The girl can climb

Josie is a climber like Andy was. She will climb up on anything and has now demonstrated that she can climb out of anything. Andy could climb out of his crib but took awhile before he started to be able to get out of a pack'n play when we stay places. No such luck with Josie.
Last night we put her down for bed after getting to my in-laws and she came out three times before we finally let her sit with Jim until she fell asleep.
We did actually get her bed converted so that I don't have to worry about falling while climbing out at home. She is very happy to be a "big girl" and she grins with a smug smile when she just "appears" on her own. I need to put some child locks on the door knobs now (at least on the one from her room into the bathroom) because with the easy to turn door handles in a 40 year old house she can already work the door knobs.

We made it...

No one threw up last night, so this morning we finally made it down to Nana and Pop's . The kids did great in the car and other then rain the trip was relatively uneventful.

Huh?

Yesterday, with recovering tummies, Doug told me he wanted some crocodile.
uhh....what?
Crocodile.

So five minutes later I realized that he meant Gatorade.

Things are ok...just not fun...

As you well may know we have had a lot of doctors appointments this month because we have had mostly some sort of respiratory something-or-other running through the house. So I was in hopes that we were healing and getting past all of this. Keeping in mind that with young children their symptoms aren't always clear and they can't tell you what is wrong here is what has gone on....

1. Josie woke up Saturday night unhappy. She has had teeth coming in, she has been snotty, could be all sorts of things.
2. After trying a few things she threw-up and Jim went to take her temperature.
3. Jim tripped over the stool in the kid's bathroom and fell while holding Josie (meaning he couldn't catch himself).
4. Josie was fine but Jim was afraid he had broken his ribs falling up against the side of the tub.
5. We called Ben, who fortunately was in town, and he came to watch the kids while we went to the emergency room for the second time in about two and a half weeks. (We lived in our old town for 8 years and went the the emergency room a total of 3 times).
6. He did not break any ribs but most likely seriously bruised them (so this is how he started his Thanksgiving vacation)
7. We tried to have Ben and his sister Katie over for a special dinner on Monday night...that ended up in Andy puking on his plate (which of course ended dinner....)
8. I spent Monday night with both boys in the recliner and my finger hooked like a life-line on a bucket so they could vomit approximately every hour.
9. Tuesday we were mostly clear except that Doug progressed to out the other end....
10. Tuesday night Josie and Andy both threw-up (but only once a piece)
11. We were hopeful that we were clear because we had a good day with food consumed and acting normal, but then Wednesday night Andy threw-up multiple times and Josie threw up once.
12. So...rather then traveling to Nana and Pop's we are having a quiet Thanksgiving here with (at least today) the main dish being dry white toast accompanied by a lovely, freshly mixed Gatorade.

Except for the vomiting the kids are acting normal and have no temperature so there is not a whole lot else we can do except wait it out. So not to worry we are just trudging along...we WILL look back on this and remember it as THAT Thanksgiving where everyone was so sick and miserable.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone is having a Happy Thanksgiving. My goal is to have not a picture perfect holiday, but hopefully one filled with happy memories. The bad stuff we will hopefully look back on and think, "Wow, that was a memorable one and I am glad it is over."
I am thankful for many things this holiday. Yes I am thankful for my family, friends, the wonderful things I have to keep me warm and such. I am also thankful for:

• Not being in an RV but having a house
• Having a baby-sitter who can come at a moments notice
  
• Having my own washer and dryer for midnight (& 2am) loads of laundry
• Having a recliner to sleep in with a child on my chest
• Everyone resting until late and that I don't have to get up to go to work
• Recovering children
  

There is much more that I am thankful for so give your loved ones a hug and don't eat too much.

Some quotes that apply to my life at the moment...

"Life is what happens while you are making other plans." -attributed to Thomas La Mance, John Lennon, Margaret Millar, Allen Sasunders, and Betty Talmadge

"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. " Nietzsche, Friedrich

I Like You I Love You

Sometimes I wish I could take just a tiny peek into the brains of my children. Just to see what is motivating them or what they are really thinking. For Doug it is usually when he is being silly and telling me about something using funny sounds and gestures to describe it. I just really want to know what he means.

For Andy lately, it has been about "I love you." This may sound strange...or perhaps if you are a parent you have been through this too. Andy will tell me he needs to tell me something. He will have a most serious look on his face. Sometimes his message will be "I love you" (or as he says "I Lube You) and sometimes it is "I like you mommy" or "I like you bery much mommy." Sometimes this becomes "I love you and I like you" and sometimes it becomes a circular thing where we are both saying I love you and I like you back and forth.
It is all very sweet but I wish I could read his brain to know what is making him so very vocal about it lately.

O Christmas Tree

We don't normally do Christmas stuff prior to Thanksgiving around here, but I have to admit this year I am pretty excited about it.

1. Andy and Doug are just reaching the age where they "get it" so they are excited about it
2. Josie can already say SAN TA (and that is how she says it...two really distinct syllables).
3. Our Christmas decorations haven't been out in TWO years! That's right 2 years. Two years ago the boys were Josie's age and our tree never actually ended up with more then about ten ornaments on it. It had chili pepper lights that the boys picked the covers off all of the ones that they could reach (the tree lights were red/green at the top and white at the bottom). Most of the ornaments I haven't actually seen in three years.
   

So we pulled out the tree tonight and I at least got the Christmas light stuff up to the appropriate place to be ready to go outside. Doug & Andy are really excited about the lights.
Jim and I put up the tree tonight. The tree box was one of the boxes that suffered some water damage in the storage unit so it doesn't seem moldy or anything like that, but the metal the branches are on are rusty so we decided that we will use it this year and then throw it out. The tree is at least 9 years old already (just prior to all of the pre-lite trees) so not a huge issue to loose it. We'll hit the after Christmas sales to get a stellar tree. The kids and I already walked through one Christmas display in a store and Andy wants a blue tree while Doug wants a pink tree....somehow I think I'd rather go for a fairly traditional one and if it has lights already on it that's even better.

Doctor Update

We bested our last record....
This week we had a total of 4 people (yes 4) who went to the doctor.
Jim- went Monday and has antibiotics
Me- went Wednesday and now have antibiotics, steroid, and a back-up inhaler for bronchitis (but no pneumonia thankfully)
Jo- 18 month wellness plus flu shot, and two vaccines (which means she will NOT have to get any shots at the 2 year appointment)
Doug- ears are looking good and the antibiotics we have left are just a bonus round since we have to finish them but he is past the hump

I'm not sure that I can truly count Jim's visit because I don't have to herd him or chase him or entertain him or hold him down at the doctor's office.
Oh, and I have a philosophical question...why are the toys in the sick child waiting room more fun then the toys in the well-child waiting room?

Weekend Project

So in addition to all of the normal stuff I need to do this weekend (laundry, dishes, grading papers, writing papers, etc.) I think I need to add converting Jo's crib to a toddler bed.
Twice last week she came out by herself after being put down for a nap, and yesterday morning she made her way out in the morning. It's a little earlier than the boys were but this is Jo and she is just trying to keep up with her brothers.

My sensitive one...

All the kids went along today for Jo's 18 month well-baby appointment (she was mostly well..has a sniffily nose/cough at the moment). She is fine. She is ahead on most things (lots of words, good movement, etc.). She is still like 70% in length and only like 25% in weight...however the doctor seemed less concerned about it this time (she FINALLY said that that might just be how Josie was and that a lot of kids taper off when they start walking...which Jo has been doing since she was 10 months old). She got three shots today. Yes she cried...but!
But Doug cried more for her when she got the shots then she did.

I do have to mention that

1. Last time Doug got a shot he moved his leg and got a scratch and we still made him get the shot too.
2. We had cleaned some ear wax out just prior to the nurse coming to do the shots and Doug was already majorly distressed from her screaming during that
3. He was all for making a break for it from the check-up room all in the name of protecting his little sister so she wouldn't have to get shots.

The nurse was quite touched by his empathy for Jo and somehow my explaining that a little hurt now was better then a hospital stay later didn't get through to Doug. Andy was just ready to go by the end of it all and was draping himself over the chair in the room after he got chewed out for totally rearranging the furniture.

Red Light Green Light

I don't know if all families have a way of "shooting" red lights to turn them green or not...but Doug & Andy just recently started doing it around here. I think they actually started doing it when riding with our baby-sitter.
So now I drive along and when I get stopped by a red light I hear:
Andy: hamma hamma (hammer hammer) bang bang
Doug: THUNDER LIGHTNING MAAAGIC

There is also appropriate hand waving and other actions that go on.

The Library....

We went to the library today. Not the big main library that we normally go to...but the smaller branch library that had a certain video that I knew Doug would want to see.
My kids each have their own styles at the library. Doug & Andy each have their own library cards because we maxed mine out once for the number of items that you are allowed to check out on one card...so as soon as they turned three and could have their own card I got one for each of them.
Doug tends toward the few carefully selected books.
Andy tends toward the more is better philosophy. He will sometimes show some discrimination, but if I start mentioning that he doesn't have to choose everything he sees he will say that he is picking out some books for Jo also.
Jo only recently has been let out of the stroller at the library and she is just excited to get to pick up books and put them in the bag so she seems to be following Andy's line of thinking.
I think we almost gave one of the librarians there a nervous breakdown. We looked at the kids' videos and of course Doug and Andy want the first one they see...and then they see another one...and another one...and another one, etc. We are only allowed three DVDs per card and a max of five per household so I usually tell the boys that they are only allowed one a piece. Well the librarian had apparently just finished re-shelving the juvenile DVDs and she was more than a little concerned that the boys (and Jo) were picking up so many DVDs. I did manage to herd them out and have all the DVDs we did not choose put back on the correct spots. Now we just have to make sure that we keep track of all of the books and DVDs so that they don't get mixed up with our stuff. Thank goodness for email reminders when things are due.

Pictures on the playground

No...we haven't had a chance to go get a camera (it's on the to-do list), but the kids are going to be included with some changes they are making to our church bulletin so my cute kids had their pictures taken.

My little Stipper

Jo has turned into a stripper....she would much rather be naked then clothed. It doesn't matter how loose the clothing is...she says it is "tight" and she wants to strip it off. The boys went through this stage but they didn't tend to go quite so far as they usually stopped at the diaper and she wants to pull that off too if she has her way. She can be running around naked and Andy will be saying that he is cold and wants a blanket (but on the contrary I think it could be really hot out and Andy would still want a blanket because that just seems to be the phase he is in currently).
So anyway I'm not quite to the point of fastening her diaper with duct tape, but I have started making her shoes the last to go on because if I put the shoes on too early I know that I will only have to put them on yet again immediately before we head out the door.

Woohoo I'm on a streak!

Ok, now say that title with some sarcasm added.
We are now three weeks in a row with at least two doctors' appointments per week.
Week 1- Doug went for his lingering cold...then two days later for a reaction to the antibiotics.
Week 2- I went in for lingering cold and running a fever, and then went to the emergency room the same evening with a 104 degree fever that of course started finally reacting to the medicine when we got there. (If they offer to do a flu test on you...run and hide...it WILL make you cry).
Week 3- I thought I was going to make it through a week without having to go, but we were back in on Friday morning because Andy had a rash (turned out to be hives) and Doug was still coughing even after finishing antibiotics (ear was not great so we are back on antibiotics).

I already know that we will be going next week...Josie has an 18 month wellness appointment/flu shoot/weight check and I was told to drag Doug along to check his ear (fortunately the doctor was ok with him coming to Jo's appointment rather then having to come in again the next week).

I suppose this rivals the record number of doctors' appointments we had when Jo was born because both boys were sick around the time she was born and she had jaundice so we saw the doctor about every other day for about a week to a week and a half.

Dear Mr. Germ,

I do not know whether you are a virus or a bacteria and frankly at this point I do not care. You have over stayed your welcome. I think we are in the process of recovering but it has been a long haul and it is time for you to leave our household.
I am tired of coughing. While I am feeling better I would like to feel enough better so that I am not coughing hard enough to hurt or coughing when I am trying to sleep. Frankly I would like to spend a night in my bed that is in an actual horizontal position.
I would also like to have a day where my normally independent children are actually independent. I am tired of having one, two or three of them glued to me at virtually all times because they are feeling lousy. It makes it difficult to get anything done.
I am a mother and a graduate student. I do not have time to be sick. I am not allowed to be sick. I don't have the luxury of time to recuperate and I do not have the money to whisk myself away to a seaside resort for some time in the sun.
It is very early in the season for you to be hanging around here. I do not wish you on anyone else and I certainly hope that you will not be visiting our house again this season.
Sincerely,
Susan

What not to say...

We are all in various stages of runny noses and coughing around here. I was holding Josie and sarcastically said "Just what I need...for Josie to rub her snotty nose on my face."
Sure enough Jo starts trying to rub her nose on me. Ewwwww

More Milestones

Josie climbed out of her crib last night while we were getting the kids ready for bed....she did it in a very controlled and sure fashion....a good two months ahead of when Andy started doing it.

She hasn't quite managed to climb back in and I will be interested to see if she starts climbing out at bed or nap times.

She is also such a daddy's girl. Where Doug and Andy started calling mommy mommy to get someone to come get them out of their crib in the mornings, Josie calls daddy daddy. She also spent all morning on Monday asking where daddy had gone.

Sock Wars

I haven't quite decided whether decorated socks are a good or a bad thing.
This morning was going smoothly until we reached the point of putting on socks. Doug and Andy wear the same size and there are very few things that are truly designated as specific clothing items for one or the other of them. Doug has enjoyed wearing a pair of socks with airplanes on them and in the past Andy has preferred other pairs.
However....this morning was as different story.
Now, I must mention that yesterday Doug wanted to wear the airplane socks and was told if he cared what went on his feet then he needed to go pick it out himself. This morning he was told the same thing but he never actually went to do it.
Well, Andy also wanted the airplane socks and he went and got them himself.
Doug was unhappy.
I tried to appease him with UFO socks (another favorite pair) but he would have nothing to do with them so I put white socks on his feet and the UFO ones on Jo's feet.
So I drove to preschool with Andy happy in his seat, Doug pouting about not getting the socks he wanted, and Josie stripping off her shoes to admire her socks.

**Edit- when I got home this evening Doug and Andy were each wearing one airplane sock and one UFO sock.

Stats...and Milestones

Ack Statistics! I can read the tables and tell you if they are significant. However trying to explain WHY they are significant is a different story...especially when it is an assignment for class that is a "practice" assignment for the real project and the "practice" assignment is in a subject area you have no background knowledge in.

On a happier note tonight Doug picked up the magnadoodle and drew me two faces. There were eyes, a mouth, and I think a nose. He drew a circle around the bigger one. This was the first time that there was a definite thing that I could see that was more then just scribbles. So woot for reaching a new milestone.

Also, we have finally used up all of the baby shampoo from our baby showers when I was pregnant with the boys. We had four fairly large baby showers when I was pregnant with Doug & Andy and I wrote a ton of thank you notes. It was great because we got just about everything we needed and I almost forgot to go buy diapers when we ran out of the supply in the closet at around 5 months. However, we got a ton of baby shampoo and just barely purchased some more. I still have several bottles of baby lotion because I am not particularly good about remembering to put it on the kids.
We might have bought one bottle of our favorite stuff when Josie came along, but the main thing we were given when I was pregnant with her was clothes. Like 90% of the gifts we got were cute little girl clothes in sizes ranging from newborn to 12 months because everyone was thrilled that I was having a girl after having two boys.
Our shampoo supply lasted us 3.5 years, 3 children, 2 houses + an RV, and countless baths and showers.

The Clothes Horse

I think it is because I have been trying to sort out the kids' clothing to get the winter clothes in and the old summer clothes that will likely not fit next summer in a different pile, and the stuff that will fit but is crowding the drawers put up that Josie is suddenly fascinated by putting on different clothes. While I am sorting (this has been a MANY week process...life keeps interrupting me) she will pick out clothes from the piles I am working on or go and find things from her dresser or from Doug & Andy's dresser.
We have gone through outfits after outfit and had layers upon layers. It looks pretty random...especially when she decides to take a pair of underwear and pull it on her head.

Fair warning would have been nice....

I have been battling a cold for awhile. I'm pretty good at recognizing when it is time to take the kids in, but not so good about recognizing when I should go in to the doctor.
Wednesday I was running a fever and didn't recognize it until Jim told me (over the phone) that I was running a fever and should go to the doctor. Fortunately our baby-sitter was already here so off I went. I ended up on an antibiotic and she also prescribed a cold medicine to dry up my nose and stop the coughing.

Realize that for the past four years I have either been pregnant or nursing during cold and flu season and so there have only been gentle over the counter cold medicines for me. I can't actually remember if I have ever been prescribed a cold medicine before in my adult life. Here was the extent of the warnings I got about it...
Doctor: You may have trouble getting it at an outside pharmacy (one not at the student health center). It's not that it isn't safe, they just want us to prove that it actually works. (It did dry me up)
Pharmacist: It can make you dizzy so you may not want to take it when you are taking care of the kids (no mention about driving...but I guess it was on the label).

I did get a little bit of the dizziness....but I don't know a whole lot about drugs and medicine but I am pretty sure that this darn thing has a narcotic in it. How do I know?
I have had the weirdest...most vivid...most scary dreams I have ever had before. They even top my strange dreams from pregnancy. Invading aliens...I had that dream. Legions of satanic worshipers invading a college campus with only three people to battle them....I had that one too.
I'm one of those who does not watch horror films (nightmares for three months after) and the extent of my ability to control my dreams it to recognize that I AM dreaming and to tell myself to WAKE-UP.
I am back on my nice little OTC drugs today and I don't plan on taking that stuff again.

My sweet boy

I really have two sweet boys, but about twice a week Doug invites me to sleep with him. Andy does it every so often, and recently Jo used pointing to convey that she wanted me to sleep in her crib with her (not happening...I'd never move again if I tried), but Doug invites me about twice a week.
This last time that he invited me he said "Mommy you want to sleep wif me?"
I said, "No, mommy is very tired and needs to get some good sleep in her own bed."
Doug said (doing his best impression of Vanna White), "I have a nice fluffy pillow..."

Gotta give the boy credit for trying.

Civic Duty

I did my civic duty...yes, I did vote, but I also talked to the poll watcher.
The place I was voting at had a really long line. They kept coming through and calling for people with names that started with A-G or H-O. I am at the very end of the alphabet so I am used to having a clear line to the table.
When I finally got up to the door to the room where voting was actually happening, I saw that they had their lines divided into A-G, H-O, and P-Z. That meant that nearly half of the alphabet was in one line.
SO I voted and asked for a complaint card (because they were mentioned in a sign on the wall). The guy taking the ballots wasn't sure where to get them. At that point I didn't want to weave my way back up to the table (they had tables for voters to sit at, but the way they were arranged only about half of the tables were usable because the other tables were too close to the lines where you signed in and got your ballots). So I walked out...but the poll watcher lady noticed I was disgruntled and followed me out. So I had to tell her that I didn't have a problem voting, but that if something wasn't working they needed to make a change because otherwise people would drive by and see the line and might not stop to vote.
I was just really glad that the boys were in preschool so that I only had Jo strapped into a stroller, and that I actually finished in time to be able to go get the boys on time.

**Edit** Jim got through voting in 15 minutes. Even though he went at a different time of day then I did he also said that they now had a T-Z line. So perhaps I did make a difference today.

The To-Do list I wish I had

It has been one of those days when I know it could have been much worse but that there were plenty of things that could have gone much better. So here is the "To-Do" list that I wish I had:

• Eat a leisurely breakfast in bed
• Remind the maid to rotate the plants
• Watch TV and eat chocolate cake
• Have lunch at a restaurant
• Spend some time with my children, but let the nanny change the diapers
• Read a book
• Spend some time playing around on the computer
• Have a candle-light dinner with my husband after the children are in bed
• Get plenty of sleep
  

Home again, Home again

The conference was great, and fortunately the professor I was traveling with had the same level of adventurousness with food as I do so I got to eat places and try things some people might be more hesitant about. I am glad to be home. Glad to be back to my family. Glad to be back to my firm mattress. Glad to be back to my alarm clock....
The hotel we were at was nice but didn't have alarm clocks in the room. We just did a wake-up call each morning. Of course last night was the time change...and the morning we needed to be up the earliest. We asked for a wake-up call at 4:30am so that we could get showers and dressed and catch the "Super Shuttle" to get to the airport on time.
Well you guessed it...their automated wake-up call system did not "fall" back for daylight savings. We didn't realize it because I glanced at my watch but didn't note the hour hand. My traveling partner looked at her cell phone but apparently it hadn't updated yet. So we got downstairs and waited about 20 minutes for the van to come. One came and went by and didn't even pause at the door. We freaked a little and called and suddenly found out that there was a whole hour to wait.
Fortunately there was coffee and I had some things I could work on so it wasn't too bad. The downside of that is that because I live in a different time zone it really works out to me having been up since 2:30am. I think I shall head to bed now.