Now that we're safely towards the end of Tuesday, I can tell Monday, "F You, glad you're over and don't wanna see you ever again"!
After Shawn being out of town last week and the boys both having that horrible stomach virus, I was really looking forward to Monday. I was scheduled to have a furlough day on Monday. Though I was not looking forward to loosing my pay for the day, I was looking forward to having the day off to myself. Shawn was going to work and the boys were going to school. I was going to sit on my couch and listen to the silence of my man free house.
Notice the use of the word 'was' though that paragraph.
I scheduled Evan for his 18 month well baby visit for 9:00 a.m. on Monday. Thought it was a no-brainer. He needed his shots and I needed a reason for crawling out of bed before noon. Take Evan to the doctor, drop him off at school and get on with my doing of nothing. WRONG!
Sunday night, Evan starts with a runny nose, Nick with a pretty bad cough. By Monday morning, Nick's hacking bad enough that I decide to bring him with me to the doctor to have him checked out and Evan's snot has turned pale yellow. Yellow is even worse than green. How did we pass green without so much as a warning? The doctor refuses to give Evan his shots b/c, surprise, he has a sinus infection. Lovely. Here's 10 days worth of antibiotic, come back when he's done the full course and we'll give him his shots then. Yippee. Nick? He's got a cough, but nothing else that the doctor can find. They want him on the nebulizer. I explain that I can't find time to pee in the morning let alone 20 minutes to force medication. She agrees that he is old enough for an inhaler instead. Fun.
I'm able to drop the prescriptions off at the pharmacy and take Nick in to school. However, Evan is not allowed at school if he's shooting yellow snot out his nose. So much for my relaxing day. I'm now headed home with a sick baby - again. I'm tired of sick babies. Snot is better than puke, but I still don't want to be cleaning up any bodily fluids on my day of recovery. Oh well, gotta do what you gotta do. But first, I must call my husband and rant like a lunatic about how unfair it is that I lost my day off.
Back at home, antibiotics on board, Evan's in a far better mood than I expected and our day wasn't horrible. We were even brought a smile from the unexpected flower delivery from daddy (he really is a remarkable man, he should teach a class).
Now, it's the end of the day and Daddy is to pick up Nick from school. Sounds simple, right? It was right up until the truck wouldn't start. Now, half my family is stranded on the side of the road in Trenton outside my office. Shawn calls the battery truck for a jump, but that doesn't fix it. Shawn and battery guy are out in the street trying to fix the truck and, after a little over an hour, they succeed.
It's nearly 8:00 by the time Shawn and Nick are home with dinner. My 'day of recovery' was far from relaxing, but at the end of the day we were all safely in our house, curled up on the couch watching Sesame Street and laughing at how horrible the day was. At least it's over now and we're on to better days ahead.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
I've been thinking lately about the difference between knowing something as an adult and knowing something as a child and how often the very same knowledge translates so differently between the two.
For example, at some point in my childhood, someone told me that the belly button was how pregnant mommies got food and oxygen to the babies growing in their tummies. This information is more or less accurate and I knew it. However, in my mind, it translated to mean that mommies literally passed air and food through their own belly buttons into their tummies for the child. Nobody ever explained an umbilical cord to me and I never really thought about it. Now, one may ask, why would boys/men have belly buttons then. To me, it was just like nipples on men. They were just there for show and had no use whatsoever.
Nick also knows things that are totally wrong, yet somehow correct. He has explained to Shawn and I on numerous occasions that everyone starts out as a girl and, after they learn everything, they get to be boys. He will explain this as if it's scientific fact and you cannot convince him that he is wrong. I find it interesting that, in a way, he actually is absolutely correct. [The early stages of embryonic development are identified by the mother's genotype for the first several weeks. this means all embryos start out as the Mother's gender, female. If no DNA changes take place, the embryo REMAINS female. For a female embryo to become male, the Mother's body promotes a protein called the H-Y antigen, changing the X chromosome to a Y chromosome. Thus, the male embryo is created from the female embryo. - www.forandagainst.com] Now, what he knows and what actual is are totally different, but completely the same. I can't help but wonder where he gets his info from. Fascinating.
I know that Nick seems to already be smarter than I am and I know that, once he is able to utilize those smarts, we're all in for one hell of a ride. I also know that I'm going to have a blast hearing all about all the things that my children know and, on occasion, teaching them how wrong they are about things they know are right.
For example, at some point in my childhood, someone told me that the belly button was how pregnant mommies got food and oxygen to the babies growing in their tummies. This information is more or less accurate and I knew it. However, in my mind, it translated to mean that mommies literally passed air and food through their own belly buttons into their tummies for the child. Nobody ever explained an umbilical cord to me and I never really thought about it. Now, one may ask, why would boys/men have belly buttons then. To me, it was just like nipples on men. They were just there for show and had no use whatsoever.
Nick also knows things that are totally wrong, yet somehow correct. He has explained to Shawn and I on numerous occasions that everyone starts out as a girl and, after they learn everything, they get to be boys. He will explain this as if it's scientific fact and you cannot convince him that he is wrong. I find it interesting that, in a way, he actually is absolutely correct. [The early stages of embryonic development are identified by the mother's genotype for the first several weeks. this means all embryos start out as the Mother's gender, female. If no DNA changes take place, the embryo REMAINS female. For a female embryo to become male, the Mother's body promotes a protein called the H-Y antigen, changing the X chromosome to a Y chromosome. Thus, the male embryo is created from the female embryo. - www.forandagainst.com] Now, what he knows and what actual is are totally different, but completely the same. I can't help but wonder where he gets his info from. Fascinating.
I know that Nick seems to already be smarter than I am and I know that, once he is able to utilize those smarts, we're all in for one hell of a ride. I also know that I'm going to have a blast hearing all about all the things that my children know and, on occasion, teaching them how wrong they are about things they know are right.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
I Survived!!!
Shawn is on his way home from his Vista testing and should be here within the next hour or two. I cannot wait for him to be here. We have missed him very much. Our final day without Daddy was far less eventful than the previous days. The children slept mostly through the night, Evan did wake up once, but it was before I got to bed, so I don't think that counts. They didn't wake me up until after 7:00 and were both in good moods this morning. We had a good day at school/ work and got home unscathed from our day at the office. I was able to cook dinner, clean up the living room, dining room and kitchen, feed the kids, take them for a walk/scooter ride, have an impromptu play date with dear friends, bathe the boys and get them off to bed. I'm currently sitting on my couch with a king size pack of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a Seagrams Escapes, Tuesday's General Hospital playing in the background, as a reward for surviving the week.
I believe that we managed to make it through the last couple of days without too many melt-downs caused by Shawn's absence. I totally expected Nick to have a hard time, but was unprepared for Evan to even really notice. Not because he doesn't love his Daddy, but because he's so young, I thought Shawn would fall victim to 'out of sight, out of mind' like before Evan learned of object permanence or something. I underestimated how much Evan would miss his Daddy. The last 2 nights, as we came in from work, Evan would call out, "Da Da, Da Da" while looking for Shawn. More moving than that, last night I was carrying Evan upstairs for one thing or another. As we walked past a picture of Nick and Shawn, Evan reached over and grabbed at it, nearly pulling it off the wall. I stopped and let him look at it for a minute. He leaned forward and kissed the picture of Shawn. Too cute!
My husband has returned home so I'm off to hear all about his trip (and to finish my drink). I've been told that he will not be going to Sweden and, I'll admit, a large part of me is glad he won't be leaving us again anytime soon! I have learned that I am perfectly capable of caring for the house, pets and kids on my own, but I also know that we're all cared for more when Shawn is home.
On a side note, for the first time since starting this blog, I feel like Doogie Houser - how odd! [backspace, backspace, backspace, backspace... interesting!]
I believe that we managed to make it through the last couple of days without too many melt-downs caused by Shawn's absence. I totally expected Nick to have a hard time, but was unprepared for Evan to even really notice. Not because he doesn't love his Daddy, but because he's so young, I thought Shawn would fall victim to 'out of sight, out of mind' like before Evan learned of object permanence or something. I underestimated how much Evan would miss his Daddy. The last 2 nights, as we came in from work, Evan would call out, "Da Da, Da Da" while looking for Shawn. More moving than that, last night I was carrying Evan upstairs for one thing or another. As we walked past a picture of Nick and Shawn, Evan reached over and grabbed at it, nearly pulling it off the wall. I stopped and let him look at it for a minute. He leaned forward and kissed the picture of Shawn. Too cute!
My husband has returned home so I'm off to hear all about his trip (and to finish my drink). I've been told that he will not be going to Sweden and, I'll admit, a large part of me is glad he won't be leaving us again anytime soon! I have learned that I am perfectly capable of caring for the house, pets and kids on my own, but I also know that we're all cared for more when Shawn is home.
On a side note, for the first time since starting this blog, I feel like Doogie Houser - how odd! [backspace, backspace, backspace, backspace... interesting!]
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
His Loss... is my gain?
Being out of town Shawn has missed out on a few family 'moments' that I would like to memorialize for him. I will list them in the order in which they happened so that he (and you) can feel as though he experienced them with us as he reads through this post.
Tuesday
There were only really 2 things that happened on Tuesday that I feel are post-worthy. First, after school the boys and I were hanging out in our living room with Mom-Mom, who was gracious enough to come home from the mountains early (she claims for Pop-Pop's chiropractor appointment, but I believe it was really to help me with the boys), blowing bubbles and having a grand old time. When I put the bubbles away Evan protested the way that Evan typically does. He threw a temper tantrum. This was a minor tantrum, maybe a .5 on the Evan- Richter scale. I did as advised in every parenting article I've ever read - I ignored him. He sat on the floor giving me his best Undertaker impersonation saying "Bu Ba, Bu Ba" over and over again. I believe this is his way of saying bubble. After a couple minutes, I pay more attention to his 'tantrum' and notice that he's no longer looking like the Undertaker, but more like someone who's quite uncomfortable. He's sitting on the floor, grabbing his own crotch, and now I recognize that he's saying "Ba Ba, Ba Ba", which is his word for potty (don't ask me why, I have no idea). I'm thinking that there's no way he's telling me he has to go potty, but what the hell, let's give it a go. I grab the training potty that's in the living room, remove his pants but keep the diaper on (remember, this boy's had a terrible stomach virus, there's no telling when what might come out of where on him) and plop him on the potty. His facial expression changes to one of relief when he lets out an audible, horrific-smelling fart! Now, as an adult I sometimes fear that a simple fart may not be just a simple fart, so I can totally understand why my toddler could have been confused by the sensation. I'm just beyond excited that he had his wits about him enough to know to tell me he had to go 'ba ba' and waited until he was on the potty to do so. I will admit, as happy as I am that he's making progress towards potty training, I'm very relieved that he was content to go in his diaper when he finally did more than fart - it was horrendous!
After Evan was safely tucked into bed, it was time for me to get Nick ready for bed too. This is normally Shawn's job, so things are drawn out for Mommy because she doesn't know the routine as well as Daddy. I take him up to go potty, eat his vitamin, brush his teeth and get into bed. We then call Daddy so that he can read Nick 'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom' over the phone. They chat for a couple of minutes and then disconnect. I'm thinking this is going really smoothly until I notice the tears slowly streaming down Nick's cheek. You can tell he's trying to not cry, but the salty drops are betraying him. I ask him what's wrong and he tells me that he's upset because "he loves Daddy so much that he wishes he could be there next to him". I tell him that Daddy misses him too and that he'll be home in just a couple of days. Nick then tells me that if he misses Daddy this much now, it'll be so much worse when Daddy dies. WTF? Why is my 4-year-old thinking about his Daddy's death?!?!?! I tried to tell him that Mommy and Daddy will do everything they can to live for a very long time, that we both want to see him and his brother grow up and have children of their own and maybe even get to see his children have children. After a brief aside where Nick explained to me that he and Evan cannot 'have' children of their own because they're both boys (I swear, he did tell me that), he reiterated how sad he will be when either of us dies and that he wishes we could live forever. I told him that we can only live as long as our bodies will last us. I also told him that Mommy believes that, after she dies, her soul will be waiting for him in Heaven and that we'll meet up again. Of course this lead to a line of questioning about what a soul is. Trying to keep in mind that I'm talking to a 4-year-old, I tell him that a person's soul is the part of them that makes them who they are on the inside. He then confirms, "so the soul is the part that God puts into the baby when it's growing in the Mommy's tummy?" Wow, yeah Nick, that's pretty accurate. Where did he learn this stuff from? This, of course, lead into a brief conversation about babies growing in a Mommy's belly, how long they have to live in there for, when they start to be alive (why not ask me which came first, the chicken or the egg, might have been easier to discuss at this point) and what happens if a baby comes out too soon. I realize that he's just trying to delay going to sleep, so I give him the quickest, simplest answers to these questions. As I think we're finished and I'm about to get up and leave the room, he tells me he has one more question, "with Daddy out of town, who's going to protect us if bad guys get into our house?" Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I tell him that no bad guys are going to get into our house, but that if they do, the doggies will bark and scare them off, if that doesn't work, mommy will come in and protect him and his brother. I think it's best to not discuss the pistol I made Shawn leave for me when I thought of the same question that started this very conversation. Nick tells me that he wants me to protect them with Daddy's sword if I have to. I agreed, kiss him goodnight, wonder when he got so smart and leave the room. Moments later he's running downstairs telling me that he's scared still. I go back into his room, tuck him back into bed, hand him his toy sword from the circus and tell him that he can protect us all if he needs to. He smiles, closes his eyes and goes to sleep.
Wednesday
As if I haven't had enough of this by now, I wake up at 1:30 in the morning to Evan crying. I get up and go into his room. Out of habit after 5 days of virus in our home, I take him directly into the bathroom. Seconds after I get into the bathroom, Evan pukes all over my right shoulder, the floor, the bathmat that I just put back after washing it from the last time it got puked on, the towels and even the door. Ugh, this time I don't have Shawn to pass him off to. I clean him up, get him back to sleep and put him back into his crib. Clean myself up; change my clothes; pile the dirty clothes, bathmat and towels in the tub for laundering tomorrow; scrub the bathroom floor, hallway carpet and door and finally climb back into bed. It's now nearly 2:30 a.m. and I'm exhausted. I then lay in bed wondering what the chances are of someone breaking into the house and me getting the pistol and both kids into Nick's room where the escape ladder is stored and how likely it would be that I would need to shoot a burglar in front of my kids. Thanks Nick, I didn't need to think of such things while laying in bed alone.
Luckily, the day was pretty non-eventful, but I had another notable bed-time routine with Nick. We did the bathroom stuff without incident, talked to Daddy and had him read us out story and hung up without tears. The conversation tonight after hanging up with Daddy was much more positive than the previous night. Before I leave the room, I tell Nick that it's time for us to say our prayers. We recite 'Now I lay me' and I kiss Nick goodnight. He then tells me that he wants to say another prayer. I tell him to go ahead. I'm curious because I'm not aware of any other prayers he knows. He then simply says, "Thank you God for all the beautiful seasons. Your turn Mommy". I respond in turn, "Thank you God for my beautiful family". He continues to thank God for things he is thankful for and finishes with "Thank you God for loving us". I silently thank God for giving me such a wonderful son and ask that He help me to not screw him up too badly in my attempt at raising him.
Shawn is expected home in roughly 24-hours. I'm grateful that 8 of those hours will go by quickly because I'm swamped at work making up for 3 days of absence. I cannot wait to be woken up by the movement I'll feel as he sneaks into bed tomorrow night and just feel secure again knowing that my soul mate is back where he belongs - by my side.
Tuesday
There were only really 2 things that happened on Tuesday that I feel are post-worthy. First, after school the boys and I were hanging out in our living room with Mom-Mom, who was gracious enough to come home from the mountains early (she claims for Pop-Pop's chiropractor appointment, but I believe it was really to help me with the boys), blowing bubbles and having a grand old time. When I put the bubbles away Evan protested the way that Evan typically does. He threw a temper tantrum. This was a minor tantrum, maybe a .5 on the Evan- Richter scale. I did as advised in every parenting article I've ever read - I ignored him. He sat on the floor giving me his best Undertaker impersonation saying "Bu Ba, Bu Ba" over and over again. I believe this is his way of saying bubble. After a couple minutes, I pay more attention to his 'tantrum' and notice that he's no longer looking like the Undertaker, but more like someone who's quite uncomfortable. He's sitting on the floor, grabbing his own crotch, and now I recognize that he's saying "Ba Ba, Ba Ba", which is his word for potty (don't ask me why, I have no idea). I'm thinking that there's no way he's telling me he has to go potty, but what the hell, let's give it a go. I grab the training potty that's in the living room, remove his pants but keep the diaper on (remember, this boy's had a terrible stomach virus, there's no telling when what might come out of where on him) and plop him on the potty. His facial expression changes to one of relief when he lets out an audible, horrific-smelling fart! Now, as an adult I sometimes fear that a simple fart may not be just a simple fart, so I can totally understand why my toddler could have been confused by the sensation. I'm just beyond excited that he had his wits about him enough to know to tell me he had to go 'ba ba' and waited until he was on the potty to do so. I will admit, as happy as I am that he's making progress towards potty training, I'm very relieved that he was content to go in his diaper when he finally did more than fart - it was horrendous!
After Evan was safely tucked into bed, it was time for me to get Nick ready for bed too. This is normally Shawn's job, so things are drawn out for Mommy because she doesn't know the routine as well as Daddy. I take him up to go potty, eat his vitamin, brush his teeth and get into bed. We then call Daddy so that he can read Nick 'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom' over the phone. They chat for a couple of minutes and then disconnect. I'm thinking this is going really smoothly until I notice the tears slowly streaming down Nick's cheek. You can tell he's trying to not cry, but the salty drops are betraying him. I ask him what's wrong and he tells me that he's upset because "he loves Daddy so much that he wishes he could be there next to him". I tell him that Daddy misses him too and that he'll be home in just a couple of days. Nick then tells me that if he misses Daddy this much now, it'll be so much worse when Daddy dies. WTF? Why is my 4-year-old thinking about his Daddy's death?!?!?! I tried to tell him that Mommy and Daddy will do everything they can to live for a very long time, that we both want to see him and his brother grow up and have children of their own and maybe even get to see his children have children. After a brief aside where Nick explained to me that he and Evan cannot 'have' children of their own because they're both boys (I swear, he did tell me that), he reiterated how sad he will be when either of us dies and that he wishes we could live forever. I told him that we can only live as long as our bodies will last us. I also told him that Mommy believes that, after she dies, her soul will be waiting for him in Heaven and that we'll meet up again. Of course this lead to a line of questioning about what a soul is. Trying to keep in mind that I'm talking to a 4-year-old, I tell him that a person's soul is the part of them that makes them who they are on the inside. He then confirms, "so the soul is the part that God puts into the baby when it's growing in the Mommy's tummy?" Wow, yeah Nick, that's pretty accurate. Where did he learn this stuff from? This, of course, lead into a brief conversation about babies growing in a Mommy's belly, how long they have to live in there for, when they start to be alive (why not ask me which came first, the chicken or the egg, might have been easier to discuss at this point) and what happens if a baby comes out too soon. I realize that he's just trying to delay going to sleep, so I give him the quickest, simplest answers to these questions. As I think we're finished and I'm about to get up and leave the room, he tells me he has one more question, "with Daddy out of town, who's going to protect us if bad guys get into our house?" Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I tell him that no bad guys are going to get into our house, but that if they do, the doggies will bark and scare them off, if that doesn't work, mommy will come in and protect him and his brother. I think it's best to not discuss the pistol I made Shawn leave for me when I thought of the same question that started this very conversation. Nick tells me that he wants me to protect them with Daddy's sword if I have to. I agreed, kiss him goodnight, wonder when he got so smart and leave the room. Moments later he's running downstairs telling me that he's scared still. I go back into his room, tuck him back into bed, hand him his toy sword from the circus and tell him that he can protect us all if he needs to. He smiles, closes his eyes and goes to sleep.
Wednesday
As if I haven't had enough of this by now, I wake up at 1:30 in the morning to Evan crying. I get up and go into his room. Out of habit after 5 days of virus in our home, I take him directly into the bathroom. Seconds after I get into the bathroom, Evan pukes all over my right shoulder, the floor, the bathmat that I just put back after washing it from the last time it got puked on, the towels and even the door. Ugh, this time I don't have Shawn to pass him off to. I clean him up, get him back to sleep and put him back into his crib. Clean myself up; change my clothes; pile the dirty clothes, bathmat and towels in the tub for laundering tomorrow; scrub the bathroom floor, hallway carpet and door and finally climb back into bed. It's now nearly 2:30 a.m. and I'm exhausted. I then lay in bed wondering what the chances are of someone breaking into the house and me getting the pistol and both kids into Nick's room where the escape ladder is stored and how likely it would be that I would need to shoot a burglar in front of my kids. Thanks Nick, I didn't need to think of such things while laying in bed alone.
Luckily, the day was pretty non-eventful, but I had another notable bed-time routine with Nick. We did the bathroom stuff without incident, talked to Daddy and had him read us out story and hung up without tears. The conversation tonight after hanging up with Daddy was much more positive than the previous night. Before I leave the room, I tell Nick that it's time for us to say our prayers. We recite 'Now I lay me' and I kiss Nick goodnight. He then tells me that he wants to say another prayer. I tell him to go ahead. I'm curious because I'm not aware of any other prayers he knows. He then simply says, "Thank you God for all the beautiful seasons. Your turn Mommy". I respond in turn, "Thank you God for my beautiful family". He continues to thank God for things he is thankful for and finishes with "Thank you God for loving us". I silently thank God for giving me such a wonderful son and ask that He help me to not screw him up too badly in my attempt at raising him.
Shawn is expected home in roughly 24-hours. I'm grateful that 8 of those hours will go by quickly because I'm swamped at work making up for 3 days of absence. I cannot wait to be woken up by the movement I'll feel as he sneaks into bed tomorrow night and just feel secure again knowing that my soul mate is back where he belongs - by my side.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Out of the Mouths of Babes
Last Friday at 2:00 a.m. Shawn and I are awakened by the shrill screams of our youngest child. He may look nothing like me, but he sounds just like young Jessica. High pitched, loud screams that humans should not be capable of making. This was what startled us both out of bed on Friday morning. I go in to check on Evan to find that he has thrown up all over himself and his crib. Lovely! I scoop him up, change his clothes and hand him off to Shawn so that I can clean up his crib. By morning, we've run through all of the sheets that fit his crib mattress and I'm out of nightshirts.
I get Nick ready and off to school, but I must stay home with the baby. Luckily, it seems it was only a 12-hour virus, as he's done throwing up by mid-day. He's still not eating much, but he's acting more like himself. I find out that Evan is a super cuddle bug when he's not feeling well.
Saturday Evan is perfectly fine and starting to eat more. I'm feeling very lucky that we were able to keep the virus in check and that the kids will be healthy while Shawn's away for his Vista testing.
Sunday I realize I was overly confident in my abilities to kill a virus. While I was cooking dinner, Shawn was out in the yard playing with the boys. Out of the blue, Nick got sick. He really didn't seem any worse for wear, so I'm thinking he might have just gotten sick because he was running around out in the heat. We ate dinner without incident and even went for a family bike ride afterwards. On the way home from the bike ride, we stopped at the park. I knew something was up when Nick said he didn't want to play at the park, that he wanted to go home.
We got home and I sent the boys to the bathroom for their bath before bed. Evan was undressed and in the water already. I was getting Nick undressed when I noticed he took on an almost grayish color. I no sooner said to him, "If you're going to throw up, make sure to do it in the potty," when he threw up all over me!!! Well, at least we're in the bathroom - easy enough to clean up. Clean the baby, get him out of tub and send him downstairs with Shawn; strip my clothes off, Nick's clothes off, the bath mat and towels that were in the line of fire; then bathe me and Nick. Get us into clean clothes and set Nick up with a bucket. Thank God that Nick's old enough to know how to use a bucket.
Monday, 2:00 a.m. (again), Evan is back up and crying. I go in and hear this gurgle in his belly. I'm smart enough to go into the bathroom just in case. As I cross the threshold into the bathroom, Evan pukes all over me. Why, oh why, have I been puked on at least a dozen times in the last 3 days?!?!?! I call into Shawn and have him come and help with the middle of the night clean-up again.
Here it is Tuesday and both boys are back in school. I, however, am home because I've finally succumb to the nearly impossible to kill virus that has attacked my family. Though I'm home sick, I've taken the opportunity to scrub my house, open all the windows and do tons of laundry in an attempt to keep us from passing this on any further.
Hopefully our family is on the mend and will not suffer another round of vomiting, especially since Shawn's out of town until late Thursday night/Friday morning. Shawn seems to have lucked out - not only did he manage to not get the virus, he also go to leave prior to the post-virus house cleaning and will come home to a wife who must've lost at least 5 pounds from not eating in 2 days!
I get Nick ready and off to school, but I must stay home with the baby. Luckily, it seems it was only a 12-hour virus, as he's done throwing up by mid-day. He's still not eating much, but he's acting more like himself. I find out that Evan is a super cuddle bug when he's not feeling well.
Saturday Evan is perfectly fine and starting to eat more. I'm feeling very lucky that we were able to keep the virus in check and that the kids will be healthy while Shawn's away for his Vista testing.
Sunday I realize I was overly confident in my abilities to kill a virus. While I was cooking dinner, Shawn was out in the yard playing with the boys. Out of the blue, Nick got sick. He really didn't seem any worse for wear, so I'm thinking he might have just gotten sick because he was running around out in the heat. We ate dinner without incident and even went for a family bike ride afterwards. On the way home from the bike ride, we stopped at the park. I knew something was up when Nick said he didn't want to play at the park, that he wanted to go home.
We got home and I sent the boys to the bathroom for their bath before bed. Evan was undressed and in the water already. I was getting Nick undressed when I noticed he took on an almost grayish color. I no sooner said to him, "If you're going to throw up, make sure to do it in the potty," when he threw up all over me!!! Well, at least we're in the bathroom - easy enough to clean up. Clean the baby, get him out of tub and send him downstairs with Shawn; strip my clothes off, Nick's clothes off, the bath mat and towels that were in the line of fire; then bathe me and Nick. Get us into clean clothes and set Nick up with a bucket. Thank God that Nick's old enough to know how to use a bucket.
Monday, 2:00 a.m. (again), Evan is back up and crying. I go in and hear this gurgle in his belly. I'm smart enough to go into the bathroom just in case. As I cross the threshold into the bathroom, Evan pukes all over me. Why, oh why, have I been puked on at least a dozen times in the last 3 days?!?!?! I call into Shawn and have him come and help with the middle of the night clean-up again.
Here it is Tuesday and both boys are back in school. I, however, am home because I've finally succumb to the nearly impossible to kill virus that has attacked my family. Though I'm home sick, I've taken the opportunity to scrub my house, open all the windows and do tons of laundry in an attempt to keep us from passing this on any further.
Hopefully our family is on the mend and will not suffer another round of vomiting, especially since Shawn's out of town until late Thursday night/Friday morning. Shawn seems to have lucked out - not only did he manage to not get the virus, he also go to leave prior to the post-virus house cleaning and will come home to a wife who must've lost at least 5 pounds from not eating in 2 days!
I, I will Survive
This week I am, more or less, flying solo. I will be on my own to feed, clothe, bathe, play with, transport, entertain and put to bed the children. I am looking at this as a test. A test of my parenting abilities as well as my patience. I'm sure I'll pass the parenting test, the patience test I'm not as sure about.
Shawn has gone out of town on a business trip. One would think there's no travel involved in automotive service, but one would be wrong - at least when it comes to Volvo techs. Shawn has been participating in Vista training/testing. I cannot remember what Vista stands for, but when Shawn first got hired at Volvo, they sent him for a week-long training seminar up in Rockly, New Jersey. He's gone back several times since then for continuing education and was recently invited to participate in the annual technician competition. Thus far, he's done really well. He is 1 of 48 techs across the country that made it to the finals! I'm very proud of him! The top ranked 19 techs win a free trip to Sweden to go to the Volvo Plant. As much as I wish him luck and hope he comes in number 1, I am going to miss the crap out of him while he's gone.
What's quite entertaining to me is that there is a dress code for some of the week's events. Shawn came home with an itinerary and a horrified look asking me what 'business casual' meant. Then he pointed out the part about the awards banquet where a jacket and tie are required. Shawn didn't even wear a tie to our wedding and doesn't own a suit. We purchased Shawn's first adult suit this past weekend. He looks great in it! I'm quite jealous that I will not be on his arm when he goes to this banquet. He left at about noon today and I was missing him by 12:15. There's a reception for all the competitors this evening. Then 2 days of testing before the awards banquet Thursday night. He won't be home until midnight or later on Thursday.
I planned a menu of simple to cook meals, did all the laundry and cleaned up as much as possible, so I'll only really have the bare minimum to do while home alone with the boys. I'm not worried about any of the week's tasks except for putting the boys to bed and being the only one to get up with Evan in the middle of the night. I will admit, I'm also a bit paranoid about being the only adult in the house. I'm jumpy when Shawn's here - in the last 3 hours I almost called the police on the Verizon guy who was sitting in a van outside for an extremely long time, took a Snapple bottle with me as a weapon to check out the noise in the playroom and jumped out of my skin when the wind blew the bedroom door shut upstairs. I cannot imagine how bad I'm going to be tonight after the kids go to bed.
Evan's too little to really know what's going on. I'm sure he'll notice that daddy's not here tonight, but telling him ahead of time means nothing to him. Nick, on the other hand, seems terrified of being home with only mommy. To make things more normal for him, Shawn took one of the 2 copies of 'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom' with him so he can read it to Nick over the phone tonight. Nick can flip through the copy here while Shawn reads from the other copy. I'm sure that after being allowed to stay up late tonight so I can get Evan to bed, he'll be more willing to enjoy parts of our special week together and less likely to freak out about Daddy being out of town.
It's been 3 hours since Shawn left, the boys are in school and I'm sitting on the couch missing Shawn already. I will be going to get the kids from school in about 2 hours and will then be too busy to miss him. In the mean time, I'm trying my best to enjoy the peace and quite of my empty house.
Shawn has gone out of town on a business trip. One would think there's no travel involved in automotive service, but one would be wrong - at least when it comes to Volvo techs. Shawn has been participating in Vista training/testing. I cannot remember what Vista stands for, but when Shawn first got hired at Volvo, they sent him for a week-long training seminar up in Rockly, New Jersey. He's gone back several times since then for continuing education and was recently invited to participate in the annual technician competition. Thus far, he's done really well. He is 1 of 48 techs across the country that made it to the finals! I'm very proud of him! The top ranked 19 techs win a free trip to Sweden to go to the Volvo Plant. As much as I wish him luck and hope he comes in number 1, I am going to miss the crap out of him while he's gone.
What's quite entertaining to me is that there is a dress code for some of the week's events. Shawn came home with an itinerary and a horrified look asking me what 'business casual' meant. Then he pointed out the part about the awards banquet where a jacket and tie are required. Shawn didn't even wear a tie to our wedding and doesn't own a suit. We purchased Shawn's first adult suit this past weekend. He looks great in it! I'm quite jealous that I will not be on his arm when he goes to this banquet. He left at about noon today and I was missing him by 12:15. There's a reception for all the competitors this evening. Then 2 days of testing before the awards banquet Thursday night. He won't be home until midnight or later on Thursday.
I planned a menu of simple to cook meals, did all the laundry and cleaned up as much as possible, so I'll only really have the bare minimum to do while home alone with the boys. I'm not worried about any of the week's tasks except for putting the boys to bed and being the only one to get up with Evan in the middle of the night. I will admit, I'm also a bit paranoid about being the only adult in the house. I'm jumpy when Shawn's here - in the last 3 hours I almost called the police on the Verizon guy who was sitting in a van outside for an extremely long time, took a Snapple bottle with me as a weapon to check out the noise in the playroom and jumped out of my skin when the wind blew the bedroom door shut upstairs. I cannot imagine how bad I'm going to be tonight after the kids go to bed.
Evan's too little to really know what's going on. I'm sure he'll notice that daddy's not here tonight, but telling him ahead of time means nothing to him. Nick, on the other hand, seems terrified of being home with only mommy. To make things more normal for him, Shawn took one of the 2 copies of 'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom' with him so he can read it to Nick over the phone tonight. Nick can flip through the copy here while Shawn reads from the other copy. I'm sure that after being allowed to stay up late tonight so I can get Evan to bed, he'll be more willing to enjoy parts of our special week together and less likely to freak out about Daddy being out of town.
It's been 3 hours since Shawn left, the boys are in school and I'm sitting on the couch missing Shawn already. I will be going to get the kids from school in about 2 hours and will then be too busy to miss him. In the mean time, I'm trying my best to enjoy the peace and quite of my empty house.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Nick's First Girlfriend
My 4-year-old has a girlfriend. I hear stories of other preschoolers having boy/girl friends all the time, but I honestly think it's different for Nick. He's had the same girlfriend, we'll refer to her as B, for over a year now! I find this fascinating. My preschooler is able to commit better than many adult men. I wonder if this is due to the lack of hormones at this age? It does require that he overcome the short attention span though. They, for whatever reason, have not grown bored with each other and seem to have a very strong (I hesitate to use the word, but I must) relationship.
Nick and B go to school together, for now anyway. She's a year older than he is and will be heading off to the big K in September, but for now, they see each other in school every weekday. I work directly across from her mother, so we are friends outside of school/work as well, which will come in handy should they remain as close as they currently are once they don't see each other every day.
I think this little romance is adorable! They hold hands as we leave the building and must hug and kiss (on the cheek only - at B's insistence) before we part ways in the parking lot. Nick's even gone as far as to demand that I call B from the car moments after we've parted ways because he forgot to tell her that he loved her. My little man even brought her a rose for her 5th birthday last month!
Even if this particular romance doesn't last forever, I'm very proud of the fact that my little man seems to have his heart in the right place when it comes to romantic relationships. So long as he continues to love with all he has and stays as loyal to those that he chooses to love as he is now, he will make someone very, very happy one day!
Until then, I will continue to enjoy the innocence of my son's first love and I pray that he is not heartbroken when she goes off to school in the fall.
Nick and B go to school together, for now anyway. She's a year older than he is and will be heading off to the big K in September, but for now, they see each other in school every weekday. I work directly across from her mother, so we are friends outside of school/work as well, which will come in handy should they remain as close as they currently are once they don't see each other every day.
I think this little romance is adorable! They hold hands as we leave the building and must hug and kiss (on the cheek only - at B's insistence) before we part ways in the parking lot. Nick's even gone as far as to demand that I call B from the car moments after we've parted ways because he forgot to tell her that he loved her. My little man even brought her a rose for her 5th birthday last month!
Even if this particular romance doesn't last forever, I'm very proud of the fact that my little man seems to have his heart in the right place when it comes to romantic relationships. So long as he continues to love with all he has and stays as loyal to those that he chooses to love as he is now, he will make someone very, very happy one day!
Until then, I will continue to enjoy the innocence of my son's first love and I pray that he is not heartbroken when she goes off to school in the fall.
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