pop, it was a little loud. After it was all done popping, I gave him his own little cup full, then we came out to watch T.V. I was holding Leah facing out from me, Darrin was across the other end of the couch, and Beau was eating his popcorn beside me. I was looking at Darrin, talking, then all of the sudden I realized he had taken a piece of popcorn and had crushed it into Leahs mouth! I quickly reprimanded him, and got the popcorn out of Leahs mouth, I said, "NO, baby can't have popcorn, baby has no teeth!" He shook his head 'no'. For the next few minutes Leah kept slowly pushing little pieces of the crushed popcorn out of her mouth...

One day I was in the bathroom as Drew, was going potty, and I started sneezing all the sudden. They were very forceful, and I must have been trying to hold them back, all the sudden Drew says to me, "Mommy, why are you havin' such a hard time with your bless you's?"

Preteen Horror

My 2nd oldest is turning 10 today, she seems to think this means the freedom to make all of her own decisions. Not so! She has been attending safety camp a local high school through the boys and girls club, spending 9-4pm everyday alongside her BFF, Kambria. Well, this has led to an outstanding amount of defiance. In the past week, as never before, she has become so emotional, and arguementative that I have seriously considered checking myself into a motel, and calling it quits with parenthood all together. For example last night, she asked to stay a her BFF's house to swim after safety camp was over, OK, then at 6:30pm I went to tell her to be home by 7, that led to an emmediate freak out! She started arguing about what time it was, and "we only got to play for a half hour", NO, she ONLY got to play for 3 hours, not to mention all day at safety camp with her BFF. As she stood there whining, her BFF comes running up, "CAN GRACIE STAY THE NIGHT TONIGHT AT MY HOUSE, MY MOM SAID IT WAS OKAY?" This then triggered a rollercoaster of emotions. She was restricted this week from an sleepovers due to spending 3 nights away last week after school got out, and she tweaked it sunday when i worked, and got Dad to give in, saying "I forgot Mom" , SO, I said, no, the answer was already known. Then she began arguing further, trying to give me multiple reasons as to why it was so important for her to stay there overnight. "It would be easier since you have to take us to safety camp anyway in the morning", "kambria can't stay the night on my birthday so I should get to stay with her tonight", "I won't get to see kambria for a week, she's going to camp"....NO NO NO NO NO! She began balling her head off like a 2 year old. I was disgusted, and so angry. I just said, (6:40pm) COME HOME NOW! Forget getting to stay till 7. COME HOME NOW! She stood there like she was gonna ignore me, and I was ready to jump over that fence and grab her and pull her over it. Finally she ran off to get her stuff, balling, and came home balling, went to her room balling...Is this what I'm in for with all of them??????

Bugs, bees, and butterflies...

The boy is learning to say many things, mostly things that start with the letter B. He has been running around the house lately in awe shouting, "BUG", letting me know that there is a fly on the ceiling or any place else they may be landing, since they seem to have over taken our house. Last night he and Drew, ran around the yard trying to catch a butterfly, it was so adorable, and I ofcourse, did NOT have my camera handy. A day last week, we were out back, and a gardener snake came slithering through the grass, and he started chasing it trying to stomp on the darn thing all the while shouting, you guessed it, "BUG".
lol.

Leah

Leah is getting ready to turn 3 months old. Today she giggled for the first time as I was changing her almost OODP. It made my day!

Stranger Danger

My daughter, who just turned 5, and learned to ride her bike without training wheels yesterday has discovered a newfound freedom. Well, today, she asked to go to the nieghbors to play, and I went about my morning with babies, making lunch, then went to fetch her. No one was home at the nieghbors house, and yet, Drew was nowhere to be found. I ran out to the road to see if she was nearby riding her bike alone or with the nieghbor girl, NO DREW! I started to freak out! All the sudden spotted her red helmet, coming around the corner at the end of our road, which by the way were are at the complete other end of. She saw me waving and started coming back, then I yelled to her, "COME HOME NOW!" She did, and then we had a talk about how she went way too far, and did it ALONE! I told her she had to be very careful of strangers, and stay within 2 houses of us going back and forth only. She said, "okay mommy" Then I told her the things strangers might say to her, such as "I lost my puppy, can you come help me find it?" And she goes, " you mean with candy in thier car?" I was like, YES, YES, YES! She understands. So, now she is scared to death and refusing to ride her bike at all. Not my intention, but it will subside.

Babies, Babies, everywhere...

My husband was trying to tell me this morning how I should get an agency job and work for much higher pay. I am so sick of his bugging me about this. I have a job, I don't want to job hunt. I have babies to care for. I don't have time for resume's and interviews. So, I just said to him, as I was changing a poopy diaper, "Taking care of these babies is 24/7. They have to be taken care of. I really don't want to work now, I don't want to take them to a sitter, I don't want someone else doing it!"
And, you know, he said, "OK."
Bow down to Super Mommy!

Blog before Explosion

The plan: Beau awoke, I got up early, Leah still sleeping since she stayed up so late. I got him dealt with, thought, Hmmm...coffee and newspaper, after all the baby is sleeping still. So, get coffee started, went and got paper, then had to waste time by putting together my new vaccume.

What actually happened: Beau started screaming for candy, Drew begging for breakfast, Grace ravaging through the freezer, Darrin woke up, and I had to deal with the boy, so guess who got my planned coffee and paper??? HIM. I am sooooooooooo angry.

Oops! forgot to post...1st Day back to Work

My first day back to work after approximately 13 weeks of maternity leave was last saturday, the 4th of June. I was truly so excited to be out and working again, but it was all so new, so many new residents to care for. It took me alot longer to pass medication, I had to study the MAR's real well, and make a connection of faces to names, which I can do pretty quickly. I can tell you each person's name the next day no problem. But that first day was very slow to start. By the end of the night, I was back on track, and as I was finishing up giving insulin, I had removed the needle from the last resident, a subcutaneous injection in the abdomen, and I was using my left hand to pull down the safety cap over the needle in my right hand, and it pricked my 1st finger on my left hand, I bled. I had never done this before, so I had to report it to the DNS, and then go for a drug screen directly after work, and a blood test the following monday morning to test for hepatitis B, C, and HIV. Lovely, huh? Well, monday, as you know, I took Beau to urgent care, so I had to postpone my blood draw for tuesday before work. I will know the results in 2 weeks. The doctor did assure me that it is a very minimal risk for any of the above, and so rather than seeing me back in 6 weeks, and 3 months, I will go back in 6 months for the next blood draw.
Also, on my first night back, after peeing for the drug screen at 11:15 pm, I was on my way home driving Hwy 99, and about 1/4 of the way home, I see an owl flying up in front of me, and before I could slow down or swerve over, the darn thing went SMACK right into my windshield to the right of me. I just about wet my britches! No marks on my van, but you know that thing is dead. I was shaking! Anyway...what a way to start back out, huh?

The rash mystery

So, the boy came down with this rash the past saturday, started on his knees, and inner thighs. I emmediatley thought, hives, put some hydorcortisone on it, called it good. The next day, he had a slight fever, didn't feel well, the rash was no on his hands a little bit. Monday morning he woke with the rash further up his thighs, on his feet, and hands, no fever, acting normal. Took him to urgent care since my doc is out monday, and they quickly diagnosed him (2 doctors, in agreement) with hand, foot, and mouth disease. Hmmmm...never had a child with that before. So, it's contagious through saliva, but doc said not to keep him out of daycare. Took him to daycare tuesday, rash same as monday. Then, today, wednesday, he woke with his entire lower extremity completely red, deep red, almost purplish, and the rest of his body, spidery looking. I freaked! I started crying on the phone with the doctor, they said to just bring him on in. My doctor looked at him, and was a little confused, but was thinking Fifth's Disease. She went out, brought back in 3 pediatric books, with various photos of rashes. Yep, Fifth's Disease. So, she says he is contagious for 7 days preceding the breakout, then says, actually contagious for 7 days after the breakout, so I called in to work, keeping all kids away. Then I got online, and all information states, contagious for 7-14 days preceding the breakout, and so, any one of us may also have this but not even know until the rash starts. And, all the people that were in contact with him, kissing him, in the last 2 weeks, which means EVERYONE at Drew's birthday party. The rash is supposed to subside after 3-5 weeks, during which time it gets darker, worse, moving all over his body, until it finally fades out. What a horror!

Is it a full moon?

1. 8am~Beau keeps climbing onto this wonderful car/truck ramp given to us by a friend. He got up on top, in a diaper only, sat there, I said, "get down" he started to stand, and I realized the ramp was very close to the fireplace brick, he started to tip over, and I had the baby on a boob, could not get up in time, had to yell for 9 year old to grab him before he hit his head on the brick. My heart jumped out of my chest! 2. 11:30am~Storytime day, and all was fine, Beau playing choo-choo, Drew doing puzzles, I decide to look at a shelf of books, and in a flash, "Where did Beau go?" Again, my heart jumped out of my chest, on this time it also splattered all over the floor. I looked and instinct, there he was, between the double entryway doors of the library. I ran over, he just stood there, and as I approached he just laughed. Little demon boy! 3. 6pm~I was changing baby diapers, and smelled something burning, ran down the hall thought Heather had a candle lit, and then realized it was coming from the kitchen and saw smoke coming out of the dishwasher. OH NO! Opened it up real quick, a massive amount of smoke came out then, and you guessed it, the dishwasher was on fire! It was crackling away, and I rushed all the kids out, who cares about anything else? Tried to get the neighbor over to help investigate, but not home. I just made sure it was off, and the fire went out. Turns out the coil in the bottom somehow misplaced itself burning the plastic of the inner bottom portion of the door, starting a fire. There goes D's OT.
4. 7pm~Beau was happily playing 'cars', when all of the sudden he began screaming and crying uncontrollably. Took a moment to figure out what happened. The 9 year old was rocking the TV chair, and he walked beind it, got his foot pinched across the top. Nurse Mom, I emmediately grabbed a frozen bag of peas and put it on his foot, causing more screaming, but finally he calmed. Put a 'finding nemo' band aid on his foot, and called it good. He is now showing everyone who will look at his nemo band aid. Poor thing!

Mommy for Sale, please buy me!

I must have been having one of those "moments" earlier when I felt so much overwhelming joy and love from my children to journal such gibberish. Especially since right after I finished typing, all hell broke loose. Beau, once out of his high chair, which was 'decorated' in top ramen noodles, proceeded to follow me whining (refused napping today) as the baby screamed for booby. I put the boy and the now 5 year old into the tub, which the boy thoroughly enjoyed, and the 5 year old protested (what is it with girls and not wanting to clean themselves?). The 9 year old holding the screaming baby, now calmed to some degree. Got babies into PJ's, and suddenly, boy persistently pushing buttons on daddy's DVD player after being told NO NO NO NO NO NO (you get the point)...baby screaming bloody murder, Drew begging for a chocolate muffin when she did not even eat 1/2 of her dinner. Answer is STILL NO. Me making boys bottle, while baby screams, 5 year old crying no muffin, did not eat her dinner. Only fair, must eat dinner tomorrow for muffin. Boy in bed, baby on booby, 5 year old STILL whining for muffin, NO!, to bed for throwing tantrum, asking again, and again,and again, and again........AAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

To my children

Leah~ I love you as you keep me from sleep with your fuss, fuss, fussing just so that I will lay you beside me in my bed.
Beau~ I love you as you so athletically throw all of your top ramen noodles, and grilled cheese sandwich onto my freshly vacuumed carpet, all the while grinning and giggling.
Drew~ I love you as you sit so still in the middle of your room, scared to move, frightened that the "boo hag" may jump out and get you.
Grace~ I love you as you so dramatically sing along with your karaoke songs, while dancing like a show girl.
I love you all, with all of my heart, in so many different ways!