Saturday, October 23, 2010
a very rashy boy
LE has been feeling kind of off for a while now. Lots of complaints of headaches, stomachaches and leg pain, along with sporadic bouts of fever. I took him in to the doctor on the 15th and they said he had a sinus infection and prescribed Augmentin. They also did some blood work, which revealed a viral infection. Then Thursday (the 21st) he stayed home with high fevers and Friday he was home as well (feeling better, but still not well enough to go to school). Friday night after supper I noticed a rash on his upper torso and by bed time it had spread to his lower torso and upper arms. By this morning it had spread to his whole body--all the way to his hands and feet. We made a trip to the doctor this morning and they've pulled him off of the Augmentin, even though they are not calling it an allergic reaction and we're keeping him on Benadryl until the rash goes away. The poor boy--the rash has continued to get worse--his checks are solidly covered with rash now, instead of just being spotty. And it's starting to itch. He's being a trooper though.
at a loss
Things here at home have really gone a downward spiral since we got back from vacation. The thing is I know that it is my fault. And trust me, I'm feeling the guilt. But I'm not sure how to step forward from this point.
How do I get the urge to get up and clean? How do I get that urge to get back on the weight watchers wagon? And how do I get the urge to follow through with the discipline?
So, as I sit back and look at my problems through, what I hope are, long distance lenses, I think I'm realizing that it all falls on my shoulders. There will be no magic fix to the dishes, or the food, and most importantly the discipline. I know that it will be hard work for me. And so, I'm trying to pick one to focus on. Maybe if I can focus on just one thing, the rest will start to fall into place. Maybe, hopefully.
Of the three--dishes, food and discipline--lately, it's been the discipline that's really been getting in my face. Quite literally--when TO is busy yelling at me. It's very frustrating when her teacher tells me what a joy she is, what a ray of sunshine, and even that he would clone her if he could. While I'm glad that she's behaving herself at school, why am I stuck with the demon child. Me--not P--just me.
It's time I buckle down with her and really set up a plan of attack--unfortunately, I constantly feel under attack from her and therefore always on the defensive. It's time to get on the offense!
Here's my first plan of attack (to be altered upon need): There will be no warnings--if there are warnings she assumes that she can do something once and get away with it. The first offense will result in an 8 minute time-out in her bedroom. The second offense will result in a 16 minute time-out. The third offense will result in loss of privileges (ie. tv, iPod, sleeping in the guest room...). And of course, serious offenses, or ignoring the consequences will skip right to the loss of privileges. Well, at least there's a plan in place. So tomorrow, a new dawn begins. Or something else corny like that.
How do I get the urge to get up and clean? How do I get that urge to get back on the weight watchers wagon? And how do I get the urge to follow through with the discipline?
So, as I sit back and look at my problems through, what I hope are, long distance lenses, I think I'm realizing that it all falls on my shoulders. There will be no magic fix to the dishes, or the food, and most importantly the discipline. I know that it will be hard work for me. And so, I'm trying to pick one to focus on. Maybe if I can focus on just one thing, the rest will start to fall into place. Maybe, hopefully.
Of the three--dishes, food and discipline--lately, it's been the discipline that's really been getting in my face. Quite literally--when TO is busy yelling at me. It's very frustrating when her teacher tells me what a joy she is, what a ray of sunshine, and even that he would clone her if he could. While I'm glad that she's behaving herself at school, why am I stuck with the demon child. Me--not P--just me.
It's time I buckle down with her and really set up a plan of attack--unfortunately, I constantly feel under attack from her and therefore always on the defensive. It's time to get on the offense!
Here's my first plan of attack (to be altered upon need): There will be no warnings--if there are warnings she assumes that she can do something once and get away with it. The first offense will result in an 8 minute time-out in her bedroom. The second offense will result in a 16 minute time-out. The third offense will result in loss of privileges (ie. tv, iPod, sleeping in the guest room...). And of course, serious offenses, or ignoring the consequences will skip right to the loss of privileges. Well, at least there's a plan in place. So tomorrow, a new dawn begins. Or something else corny like that.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Where did it go?
My patience has been pretty much non-existent lately. Which is very frustrating to me--and the family, I'm sure. I don't have coping skills for this--and I'm not sure how to get some. I'm hoping that I'll start feeling better in the next few days.
appointments
Yesterday we had a noon appointment with TO's psychologist, followed by a 1pm appointment with her oncologist. According to her psychologist, she's doing really well with her anxiety--and we've noticed this at home. We've been given some homework to work on, but our next appointment isn't for 10 more weeks.
She did fairly well with her blood work (finger poke)--not as good as the past 2 experiences, but definitely better than last year. After the blood work, we met with her oncologist, who decided that she needed have a flu shot--which sent TO through the roof. She's still pretty mad about it this morning. She just doesn't understand why I didn't tell her that she was going to get a shot. I don't think she understands that I didn't know about it either. Honestly, I wasn't surprised that they wanted her to get a flu shot, but there was no way I was going to tell her about it and listen to her howling for days. Now it's over and done with. And the good news is, that she's old enough now that she only needs one shot. No booster like the younger ones need. Yay!
She did fairly well with her blood work (finger poke)--not as good as the past 2 experiences, but definitely better than last year. After the blood work, we met with her oncologist, who decided that she needed have a flu shot--which sent TO through the roof. She's still pretty mad about it this morning. She just doesn't understand why I didn't tell her that she was going to get a shot. I don't think she understands that I didn't know about it either. Honestly, I wasn't surprised that they wanted her to get a flu shot, but there was no way I was going to tell her about it and listen to her howling for days. Now it's over and done with. And the good news is, that she's old enough now that she only needs one shot. No booster like the younger ones need. Yay!
Monday, October 18, 2010
mother-in-law
So P's mom and his sister and new baby came to visit us over the weekend. And in general I don't mind having his mom as company--but this time, all I could seem to do was find irritation with her. And each time I find something misplaced, the irritation increases.
The thing is, most of the time when I get frustrated with her, I feel kind of guilty. I mean the woman washed all of my dishes for me, so I can't get too upset that when she washed Omega's bottles, she didn't separate the nipples from the rings--or that she left them to dry nipple down--with water in the nipples. That really shouldn't have upset me, right?
But when I poured myself a glass of apple juice this morning and then noticed dried chocolate milk floating in it, I got really disgusted. Of course, I immediately turn it back on myself--if I hadn't let it sit out, it wouldn't have dried in the glass in the first place--and there's no way she should have known to watch for dried milk in the glasses--as this is not a common occurrence in any one's house but mine. Still--eeeewwww! Dried milk in my apple juice! And part of washing dishes is actually looking at them, right?
That being vented, it was really good meeting little baby J and visiting with P's sister--and his mom took the kids to get hair cuts and out to McDonald's. I guess I'll finish with--it's a good thing that these visits don't happen more than once a month.
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Thursday night is turning out to be a very busy night for me. I have parent-teachers conferences at 4:50 and 5:10, followed by a first reconciliation meeting at 6pm. I'm just hoping everything is over by 7pm, so P won't have to get to work late. At least he's able to stay home with the kids though.
The thing is, most of the time when I get frustrated with her, I feel kind of guilty. I mean the woman washed all of my dishes for me, so I can't get too upset that when she washed Omega's bottles, she didn't separate the nipples from the rings--or that she left them to dry nipple down--with water in the nipples. That really shouldn't have upset me, right?
But when I poured myself a glass of apple juice this morning and then noticed dried chocolate milk floating in it, I got really disgusted. Of course, I immediately turn it back on myself--if I hadn't let it sit out, it wouldn't have dried in the glass in the first place--and there's no way she should have known to watch for dried milk in the glasses--as this is not a common occurrence in any one's house but mine. Still--eeeewwww! Dried milk in my apple juice! And part of washing dishes is actually looking at them, right?
That being vented, it was really good meeting little baby J and visiting with P's sister--and his mom took the kids to get hair cuts and out to McDonald's. I guess I'll finish with--it's a good thing that these visits don't happen more than once a month.
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Thursday night is turning out to be a very busy night for me. I have parent-teachers conferences at 4:50 and 5:10, followed by a first reconciliation meeting at 6pm. I'm just hoping everything is over by 7pm, so P won't have to get to work late. At least he's able to stay home with the kids though.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Christmas shopping started early!
P got a few hours off of work this afternoon and I got to head over to the Farm and Fleet Toyland--which opened yesterday. And thanks to a Packers game, the store was relatively deserted. I was able to get TO and Omega done. For TO: The latest big Littlest Pet Shop set, Mousetrap, and a Spirograph (remember those?). For Omega: a Crocodile block wagon, 2 board books (welcome back Moo, Baa, La La La!), and 2 pjs--which we'll use early. For LE: A Sponge Bob Matchbox car set with extra cars, a tying shoe laces book, and a countdown wooded dice game (roll 2 die, either flip over each number or the sum of the two). For CD: the new Pop Goes the Froggio game, and some magnetic wooden paper dolls. I still need to get the "big-guy" presents for LE and CD, but I figure I have 3/4s of my shopping done and it's not even Halloween--I so totally rock this year! I still have money in my Christmas budget, and if have extra after the "big-guy" gifts, I'll probably add some of the new movies--Tinkerbell, Dragons or Beauty and the Beast.
Definitely a feeling of accomplishment today!
Definitely a feeling of accomplishment today!
our trip--2nd installment
On Thursday, TO's b'day, we were scheduled to have breakfast with the princesses in "Norway" at Epcot--thank you Make-a-Wish! This was probably the coolest thing of the trip, although it really was becoming hard to pick just one. Right after we got into Epcot, we caught an autograph and picture from Daisy Duck. And learned that we could use TO's guest assistance pass to get to the front of the character lines as well as the ride lines.
The breakfast was awesome. While we were waiting to get in, a few of the girls from Norway working at Epcot sang TO a birthday song--and dance--in Norwegian. After we got called in to the breakfast, we met with Belle in her big yellow ball gown. A Disney photographer took some shots of the kids and the whole family with Belle and before we left we were given a 5X7 and 4-3X5s of each pose (one with just kids and one with the whole family). There was a buffet with fruits and pastries and eggs, bacon, sausage and a potato casserole were served family-style right at our table. Then after we started eating the servers brought out a birthday cupcake and sang to TO. And then the best part--Snow White, Princess Aurora, Jasmine and Ariel took turns at our table. Each signed TO's autograph book and took a picture with the kids. We weren't able to find Ariel in any of the parks and it was great to have her at breakfast, as she was the top of our favorite princesses list.
After breakfast, we decided to walk through all the countries at Epcot on our way back to the front of the park where we would catch the Finding Nemo ride and a few more characters. After only a few hours in the park, we were still at the back end and now we were dragging 3 kids through the park--everyone was worn out from Magic Kingdom the day before.
Needless to say, we opted to skip the ride and the characters and headed back to the village instead. After a rest (and some lunch) we decided to try out the dinosaur mini-golf course at the village. I don't think that we laughed so hard with the kids in some time. We each had our own ball and shared a putter--a good choice if I give my mommy-self a pat on the back. There were 2 holes that included dinosaurs that spit water at you when you made the final putt into the hole. What a riot. I think P spent more time trying to trick the kids into getting soaked than he actually spent golfing.
That evening after supper was Winter Wonderland in the village--which included a visit from Santa. Because the kids were already so tired, we skipped to the Santa visit and avoided the rest of the activities. The kids got 'scanned' by an elf and declared good enough to get to pick out a present. The girls each picked out an 18 inch doll and LE picked out a "Learning to Share" board game. Then we waited for about 30 minutes for our turn to see Santa. Once we were up there, and he found out it was TO's b'day, he had the entire audience sing to her and also had her head back to the elf to pick out a 2nd present--the Operation game this time.
Friday we decided to head to Sea World, but we were going to have lunch first. Then while we were having lunch, LE suddenly got really pale and started complaining about not feeling well. So, we ended up skipping the parks that day and hung out around the village. We didn't do much that night. Rested up and watched some movie--ordered pizza in--the village had it's own pizza delivery service.
Saturday, after breakfast, we headed out to Sea World. LE still wasn't feeling the best, so we decided to take advantage of the free stroller that we were offered. We were able to catch a dolphin show shortly after we arrived and then we got a chance to feed the dolphins. The trainer and the husband started talking breeding and care of dolphins, which resulted in the trainer staying right with us--and having the dolphin come up to the side multiple times for the kids to pet.
We had lunch at Sea World and checked out the sharks, penguins and manatees, all en route to the Shamu show. Unfortunately LE was starting to run a bit of a fever by then and we decided we needed to skip the show and head back to the village. We rest of that day too.
Sunday--our last day for park visiting--we decided to head to Disney's Animal Kingdom. We caught the safari and saw a great selection of animals. Lions, giraffes, elephants--including a baby, rhinos, ostriches, etc. We walked through a few animals exhibits, had lunch and then caught the Expedition Everest ride. Which, after riding, TO, LE and I--the husband stayed with CD instead f riding--decided that it was too much ride for us.
Then we headed back over to Magic Kingdom to catch our favorite rides one last time and do some more souvenir shopping. We finally met Cinderella and also Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. Thunder Mountain, the Dumbo ride, and Goofy's Barnstormer. TO picked out a stuffed dalmatian, LE picked out a view master, and CD picked out a magnetic fairy play set.
Sunday was a busy and long day, but we were glad we fit it in. In the end, we ended up missing the Universal parks because of our down day, but we're glad we caught the Animal Kingdom. P wishes that we had more time to explore Animal Kingdom and Epcot, but agreed that they're not really the kid-friendliest.
The breakfast was awesome. While we were waiting to get in, a few of the girls from Norway working at Epcot sang TO a birthday song--and dance--in Norwegian. After we got called in to the breakfast, we met with Belle in her big yellow ball gown. A Disney photographer took some shots of the kids and the whole family with Belle and before we left we were given a 5X7 and 4-3X5s of each pose (one with just kids and one with the whole family). There was a buffet with fruits and pastries and eggs, bacon, sausage and a potato casserole were served family-style right at our table. Then after we started eating the servers brought out a birthday cupcake and sang to TO. And then the best part--Snow White, Princess Aurora, Jasmine and Ariel took turns at our table. Each signed TO's autograph book and took a picture with the kids. We weren't able to find Ariel in any of the parks and it was great to have her at breakfast, as she was the top of our favorite princesses list.
After breakfast, we decided to walk through all the countries at Epcot on our way back to the front of the park where we would catch the Finding Nemo ride and a few more characters. After only a few hours in the park, we were still at the back end and now we were dragging 3 kids through the park--everyone was worn out from Magic Kingdom the day before.
Needless to say, we opted to skip the ride and the characters and headed back to the village instead. After a rest (and some lunch) we decided to try out the dinosaur mini-golf course at the village. I don't think that we laughed so hard with the kids in some time. We each had our own ball and shared a putter--a good choice if I give my mommy-self a pat on the back. There were 2 holes that included dinosaurs that spit water at you when you made the final putt into the hole. What a riot. I think P spent more time trying to trick the kids into getting soaked than he actually spent golfing.
That evening after supper was Winter Wonderland in the village--which included a visit from Santa. Because the kids were already so tired, we skipped to the Santa visit and avoided the rest of the activities. The kids got 'scanned' by an elf and declared good enough to get to pick out a present. The girls each picked out an 18 inch doll and LE picked out a "Learning to Share" board game. Then we waited for about 30 minutes for our turn to see Santa. Once we were up there, and he found out it was TO's b'day, he had the entire audience sing to her and also had her head back to the elf to pick out a 2nd present--the Operation game this time.
Friday we decided to head to Sea World, but we were going to have lunch first. Then while we were having lunch, LE suddenly got really pale and started complaining about not feeling well. So, we ended up skipping the parks that day and hung out around the village. We didn't do much that night. Rested up and watched some movie--ordered pizza in--the village had it's own pizza delivery service.
Saturday, after breakfast, we headed out to Sea World. LE still wasn't feeling the best, so we decided to take advantage of the free stroller that we were offered. We were able to catch a dolphin show shortly after we arrived and then we got a chance to feed the dolphins. The trainer and the husband started talking breeding and care of dolphins, which resulted in the trainer staying right with us--and having the dolphin come up to the side multiple times for the kids to pet.
We had lunch at Sea World and checked out the sharks, penguins and manatees, all en route to the Shamu show. Unfortunately LE was starting to run a bit of a fever by then and we decided we needed to skip the show and head back to the village. We rest of that day too.
Sunday--our last day for park visiting--we decided to head to Disney's Animal Kingdom. We caught the safari and saw a great selection of animals. Lions, giraffes, elephants--including a baby, rhinos, ostriches, etc. We walked through a few animals exhibits, had lunch and then caught the Expedition Everest ride. Which, after riding, TO, LE and I--the husband stayed with CD instead f riding--decided that it was too much ride for us.
Then we headed back over to Magic Kingdom to catch our favorite rides one last time and do some more souvenir shopping. We finally met Cinderella and also Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. Thunder Mountain, the Dumbo ride, and Goofy's Barnstormer. TO picked out a stuffed dalmatian, LE picked out a view master, and CD picked out a magnetic fairy play set.
Sunday was a busy and long day, but we were glad we fit it in. In the end, we ended up missing the Universal parks because of our down day, but we're glad we caught the Animal Kingdom. P wishes that we had more time to explore Animal Kingdom and Epcot, but agreed that they're not really the kid-friendliest.
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