Essential Oils

My last post (Believe) leads me right into this one...

I'm a pretty big skeptic. I don't believe a lot of things. I don't believe in ghosts, I don't believe in religion, I don't believe most things unless they are confirmed in multiple places by independent unbiased sources. Which is why it took me so long to look into Essential Oils. A couple of friends of mine have been selling them (visit Essentially Happy Living to buy yours) for a while now, but I resisted. Until this winter from hell when I decided I was ready to try anything.

I still believe in modern medicine. I still believe in vaccines. But I believe in Essential Oils now too.

My own personal evidence:

Over the last couple of years whenever I've gotten a headache Tylenol wouldn't work. The only thing that did was Naproxen Sodium, which is not great for kidneys. I'm not talking migraines, just regular headaches. Over the last couple of weeks when I had a headache I used a blend I made of lavender, peppermint & frankincense. The first time it did not get rid of my headache BUT when I took Tylenol it did. Since then if I use it as soon as I feel something I don't even have to take the Tylenol. Once again, these are your run of the mill headaches, not migraines. I haven't had one of those in a long time.

Last weekend my throat started to hurt. I gargled with salt water and oregano oil twice and it went away and never developed into anything. It was gross and I think I burned my upper lip a little, but I just put lavender oil on that and it's all good. 

I stopped taking my allergy pills and started sneezing again (yes, year-round allergies, joy). I use a blend I made of lavender, peppermint and lemon every day now. Sometimes I'll use a stronger blend  called Breathe. No more problems.

The Princess also uses the same allergy blend every day. At night I put Breathe on her chest and in a diffuser in her room and I haven't heard her snore. She was on allergy pills and a nose spray and STILL snored. 

In addition to these medical benefits to oils, there are also emotional ones. Now, here is where my skeptical nature has a hard time. I'm not sure I believe that rubbing oils can help emotions on a cellular level. But I do believe that smelling uplifting oils can help. And I am a HUGE believer in the power of the mind, the power of positive thinking. If my kids believe using oils can help them snap out of a bad mood, I don't care if it works on a cellular level or not. If they believe, it'll work. I made the Princess a Be Happy blend in her own roller bottle. When she feels like she's losing control, she can use it. She hasn't had to yet. When she gets going with a tantrum there is no stopping her. No logic. No threats. She needs to get herself out of it and this is a tool to help her do that. All she has to do is believe it will work. At least, that's my theory. Since I made her the blend she hasn't had any out of control tantrums. Maybe it's working already.

I've been using a diffuser in my room at night as well and I have been sleeping much better. No more coughing, fewer wake-ups. No more feeling like I will never fall asleep.

It may have taken me a while, but I'm a believer now. If you're interested in learning more about Essential Oils, visit my friend's website: http://thehappyrunner.blogspot.com/p/essential-oils.html . She'll make a believer out of you too.

January stats

Running and Biking

I had every intention of getting into a good routine this month and really upping my running and biking miles. 

You know what they say about intentions right?

It's not entirely my fault. I started out the month sick and I ended the month sick. And someone was sick in the middle. In fact, someone has been sick in one way or another since November. I've just gotten my first delivery of Essential Oils and am getting some diffusers soon so I am hoping to stop the sickness. I'll let you know how it works out. I am a natural skeptic, but I will say that during LightRunner's illness I rubbed some oils on his feet and never once had to give him tylenol or ibuprofen. So there's that. I thought I'd do something nice and take the girls to the movies at the mall and I was rewarded with the flu. I didn't go to the doctor and get diagnosed. But I haven't been that sick in 16 years. I was in bed for 16 hours. That does not happen. Ever. It knocked me off my feet, literally. I missed runs, biking, cross training. That big ol' gap in the graph up there is my flu week. I did nothing but sit on the couch and watch Thomas the Tank Engine. I couldn't even focus enough to read. It sucked. 

It's also been wicked cold and snowy. You know, winter. Bah, winter. My long runs have not been long. Whine, whine, whine. The highlight was being able to do a couple of runs with friends. I really need to do that more often.

January was not the best. But onward and upward right?

Stats

Mileage: 40.7 miles

Runs: 11

Races: 0

Bike: 54 miles

Rides: 6

Crosstraining: 6 days. I think.

February will be better. 

February Wrappin' Up & Catchin' Up

I am not sorry to see February go. Although it's the shortest month, it was quite full... full of coughing and snot and fevers and vomiting and general blech. Buh-bye February! Here's to a healthy March!

Lightrunner was the last to catch the February break virus. His fever broke a few days ago and his coughing is not nearly as bad as it was. He seems to be back to his routine instead of nursing and sleeping nonstop. When I took him for his sick visit on Monday he gained a whole pound since his last checkup. I didn't get to see our pediatrician, but I haven't heard from her so I'm assuming that was enough. As long as he's going up, it doesn't quite matter how much. He's eaten green beans (the first time was with green beans I had frozen from my garden!) and today he had peaches. I bought an avodaco, again to fatten up one of my kids, but he got sick and wasn't eating anything. I didn't want it to go bad so I mashed it up and froze it in ice cube trays. Hopefully it'll be okay when we try it! 

I'm trying to catch up now with all the crap I couldn't do the last couple of weeks. Lots of laundry, cleaning, blog reviews and assorted "to do's". I kind of always feel like I'm catching up though... so maybe this is just how it is. I will never get ahead. Like Sisyphus I keep rolling that rock of laundry up the damn hill and it keeps rolling back down on me. 

February sucked as far as exercise goes. If I wasn't helping a sick kid, I was helping a sick me. We literally started the month sick and ended it sick. But I did manage to run more miles than I have since I got back to it, which is not bad when you remember it's the shortest month!

Stats:
Mileage: 34.3
Runs: 11
Cross Training Days: 8
Cross Training Sessions: 14

I discovered that my first goal race is a month earlier than I had planned. Which obviously has pushed training earlier too. So I've "officially" started although this week has been less than stellar. But today is a new day, new month, and time to get down to brass tacks. 

My February Vacation

My February Vacation

An Essay

It started off well enough on Friday with a rare date night. Dinner, movies, dessert. Saturday was spent with my sister and her family just playing at home and thinking how we need to see each other more often. Sunday Chewie took a nap. This doesn't happen. The first shoe had dropped.

We went out to dinner with my sister and when we got home Chewie threw up. She went to bed and threw up some more. I cancelled our Monday playdate. Monday morning she was running around playing and fine. My sister went home and Vader went to the woods to cut down a tree. In the afternoon Chewie took a turn for the worse and got another fever and I think she may have thrown up again so I decided to call the doctor (since Vader was home, it would be the best day to go). I called at 3:15 but the first appointment they had was 5:25. Chewie and I went, she had a 102.3 fever there, they checked her urine because of big sister's history, swabbed her for strep, checked her ears, and all was negative. They heard a little wheezing in her lungs but by this time it was damn near 7 pm so we were sent home with instructions to take her for a chest x-ray if she had a fever on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning she was running around fine. I was smart enough to do my intervals.  Tuesday afternoon she was laying on the couch with a fever and threw up again. The doc called just as I was cleaning out the garbage pail and said take her for a chest x-ray, so I packed up all 4 kids and we met Vader there and Chewie had her x-ray. No pneumonia, just a virus. An expensive virus. We went home, Chewie slept on the couch and then went up to her bed--by herself--and slept through dinner. Sometime in the middle of the night we were awoken when SkyWalker threw up. Huh? The only one without any coughing or other symptoms.

Wednesday morning Chewie was fine. SkyWalker did not throw up again. He went upstairs to read and took a nap instead and came downstairs all discombobulated thinking it was Thursday. Chewie once again failed in the afternoon. I started to feel a wee bit weird but shook it off and did my strength shot and total body band workouts. By dinner time I knew I was next. Vader got home at 6, I went to lay down, threw up around 9 and didn't get up until 7ish the next morning.

We cancelled our Thursday playdate. Chewie seemed to do a little better. She didn't take a nap at all, which kind of sucked. The Princess was coughing and began getting snotty. LightRunner started coughing. I felt a little weak, but tried to run anyway. It didn't last but only because in the ultimate everything at once story, I got yet another plugged milk duct and felt feverish and ill.

We cancelled our Friday playdate. I'm fine. The Princess is not coughing bad. SkyWalker is fine. LightRunner is coughing a little and has his first tooth coming! Chewie has been a nightmare. She has been crying the entire day because things aren't going her way. No more fever, but she's behaving worse. She had a fit in Target (yes, I had to get things. I took them to Target.) because I wouldn't let her  take another tissue when she had a perfectly good one in her hand. She is currently crying because of, well, I don't know.

I look forward to school breaks and spending time with my kids and having fun and this just SUCKED.

But, in the spirit of looking for the bright side--no one had to miss school (yet). I don't have to take off work. And I saved a lot of gas money.

It's hard to smile when you're swallowing bile

I haven't run since Christmas and that was a dissatisfying painful measly 2 miles. I think. Most of the distances I've been running have been pretty short--from my bed to the bathroom, from the couch to the bathroom, from the kitchen to the bathroom. I have been stretching--mostly my back and neck as I hunch over the toilet. My abs and ribs are getting a good workout from the heaving and retching.

Yeah. It's that time again.

I truly believed that if I willed myself hard enough and stayed strong that I would not vomit this time. I would RUN it away. Well, that only works if you're, you know, running. At first I intentionally took a couple of weeks off to make sure that things were settling within my body and attaching where they were supposed to and things were progressing normally. And then when I was ready to start running again the vomiting started. I managed to run a race in December at 6+ weeks pregnant and not do too shabby (31:45, my first PPR--pregnant personal record--which is better than my first ever race!) but I was nervous the entire time. After that I tried Zofran for a couple of days--one of which was Christmas--and while I didn't throw up I had horrible painful debilitating gas. Cramping gas. Which is not fun while running. I don't know how I managed to survive Christmas. I stopped taking the Zofran and the next day I vomited three times. Awesome. I haven't attempted to run since. I mostly sit on the couch and wish I could speed this process up. I am now back on promethazine--what I took during my last pregnancy--and as long as I time everything right and keep the perfect amount of food in my belly and get enough rest, I won't vomit. I'm hoping that after a few non vomiting days I can start running again.

Morning sickness is so misunderstood. First of all, the name, is ridiculous. I'm sure that when I'm vomiting at 10 pm that it's morning somewhere, but it's so misleading. Like all you have to do is make it through the morning and then you're okay. Maybe for some women it is, but not for all. It's ALL DAY sickness. There's no relief from vomiting, the nausea is just as bad whether you vomit or not. Avoid aromas and strong odors and certain foods and it's all bull. I vomit when I'm hungry, I vomit when I'm full. I vomit when I've been sleeping for hours, I vomit when I'm tired. I vomit whether I'm having a boy or a girl. I just vomit. It is much much harder when it's the 4th time, because you still have to get up and take kids to preschool and make dinner for your family and make sure the children aren't being too bad.

It's been pretty sucky which um, sucks, because I had such high hopes of enjoying every minute of my last pregnancy.

And then.

Today I had my 12 week ultrasound (or 13 week if the measurements are right). I saw an actual baby with a beating heart, rolling and turning and kicking. Everything is normal, everything looks good. And the joy from seeing and hearing that tiny heart beating is worth every single second of nausea and vomiting and sickness and crappy feelings. Every. Single. Second.

I know there are people that don't understand why we're having a 4th child, that don't agree, that think we are being irresponsible. I don't care. We are not complete without a 4th. And I mean "we." My husband has always wanted a large family and I had to talk him down from 5. My children are so excited to have another on the way (I told them today). My son will be nearly 8 by the time this baby is born and if it's a boy he wants him in his room. The Princess can't wait to have a tiny baby to take care of and hold.

So now I just hope the vomiting and nausea go completely away, the running comes back, and this baby has boy parts.

I should have gone for that run

I've gotten into the habit of taking a week off after I run a race. It's not so much for recovery, but more so that I can theoretically get all the things done that I neglected in my pre-race frenzy. This doesn't usually happen, but I like to do things theoretically. What does happen is that by the time I do my first post-race run I am eager for it. I have been looking forward to today all week long.

It didn't happen.

My kids have gotten some strange quick moving virus. Skywalker started with a dry sore throat and then got a fever. The Princess followed with a fever and headache and a little vomiting yesterday morning. Chewie had a fever on Friday. They all have a cough but no other symptoms. I've been drinking emergen-C like crazy, but to no avail. Last night I succumbed and had a fever ALL night long. Literally all night long. Not just a fever but crazy head pain too. It was horrible. At 5ish I thought there's no way I'm running today. I got up around 8 and my fever had broken but my head still hurt and I was starting to cough and I was just wrecked from not getting any good sleep. Vader suggested I skip my run. I shouldn't have listened but I figured if he was suggesting it then there was a good reason not to run, it wasn't just me wimping out.

I should have run.

Not just today, but all week. Perhaps I could have avoided even getting this if I had been running all week! I definitely should have run today. Even if all I could do was a mile or so, it would have been better than the moping I've done all day. Although I am pretty achy right now and I laid down TWICE which is something I never do. I would go out right now and run but the boys are fishing and I am home alone with the girls. One of which is coughing on me right now. And the other has just woken up from her nap.

So I guess I just have to look forward to next week. I'll try to get out at some point during the week and I may have to resort to the treadmill, but it's Sunday's run that I always get to do outside and look forward to.

Hermitude has its benefits

We've barely left the house at all this week since we've become victims to the kindergarten cold. It's actually worked out fantastically. I've defeated the 45 min napping demon in the house... on Monday I watched Chewie's cues closely, made sure she was well-fed and not overtired. I put her down and at 45 mins she started crying. I went upstairs and instead of picking her up I watched her. She had her eyes closed and was still sleeping! I continued to watch her and she went through a cycle of crying and not crying for the next 20 minutes. And that was it. She slept another hour and I woke her up! And after having a good first nap she continued to have good naps the rest of the day! Had I been unknowingly waking her up and disturbing her at the 45 min mark?? On Tuesday she let out one cry at 45 mins and that was it. Today she didn't even cry. She has been waking at night but I think that's from her cold and not from actually napping during the day. 

It's so exciting. I love when I figure out what's going on. I'm sure we'll have a different problem next week. But for today, I am excited. I'm also terrified of leaving the house on Friday for gymnastics! What if napping in her car seat and not her crib sets off the same 45 min pattern?? That would suck. But I don't want to be hermits forever. 

I've also gotten the Princess to nap with Chewie again. Still no 3 hour naps here, but I've been getting a good 1 1/2 hours of free time. I have not been running because I've been in observation mode with the naps and because I have a cold and I'm a big sissy. We'll see how leaving the house on Friday changes things... it may be that I will have to commit to 2 days at home each week so I can get good naps and run. And then do the 3rd day over the weekend. I hope to start up again next week. 

Once again I planned a huge post about parenting and what kind of parent I want--and don't want--to be (okay, aside, I have 30 mins before SkyWalker's bus. I just looked out the window and saw yellow and almost crapped myself and it was... a big yellow truck.), alas I am too tired and unmotivated for a huge blog post. 

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Didn't I say DOWN with the sickness?

Things actually worked out well for us yesterday--I managed to get an earlier doctor's appt, he sent the prescription to Wal-Mart through his cool electronic pad thing so we went to Target and got a few things (including a new set of toddler sheets and comforter for the Princess's big move to the toddler bed) and then went to Wal-Mart to pick up the prescription. I only had to wait a couple of minutes as opposed to 2 hours as usual. The doc said that he's heard that before about them and he recommends people go to Target because they have the same $4 plan but are much quicker. Vader never has a problem when he goes food shopping each week so we'll keep the Princess's amoxicillin there but I think from now on when we have a one-time only prescription we might just go to Target. I'd rather fart around there than Wal-Mart anyway...

The Princess has a 102 fever but is climbing on the couch now. SkyWalker has no fever, but puked on the couch. So far he is the bigger baby. We did not go to preschool. He said the Princess needed to watch some TV since she picked up the remote and he managed to find Nickelodeon. Diego just happens to be on. How do these things work out for him?? So the both of them are watching Diego, with the Princess taking breaks to bring him a new toy or jump on the couch. I have a feeling it's going to be a long day. 

We had all of these plans for tomorrow and now everything is up in the air. 

The Princess just handed her brother a tissue, got one for herself, wiped her snotty nose and then threw it out in the garbage. She is quite the little mother. She helped me clean up the couch after SkyWalker puked. Even though she is sick herself. Just like a mama.

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Down with the Sickness

is a good song from Disturbed but you already knew that right?

This is a sick house.

The Princess broke out in hives Monday evening which got worse on Tuesday. They would appear and disappear and come back in other places. Very odd. We went to the doc on Tuesday and they tested her for strep and that was negative. Since then she's had a fever and a cough and clearly has some kind of virus. SkyWalker has been coughing as well so last night I gave up my humidifier so they would each have one. I don't think we've ever had all 3 of us needing one before. Last night was horrible. They were each up coughing and crying. Vader went up and did who knows what. At 3:30 (after hours of off and on whining) I went up and gave the Princess some motrin. She was definitely warm but not enough for me to confirm it with a thermometer up the butt. I checked SkyWalker and he too had a fever and very willingly took some tylenol. They slept "okay" after that. I did not. I've been dealing with bloody snot every night and a stuffed-up nose and I'm fine with that but yesterday my upper teeth started hurting *really* bad. I have finally called uncle and am going to the doc this afternoon where I am sure they will tell me I have a textbook case of a sinus infection. And that I have a big nose which is what happened the last time I went there with a sinus infection. I think there's something I can take, I hope there's something I can take, since I am allergic to penicillin and can't take amoxicillin. There's got to be something. We had a dentist appt this morning so I had to make the appt for this afternoon, after naptime. Which would be all well and good except Wal-Mart is notorious for taking 3 friggin' days to fill prescriptions and I don't want to wait around there for hours with them. Particularly since I have to work tonight. I may have to drop it off and then have Vader come home a little early so I can pick it up on my way to work.

The only thing worse than taking care of sick children is doing it while you don't feel well yourself. And on that note the Princess is crying Mommy and apparently not going to be able to fall asleep. Maybe I should see if I can get an earlier doc appt if she's not going to sleep anyway... 

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Why mommies get sick

It doesn't matter how much extra Vitamin C and zinc we take, or hand sanitizer we use, or even getting that all too sought-after nap... we are powerless against the soft snotty kisses and cough-infested hugs. And then it is too late.

Cough.

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what time is it?

My children alternated crying last night. For the entire night. And when I mean entire night, I mean it. I think I slept for roughly 2 hours. I finally just turned the monitor off at 4 but since I already had a splitting headache it really didn't help. SkyWalker peed his bed 3 times. They both have runny noses. SkyWalker is not that bad... I have to decide now if I want to send him to preschool or not. I hate to see him miss so early on when he's still getting used to it. But I don't want anyone else getting sick. 

head. pain.

I have more cupcakes to make and bathrooms to clean and crap to do today and I have a feeling I am going to need to take a nap. 

And my daughter is covered in yogurt and cheerios. 

What a fine start to the day.

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The Princess

We took the Princess to the ER for her second round of shots today. Her last fever was at 7 pm last night (another 103.1) but it went down quickly and hasn't coming back. She's eaten today and barely napped and smiled and played and banged her spoon against the plate at Denny's and I think she'll be okay. Aside from some really stinky diarrhea from all the antibiotics she has in her tiny little body, she is doing well. She's just eaten her yogurt so hopefully that will start to counteract the diarrhea. She played outside today and went to the mall and only did a little fussing from being tired. 

So now the next step will be to go to the urologist and figure out if anything went wrong with her surgery. I'm really starting to think that it was just a fluke--the UTI she had/has was full of ecoli... I think with all of her massive pooping she's done lately eating big people food that she just got some poop up her pee-pee. Because when she poops, she POOPS. Her last ultrasound was a month ago and was great. How could there be something wrong now? I am going with the poop in the pee-pee theory until I am told otherwise. 

And now we know that *I* am okay as well since I have managed to once again bring poop into a post.

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The week that's lasted a year

Took the Princess back to the doctor on Wednesday. Full-blown UTI. Got a different antibiotic (ironically enough just amoxicillin). With instructions that she should be fever-free by today. This morning she was 103.2. 100 or 101 would have been okay. 103.2 was not. We took her back to the doc today. She got a shot of ceftriaxone in her legs. We'll go to the ER tomorrow for her to get a second shot. We also got augmentin, an antibiotic stronger than amoxicillin to give her in the meantime. If she's any sicker she will be admitted tomorrow. If she seems to be doing better we'll get the shot and go home. 

The one amusing part of my day was when her pediatrician asked me what unit I work in. I said "Unit? Work?" she said "Aren't you a nurse?" I laughed and laughed. Apparently I am just so knowledgeable and smart that she assumed I was a nurse from the way I talked. Ha.

The Princess is sleeping. SkyWalker is watching Spongebob Squarepants. And I am about to go poop. And that has been our week.

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Chucking a big birkett

The Princess woke up Sunday morning with a 104.3 fever. Called the doc's answering service and was told to just keep watching her, make sure she doesn't have difficulty breathing or get dehydrated. The fever went up and down all day. By dinner time it was 103.7. One of my friends gave me the secret formula for determining the correct dosage of tylenol/motrin (Tylenol should be 15mg per kilogram of weight, Advil/Motrin should be 10mg per kilogram of weight.) and I discovered I could give her a little more. I took her to the doc today. Her urine is not looking so well... looks like a UTI. She's on some fancy antibiotic since she took Amox for so long before. If there is no improvement in 2 days I need to call/bring her in again. They'll be sending the culture out to confirm whether it is indeed a UTI. Because of her history with her kidney surgery it was safer to treat it and find out later. It if is then we'll have to talk to the surgeon and see if he wants to do another ultrasound to make sure that everything is okay. 

Have I mentioned that Vader is in Buffalo for his trial?

Her fever is 103.2 now and she has done nothing but sleep and nurse all day. My little fettucini alfredo eater doesn't even want to eat cheerios. She whimpers and softly cries and my heart shatters in a million pieces. I have never seen her like this. 

Vader called from Buffalo. He'll be home on Wednesday (so I took the days off for nothing, but now with the Princess sick I'm glad I'm not working this week). He has to go back next week. Wed & Thursday. So I'll have to take NEXT week off now too. And the following week we'll be in North Carolina. AND on top of that, the trial won't be done next week and who the hell knows when it will be scheduled again. I'm sure it will be on a day that I work. 

I am about to give my kid Ellios pizza for dinner because I don't have the energy for anything else. He had Burger King for lunch. Again. 

I must have done a lot of bad shit in my former life to have karma like this.

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Small world

The Princess does indeed have an ear infection. Her very first cold has led to her very first ear infection. Since she was on amoxicillin forever, she's taking a different antibiotic and will hopefully get better soon. I gave her some ibuprofen at bedtime. SkyWalker got some tylenol but I can hear him making noise. Hopefully he is pooping since he hasn't done that yet today. Hmmm, is that grunting of a poop or grunting trying to get something in the bathroom Ah--"I pooped Mommy." Anyway, hopefully they will both sleep tonight. If they don't I will be very cranky tomorrow. 

I have not showered since Tuesday. I have been wiping up a lot of snot, some of it mine. I'm not as bad as I thought I would be--the vitamin C I finally managed to swallow and the extra zinc seem to be doing the trick--but I'm still not at my best. Keep this in mind....

We're at the doctor and a young um, nurse maybe? A guy who brought us in the room and took all of our info and did the temps and the weighings. Maybe he was a nurse, maybe he was a PA, I'm not sure, anyway, he says "What school did you go to?" And I say "you mean high school-school?" He says "yeah." I say "Long Island." He says, "Hmmm... you look familiar but I guess that's not it." He leaves, comes back and says "Um. This is going to be a strange question..." and I'm thinking I haven't showered in 2 days, the dude is not trying to pick me up. He says "Are you on meetup.com?" And I LAUGH and say "Um, yeah." and he laughs at says "My wife L. just e-mailed you last night!" HAHAHAHA. The newest member of the group who has a 5 1/2 week old. How funny is that? I have not met any of these people yet and here I am meeting her husband first. We had a nice talk about making friends... she's in the same boat as me. She's from Florida and she moved here for her husband and has no one here. Small world right?  I left a shout on her profile telling her that her husband stuck a thermometer up my baby's butt. 

I could be cleaning the kitchen or paying bills or doing any number of important things but instead I am blogging. I need to watch Lost tonight anyway so there's no sense in getting started doing something. 

It is windy as all hell right now. I suppose it is March but it's been so cold and winter-like, it's odd hearing so much wind. Perhaps spring is on its way. 

I just broke my caps lock key. Crap. Wait, No! I fixed it! Ha. 

Clearly I am going crazy. Luckily Vader is coming home tomorrow. He is leaving tomorrow morning so he should be home by the afternoon. I asked him if he was planning on going in to work tomorrow when he gets home and let him know what the acceptable response to that question was... so I should get a break tomorrow afternoon/evening. If I don't, I'm going to let SkyWalker wipe his snot all over his toothbrush. That's right. I'm hardcore.

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It continues

I went to bed at 9:30 and was asleep before 10. 

At 10:30 SkyWalker woke me up crying. Took care of him, got back to sleep. 

At 12:30 the Princess woke me up crying. Gave her ibuprofen this time and that seemed to work better. Went back to sleep. 

At 2:30 SkyWalker woke me up crying, proceeded to SCREAM while in the bathroom saying he needed Mommy and gagging and making me think he was going to vomit. He finally calmed down. Went back to sleep

At 5:45 my alarm went off to take my morning temp. I went back to sleep, determined to let the kids sleep late.

At 7 SkyWalker woke up needing Mommy. He woke the Princess up. I took care of him, gave him tylenol to try to get him to go back to sleep. I fed the Princess, put her back down and she actually fell asleep at 7:30 and is still sleeping now (9 am). SkyWalker did not go back to sleep. He came downstairs and laid with me in my bed but he did not sleep. A couple of times he snuggled up to me but mostly he played with his flashlight. Then he got out of bed, went in my closet, took his clothes off and made a mess. At 8:30 the dogs couldn't stand it anymore and told me to get out of bed. 

Vader will probably be home tomorrow, I have no idea when, so I will have another night of this. Then I will have to work on Saturday. Then we have Easter on Sunday. Then Vader will go back to work on Monday. And I will never sleep again. 

I'm going to take them to the doctor today. I'm sure she has an ear infection and if it's interrupting her sleep now then it must be painful. I don't think there's anything I can do for SkyWalker unless he too has an ear infection. I think he just has a cold and has to tough it out, but he's being a big sissy instead. 

It is raining and gloomy and the poor dogs are sleeping on the kitchen floor instead of being a pain in the neck. Even they must be tired from last night's shenanigans. It would be a perfect day to stay in bed and read a book. Instead I will wipe snot and take temperatures and try to forget that I need someone to take care of me too. 

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Day 3

Day 3 of no Daddy. I don't know how people do this all the time. Granted, their kids aren't sick all the time, and they probably don't have 2 dogs, but still. 

I have been trying to get my kids to sleep for an hour now. It started out okay--the Princess was asleep by 6:50 (her choice, not mine). At 7 she was screaming. I put SkyWalker down at 7:15, comforted the Princess and left. She cried off and on. At 7:40 I went up there and SkyWalker was peering into her room saying "Don't cry." He claimed his nose hurt and he needed saline solution. We took care of that, I went and fed the Princess as a last resort, and SkyWalker decided the tag in his diaper was bothering him so he took it off. There are no tags in diapers. I put the Princess down, put a pull up on SkyWalker and put him back in bed. The Princess continued to cry. I went downstairs and looked up ear infections and the proper dosage of tylenol. The Princess continued to cry. At 8, all was quiet. And then I heard "I pooped!". I walked up there and SkyWalker was sitting on the potty. (We leave his gate open now so he can go to the bathroom.) I took care of him and hoped the Princess would not wake up. At 8:10 I see the light is on in the bathroom again. He has the saline solution ... and the Princess's nose-snot-sucker and has it up his nose. I got his and said "You want me to suck the snot out of your nose?" and he said yes. So I did it. I just put him back in bed. It is now 8:20 and the Princess has just started crying again. There is nothing more I can do for her. I've fed her. Given her tylenol. Wiped her nose. She has a slight fever and has been pulling on her ear as well as the snot-nose, so I'm pretty sure we're headed to the doc tomorrow for an ear infection. 

Good frickin times. 

Tonight I was a sneaky chef and hid pureed sweet potatoes in the macaroni and tomato soup we had for dinner. SkyWalker ate it right up. So did I. I decided I'm going to trick myself with this stuff too! Ha! That'll teach me.

8:23 and SkyWalker has just walked in to the bathroom. The Princess is still crying. Good times man. Good times.

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Bah!

I was supposed to be having my first meet-up right now. Instead I am home with 2 sick children and 2 barking dogs. SkyWalker was up at midnight and again at 1 and it was clear that he both needed to sleep late and not be around other children. But more importantly, *I* feel worse than yesterday. I was all headachy and nauseous this morning and just not up to getting us all out of the house by 9:30. So I cancelled the meet-up. 

I've gotten yesterday's laundry folded and a new load in today and I just finished the dishes but other than that this house is a MESS. I am completely unprepared for Easter. No egg dye. I don't even have a basket for the Princess. I think I have an extra one, but I haven't done any inventory to see what I actually have and don't have. I'm completely unprepared for everything. We have no bread. I think we will just have soup for the rest of the week because that's all I can muster up. 

Once again I am reminded by how crappy the timing is in my life. We should really get flood insurance because it seems like whenever it rains for us, it pours.

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The power of poop

JD was right man. It all comes down to poop.

This morning SkyWalker told me that he didn't feel well and that the "poop was not coming". I thought I was in for it since he had only pooped once yesterday. I didn't make a big deal about anything since I'm pretty sure it was in response to the fact that I had to take the Princess to the ultrasound yesterday (he did not want her to leave) and that she now has a cold and needed more attention this morning. So I just said "Okay, well, we'll have some apple juice today and see what we can do." and other than that I didn't say anything or pressure him at all. We played Memory and I got him to eat blueberries. He had apple juice for lunch and his normal PBJ--spiked with prunes again. Because this was only the first day he was still in an eating mood so he asked for a second sandwich. I spiked that one too. He pooped right after lunch. I think I need to pay attention and when he only poops once I'll have to be on the lookout the next day and start giving him the extra stuff. If he goes a whole day without pooping ... that's when the crap starts. Ha. I think I averted a problem.  As long as he gets one out then he can do more... when he can't do it then he starts holding it all in.  We wound up having a happy day playing together and being in a good mood. He kept telling me "I feel well now."

I can't believe my kid poops that much.

As mentioned above, the Princess has a cold. Her first undeniable cold. She's had congestion before, but this is runny nose, sneezing, coughing, sleeping a lot, cold. Naturally, because we'll be going to the wedding this weekend. Besides being tired and coughing while sleeping she seems okay. She's cried out a bit during her naps, but she's not acting horribly ill and there's no fever. I guess going 10 months without a real cold is pretty good...

I'm having shoe angst. Why can't I just wear sneakers to everything? The world would be so much nicer without so many fashion rules.

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