Taking My Own Advice

I am known for telling my kids to make a change or quit complaining. I think it's high time I took that advice. I'm going to give it a whirl this week (in real life that is, I may still have to rant away here a bit).

T and I were reading tonight and just cackling away at a Junie B. book. It was hilarious. I don't know if he was laughing at the story or me.

DH made it home from Virginia safely. I'm always glad when he is home after being gone for a week. I was so grateful to be able to go to sleep before 1 or 2 am last night.

I got to go grocery shopping BY MYSELF this afternoon. These are good times.

M isn't feeling well right now. I don't know if she ate something weird or not but she has been on the floor of the bathroom for two hours. Poor kiddo!

T's doctor visit

I have to admit. I didn't really want to go to visit the pediatric gastroenterologist. This is going to sound so stupid but well, I didn't really want to bother him when the meds they gave to Topher seemed to help quite a bit.

DH said go. Good friends said go. Mom said go.

So I went. (After all, I am a bit of a pushover and a pleaser.)

I'm so glad. And in reality, the doc couldn't be too unhappy because he gets paid one way or the other. And in reality I was kind of surprised to not see other people in the office. You would think that someone that gets booked a half a year in advance would have a busy office. Maybe they just knew from the phone vibes that we would fill the office all by ourselves.

The doc did thing we need to check T out some more. He was the same doctor we saw almost 4 years ago when they had to take T off of all food and put him on the predigested stuff to give his little body a chance to heal.

Maybe we'll figure this kid out. We do get to do some more bloodwork and a stool sample. (Mom gets to collect the stuff in an old cool whip container. EWWWW!)

So the hope is that we can figure out T and that will help me with little C since she does the same things he did as a baby with her tummy.

And that is good news!

The visit was also a hit because I actually got the children kid's meals at Wendy's. I would normally not do it because we have this saying that we go to restaurants for food and not for toys. But I couldn't resist. They have the Magic Tree House books on CD. How great is that! I'm tempted to go and buy myself a kid meal for lunch tomorrow just to get another story.

D's First Day of Kindergarten

After having a couple of kids start school you tend to have expectations about how the first day goes. In our house it usually includes perfect hair, perfect school clothes, a nice meal in the tummy, a walk to school, and a few tears from mom.

I thought that is how some of our day would go. Then two days ago the people at S's preschool called and told me that she HAD to come in for her assessment. I informed them that D had his very first day of K only two hours later and they said it would be no problem because the assessment would be easily done in an hour.

I'm sure you are all starting to see where I am going with this.

Here's how the morning went.

Everyone got up cranky because no one would fall asleep last night including me.

T didn't have his homework done. (How can we have such bad habits after only a week?)

T and D were fighting over cleaning their room.

I shoved T out the door with a piece of bread in his hand.

I tossed C into the tub to try to get the rest of the diaper ointment out of her hair. Mission accomplished.

I made D get in the shower and then later S.

We zoomed out the door to S's assessment.

I put D and C in the daycare at the assessment center.

S passed the vision test.

S got mad at a kid for looking at her while waiting for the cognitive test.

We were randomly assigned D's therapist for an evaluation. (I didn't even know he would be there.)

S refused to play the 'games' that her tester had for her.

I chatted it up with D's therapist while S tried to distract me and tried to keep from doing the test.

The first alarm went off.

Everyone ignores it. Then we are all ushered outside.

D and C are somewhere on the campus without me.

I keep checking the time because D has Kindergarten.

We finally get in and talk to someone who reviews our results. I try to inform her that we are in a hurry and she doesn't seem to care. She must have been the head honcho or something because people kept asking her which copies of things they should make.

She says that S didn't score well on the verbal part. I look down and it says that she flat out REFUSED to do it (later she tells me she just didn't feel like playing).

That lady finally lets us go and we head to the dental. I tell them she just went in for a checkup (true) and they let me go.

Luckily the next people let me go with a promise to get the lead level in her tested.

I realize we have 15 minutes to make a twenty minute trip.

I find a daddy juice (juice pouch) in the back of the car and some left over pretzel crumbs from a month ago.

D gets that for lunch as well as two suckers I had in the front seat. Had I had ANY idea that we might have a fire alarm evacuation I would have come up with something better than two suckers for lunch.

We get to school five minutes late. D's hair hasn't been combed. He's using the violin lesson backpack from the front seat. My camera has no batteries AND I forgot his homework.

Oh what a day! I can't believe I sent him on his first day after having a lunch of smartie suckers.

And he loved it. The day was great for him.

Back to Blogging

Heck, if I take off a few days it starts to be overwhelming to continue.

So a few random thoughts to get over that and back on track.

My knee isn't as bad as it could have been. I guess the cartilage is worn in a spot and there is some bone on bone action. My knees aren't tracking properly. This is no shock as I have feet that are flatter than the ground they walk on. I'm taking a bunch of old people pills to try to keep those joints lubricated. And for now, the doc says I shouldn't run unless I want to make it worse. I was very bummed initially but I am somewhat over that now. I'm hoping to get my knee tracking better and maybe look forward to a few runs a week and a 5k or two next spring/summer.

Today I went lap swimming at the pool. So I haven't really gone swimming since having C. I went to a cheap store last night and found a not so functional swimsuit. I tried that puppy on last night and thought, dang, I can't fit well into this thing but I am going swimming tomorrow anyway. Luckily, this morning I figured out I had part of it twisted. WHEW!

The swimming was harder than I thought. I haven't done any laps for a couple of decades so 30 minutes of them killed me. But that's good because obviously I need it. At the end my friend climbs right out of the pool and I thought, "Dang, what in the world am I to do?" Climbing out of the pool would so not be pretty. I ended up dodging people in other lanes to go to the shallow. During this time my friend was patiently waiting (and slightly shivering) for me. I'm so grateful she said she would go because I so would have chickened out.

What else has happened? The kids started school and this time I didn't cry.

T's stomach is finally doing better. The very pricey meds they gave him helped a bunch.

C has started singing Bob the Builder all the time. It's kind of a funny choice for her.

D is excited for school to start.

S tried to hit her substitute church teacher over the head with a toy. She also spit at him and stuck her tongue out. I asked her why and she said she just didn't want him there. He wasn't her teacher. Hopefully she will be allowed back in after that. And thankfully the man (a friend) had a quick hand and caught her arm before she decked him. I don't know if I should be frustrated or not. At least she wasn't caught up in being fake. That has to be something.

Life is still busy busy busy. My basement is coming along. Nacho (I think that is his name. I only heard it when he called) was supposed to come today and didn't. Oh well, it has waited long enough what is another day or two. The 'sheeprock' is all hung though and it has been mudded. YIPPEEE!

And with that I will try to sleep. I feel so much better knowing that I am somewhat 'caught up' on this. (Okay, I know I really am not but I'm considering this done.)

Not the best of wake up calls

You know, sometimes when you are down in the dumps you forget how lucky you are.

Last night before bed I quickly popped onto nieniedialogues.blogspot.com. She doesn't know me at all. Her SIL was my good friend when we were teenagers. My friend died several years ago of cancer and I haven't seen her family since then. They have a fabulous family of 11 kids, all of whom are super talented and genuine people. So when I found a few blogs from their family I was hooked. I love seeing what has happened to them and their kids (including my friend's little boy who was just more than a newborn when she died). Good people are inspiring and this family is like that.

Imagine my surprise when I read that my friends brother and his wife, the writer of nienie had been in a plane crash. The flight instructor has already passed away and it sounds like nienie and her husband are in for a very long haul.

It's hard to understand life occasionally. This family is awesome and I really mean awesome. They cause you to wonder how so many good people can come from just one family. But to have your daughter die of cancer in her twenties and your son to be in a plane crash just seems against the odds. Those aren't normal things.

It helps put things in perspective.

Oh, and M got her hair cut today. She's a big ponytail of it to Pantene's program to give wigs to people with cancer. I'm so thrilled she decided to do it.

Quick Note

I can't be posting bummer stuff all week and not mention a good day.

S went to bed easily in her new room both last night and tonight. YIPPEEEE! She woke up much happier.

DH survived his 18 mile run this morning and wasn't super grouchy today. He got up at 3:30 to do it so that we could drive an hour north to do a race for the kids.

The kids loved the race. It's was S's first one. They each got a stuffed animal as well. I ran it with S and she ran the entire .6 mile. I'm interested in seeing what the MRI says on Monday because it did hurt my knee. The good news is that I got a little weepy when we were about to cross the finish line. That's a good thing because it means there is an attachment. If I can cry the first time M and T ride amusement park rides, I should feel weepy when S crosses her first finish line.

At the race M won a 17 inch Corolle doll. It's a French doll but I didn't know of it. (What kind of crappy French speaker am I?) It's beautiful and will fit in well with her American Girl dolls. T won some hanging art supply organizer thing. David and S didn't win anything in the drawing but D was happy that his stuffed animal was a Build a Bear and was the only one that talked. S loved her chicken (a Sandra Boyton one).

We went to DH's parents' house after and his mom made a fabulous breakfast for us. The kids played with their cousins. I messed up a little when I was ordering my MIL some shoes online. Instead of asking what size she wore, I asked how big her feet were. Then later I was putting her checkbook back into her purse and all I could find was this big black bag (later I found out it was her computer bag). I asked something like, "Is it this big bag?" She didn't know that her purse was actually at her feet and that I was referring to the computer bag. And I didn't know if I had the right bag because that is not something my MIL would carry as a purse. She tends to have pretty cute purses. Luckily we got it cleared up and she didn't think I was rude too long.

The kids played in the water and ate. S hasn't had a snackfest like that in months. Boy, the old S came out quickly. She just couldn't get enough. C wanted to eat and eat too. My MIL commented on how her belly fills up outside her ribs. Yep, that's her milk belly. M had the same belly. It's flat in the morning and very round after drinking a lot.

We made it home and had soup and carrots for dinner. The house still needs cleaning but I think we'll probably just go to bed.

I found some music for my first choir practice tomorrow. It's not the most fancy, that's for certain. I found some really pretty music but decided to keep it easy considering I have NEVER been in a choir and have no idea what to do. I had this dream and imagined my self thinking of sopranos as first violins, altos as seconds, tenors as violas, etc. It may not be pretty but I have to start trying. I hope it works out. I hate to not do things well. I also didn't want to pick stuff that had the men and the women singing separately much because what if no men show up. I don't know the makeup of the choir. The closest I have come to being in the choir was playing the violin with them.

T didn't throw up again last night. We'll see how we do tonight. He has gone as many as 3 days before it all started up again. I am hesitantly hopeful.

Crazy Day

Last night a good friend and I were talking and she pretty much said we were going to switch the rooms of the baby and S. Now the oldest and youngest share and S has a room to herself. The plan was to get this done today. I'll tell you that we did accomplish it. S is in the room that isn't painted with giant flowers and with a lattice fence around the bottom. She no longer has tons of things to look at and occupy her time. She has a room with a bed and a dresser with clothes only in one drawer. We put a lock on her closet and her toys and her hanging clothes are in there. We even took down the drapes in case they might cause her mind to stay too busy. And the kid is asleep. She went to sleep really easily.

Now onto the craziness. I had a hard time catching many breaks today. My friend had offered to come help me switch the rooms. I wanted to get working early and have a bunch of work done. When I came out of the purple room I found the couches turned into forts, the bill drawer open and bills torn up, a spill in the recently cleaned living room floor, things EVERYWHERE, etc. But you know, that is kind of expected.

S went out in the backyard and laid on her back on the porch and screamed and threw a fit because she was angry.

Then it got better. T came in and asked if he could have some more medicine. Um, no kid. You don't get extra medicine. Several minutes later (that could be 5 or 20 I really can't remember) M came in and told us that T had spilled some medicine. Yes, the kid had gotten the lid off of his rx and spilled 3 doses. There were two left and he had taken one. Did I mention that with insurance that rx was 40 buckaroos. I was furious. He could get so hurt if he just gulps down medicine. Luckily he didn't. I called the pharmacy and they said to get 3 more doses of that medicine it would be 87 dollars. So I called the doctor's office and he said to see how the next two doses go and if they aren't helping then there's no need to buy more.

I then fed the kids lunch. S was going to put her bowl in the sink and I took it from her so she wouldn't drop it and break it. Usually she puts her cup on the counter (it's more of a small mug) so she can get a drink later if she wants. That's not how it went this time. She dropped that puppy in the sink and broke it.

A little big later I went to shut the pantry and found my mandarin oranges gone. You have to remember, I just fed the kids lunch. And really, I don't mind if they eat mandarin oranges. But when we are at home, we use the cans. The little single serving super pricey ones are for lunches away from home. So to find that almost all of the 16 packs of mandarin oranges I purchased earlier this week gone was more than frustrating. My friend went into T's room (where he was on his bed for getting into his rx) and found the missing oranges. He was stashing them in his room. A little bit later she found 4 bags of future school lunch chips under their bed. I know T is hungry now and I don't care how often he eats. But keep it out of the bedroom.

So we continue to work and work. Someone came over and bid my 'sheeprock' and later called back with an acceptable bid (yeah work starts next week). My friend and I were moving the full sized bed to another wall in the purple room for S. It has been up in there with the crib for company. I didn't S to be on the same wall as the baby though and so we were going to move it across the room. I looked down and thought I saw the baby playing with a white crayon. I don't really think little bite on an icky crayon is the end of the world. Several minutes later I walked into the other room and found 3 blue and white capsules on the ground with one opened and empty. I immediately called my mother because they stay in that room. Fortunately, the pills were antibiotics and not my mom's blood thinner.

Of course, S got possessive about her things in her room. I got out her play house and let her play. C stepped on it and got slammed to the ground. (We later did the lesson on what to do if that happens again.)

The rest of the day wasn't bad. I'm sure I am missing a few things. It just seemed like it was one thing after another all day long. And as crazy as it was, that's how all days feel.

I had DH get a lock for S's closet door on his way home from work. He also brought some hamburgers home so I wouldn't have to cook. I was really grateful.

Once again, it was successful, if even for one day. S went to bed without a 3 hour fight.

Sing with me

Feel free to dance as well. "It's raining. It's pouring. The old man is snoring."

But in this case no one gets to snore dang it.

I'm going to pull out a little Pollyanna here for a minute.

The good news:

-It looks to be a gorgeous day today.
-T threw up less last night than the previous night AND he made it to the pan.
-The tv is off and no one is turning it back on right now.
-D found the bottles under the seat in the car.
-I only have 3 things going on today. Someone from D's program is bringing me paperwork to sign. Three kids have cleanings at the dentist. And finally M and T (if he feels like it) have a fiddling concert at a park.
-I have a cell phone again.
-The cell phone has jawbreaker on it. (I love that dumb game.)
-DH didn't say no when I told him I was calling to get a bid on our 'sheeprock.'

And to now lose the Pollyanna I'll add that my grandpa died yesterday. He has been very sick for a couple of months. I'm especially sad for my mom and grandma though. I am, however, glad he is no longer suffering. They are all coming up here in two weeks for services (he is being cremated (not my thing) and his ashes are going to be sprinkled at the lake he so loved).

Lab Results

T doesn't have Celiac. That's good.

He does have an elevated white blood cell count and high neutrophil bands. The doc said it's obvious his body is trying to fix something that is wrong.

When I got a hold of the pediatric GI's office I was told the first available appointment was Dec. 8th. They asked me if I preferred 11, 11:30 or 12. Hmmm... that's a half a year away, how about 11 am.

Luckily, when I called them back and told them we would probably just take him up to the children's hospital they found a cancellation (and right at that very moment, AMAZING ;) on August 28th. So we will take him up then and have a little appointment which will most likely be nothing more than a consult and then we'll follow up with another visit or two. Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll all go away by then. The ped GI did tell our doc to put him on a specific medicine. Our pharmacy won't be able to get it in until tomorrow.

I had my MRI today. The results will be back in the next day or two. My good friend went for a massage today and I joked with her that I got my pampering too. I got to sit with my body in the MRI machine for 35 somewhat quiet minutes.

On the way home I stopped at a gas station to buy a Diet Coke. They also had flowery hair bows for sale (obviously made by the lady that worked there). Only in my area could you get gas, a coke, and a hairbow.

I'm not quite so worried now. I didn't pray for everything to turn around, just peace. And I got it.

And now it's time to clean. Lucky me.

Sick Yet Again

I have never seen a kid be this sick yet be so fine. He threw up more than he has eaten in days. I'll be calling the doctor first thing tomorrow.

I woke DH up to stay by the shower while he was in there so I could clean up the huge area on the floor. And after that we prayed. We have to find out what in the world is going on with him. I can't sleep knowing that I check on him to make sure his little chest is rising and falling.

He looks pretty healthy because he got a little red today when we were outside. I just don't want to miss a bunch of moments. Maybe tomorrow we'll forget the house (except finishing the towels and clothes from tonight) and celebrate a bit.

The kids are into snowflakes right now (I don't get it) and I think we will make a bunch and hang them from the ceiling. Who knows what else we'll do.

Well, kids will be up in four hours (or sooner if T gets sick again) and so I had better force myself to quit thinking about extremes and get some sleep. I won't be able to enjoy my time with the kids tomorrow if I am a crankster.

This is what happens when you are cheap

I'll get to the cheap part in a minute.

I took S to her therapy appointment. Her therapist gave me an idea to try to help her go to sleep. I am going to make a cd of some boring adult show (but just the sound) and have that play as she is sleeping. Matlock really does put her to sleep in the afternoon. It may not work but I have a bunch of unused cd's so what do I have to lose.

We came home and proceeded to get ready to go to the museum. The dentist's office called and wanted to switch the time on T's appointment. I was a little frustrated at the time just because I had the schedule packed pretty tightly. In the end it worked out to go there first and the other place later. They were super quick and got him in and out of there.

The museum was packed. I say that not knowing if it was really packed. Really, all I saw was one ginormous line. I'm all about deals but not this kind. It's exhilerating to go to Target and know there are several aisles of toys all marked to 75% off and you have it all to yourself. It's not so fun to stand outside with a bunch of people who are all after your deal too.

We decided that it wasn't worth it. It would be so packed inside that it wouldn't even be fun. In fact, it would have been really stressful because it's hard to watch your kids when there is a sea of little blond heads.

We checked out the farm but it was packed with people who most likely came to see the dinosaurs and then wanted to do something because they forked over the dinero for the gas. That too had a line. We can drive around our town and see a little bit of farm.

We ended up at the gardens. The gardens are gorgeous and usually pretty pricey. We lost half our group though. I talked to my neighbor after and she said they went to another entrance. Luckily, she said they still had a lot of fun.

We found another friend and her family about 30 minutes after leaving the dinosaur place. I have to be honest, I really think I am just too dang uptight. I so want them to have a good time but dang it I want them to be model citizens too. The kids don't always think those two things go together. We had a few battles with kids getting off the path or grass. It's hard for me to balance the desire to want them to be curious with sticking to all rules and playing it safe. I hate to say it but it's my nature to want to sacrifice a little curiosity for compliance.

I think the kids all had fun. I don't know if S truly had fun. I told her this mornign to wear her sandals. She insisted on wearing Mary Janes without socks. I told her to put her sandals on and she wouldn't. I knew what the consequence was. She had hurting feet halfway though the day. I told her she could stay in the stroller but she had to stay there. So I carried C in one arm and tried to push the umbrella stroller with S using the other arm. I'm so lucky that M was able to help me out. I don't think she was super thrilled with the idea but I really needed her. D was more than willing to help but he kept running into people's heels. T got tired really quickly there. It's so not like him.

But at dinner the kids all said they had fun. And I believe that's what counts. We were all just a bit hot by the time we left and I was a little frazzled. But to the kids frazzled was a price worth paying to see a water snake and a almost dead giant dragonfly.

We made it home in one piece. T went to the neighbors to play and came home a while later crying. He had an accident there. His tummy just couldn't hold up. I was super discouraged. I tend think of extremes. I just kept thinking about how I really can't figure out how I can send him to school with his current issues. Without a cause I can't come up with a solution. (In fact the kid just got up to go to the bathroom, hooray he made it, and I had to call him out to snuggle him and remind him how happy I was the day I got to snuggle with my first little living boy.)

I also had a call from my doctor's office saying my MRI was scheduled for tomorrow. The only problem was that they didn't leave a time and I couldn't get through to them. Luckily, the sleuthe in me called the hospital and found out what time. Then I tried to find a sitter. No teenagers were available. I couldn't use a teenager for S anyway because she is in her really angry hurtful mode. I lucked out and found three families that could each take a kid or two. What would I do without these people?

My heart is broken as I type this. T just got sick again. He seemed glad that it was only throw up. I told him to go and get his pillow and we would lay on the floor in the family room and I would snuggle with him. I'm worried enough about him that I want to take this quiet moment and just enjoy my little boy. With that I am off. I need to make memories right now more than I need to record them.

Why threaten consequences that you don't want to give

Tomorrow I am planning on taking the kids to a dinosaur museum. It's a discount day there and those are few and far between. With a gazillion little ones it really does save to wait for days like this. D behaved very well today knowing he wanted to go. T had a good violin lesson because he wanted to go. Then, tonight I told S that she needed to go in and stay in her bed or she wouldn't be going with us to the museum. She got out of her bed and started playing. Now of course I told her that if she didn't get enough sleep she would be cranky and well, I really thought she would obey. She was yawning after all.

So now my quandary. I really don't want to leave her with a sitter. I had chosen to piggyback the museum trip with a trip to the dentist for T. Do you know how much it's going to cost me to leave her with a sitter for five hours. And really, do you know how much fun she would have with a fun teenager for that many hours. Yep, that's right. She would have loads of fun and someone with a smile to listen to incessant chatter. But do I pay even more if I go back on my word.

My thought right now is to take her and not let her do anything. She can sit on the side and watch. But I don't know. I might be making a huge mistake if I do that.

Either way it's not right. Why does she do this? I just can't figure her out. She has to be one of the most noncompliant children I have ever seen. And she's so dang cute as she acts that way. She can fool just about anyone. She knows when to say the right answers. Everything is, "Maybe tomorrow I can try to do better." The problem is that she really just wants you off her case. Well, that, and she wants to keep talking. So then you feel horrible for doing what all the parenting classes tell you to do. You ignore that because she's just trying to get more attention adn all the classes say that to a kid negative attention is better than no attention. So, as the parent, you feel like crap because you are ignoring your kid. And I really think the kid in the case knows it. If I did things my way I would talk and reason with her and just make her see why she wants to be good. In the end, she is like most kids. She knows exactly what she is done wrong. She doesn't need an explanation. And well, she knows that the second she is punished she should start screaming about needing to go potty (because that will make most parents think at least for a second). She still really thinks she is in control. The therapist says it's a really hard cycle to break in kids. He said the fight or flight response starts kids thinking this way and they just have such a difficult time getting out of it.

So what do the parents do to help a kid get out of the cycle. They set limits. They discipline without emotion even when they want to scream (okay, that would be me not my DH).

Speaking of discipline, S got to change into zipper jammies as part of her consequence. I then slipped when talking to DH and said something like, "I guess she can go back to bed now." And then DH reminded me she had to go back to timeout on the paint can. I told her to go back to her can and she said to me, "Actually Mom, it's your paint can."

I walked out of the room and just giggled to myself. She's hilarious and so sharp (and adorable to boot).

How can we get her to make good decisions? UGH! And this is at three. What will we ever do when she is a teen if we can't get her to do the right thing now.

Sheeprock

Tonight at dinner M was talking about how excited she was to have the basement done. She asked DH if he could have the insulation all done in the next day or so so that we could have the 'sheeprock' done. She didn't get it even when we giggled. DH asked her if that meant the walls would go baaaa.

DH told the boys they had to have under their bed clean before dinner. We were outside checking out the garden when D came out and claimed they had finished. He sat down to the table and asked for a bunch of bell pepper strips (fresh from the garden) because he is the self proclaimed pepper boy. T was also ready to eat. Boy were they surprised when DH told them to go back and finish. He told me to go and peak at what they had done. The entire middle of their room was covered in stuff. All they had done was move the stuff from under the bed to the middle of the floor. A huge portion of it turned out to be trash. Crazy boys. They really thought they could get away with it. DH and I learned to be a little more specific.

I asked S what her lesson was about in her class at church today. The first thing she told me was graham crackers. What a turkey. This food thing is going to be hard to figure out. She was easier today and I think she was also happier. She was actually really pretty funny today. She was doing somersaults over and over. She grunts in between each one.

Oh and lastly (and slightly out of order) I have to mention our garden. It's OUT OF CONTROL. The cukes weren't growing so I planted extra. They have since taken over. The problem is that the plants are so dense that I can't find the cukes. I also found out today that one of my 6 packs of red peppers must have been mislabeled because I am growing chilies. That's okay because my bell peppers are producing like crazy and I have a bunch of them (although I could eat them every day and that is why I wanted 12 plants). I'll have to figure out what to do with the chilies. Most likely they'll just go in salsa (oh and they could be some other pepper like a banana pepper or something). I need to get out there and plant a bunch of carrots for fall.

As for the trees and berries, they are doing their thing. We are having problems with C picking blackberries when they aren't ready (YUCK!) and getting blackberry juice all over her clothes. Maybe it's cheaper to just buy the berries in the store. The peaches seem smaller this year. Maybe we didn't pick enough off our tree. They are already getting red spots on them and are not a whole lot bigger than giant apricots. That advice that your tree will generally yield about the same if you prune it more makes sense. Last year we pruned like crazy and had HUGE fruit. This year they aren't so huge and we didn't prune as much. We did pluck a bunch of the baby fruit off though. The tree is still loaded though. Our mistake.

The pear tree looks good. Actually, the tree itself looks pretty ugly. The branches are all droopy and covered in fruit. But the pears, they look good. We should just have about a month on them. They seem to be just about the size they always are. We do get grocery store sized pears every year. I'm hoping that the peaches and pears can make it so we don't have to buy much of anything (except maybe my dear pink lady apples) in September and early October.

A neighbor kid came down to see us during dinner time. T invited herself in and told us she hadn't had dinner. She helped herself to some green pepper and was about to have a potato when her mom, my good friend, came over. She had sneaked out.

And with that I end. DH needs to check his results from yesterday's race.

Another Doctor's Visit

Yep, that makes number 3 in the last 5 days. And what's worse is that this time the visit was for ME! Yesterday I had a slightly pink eye and today it was icky. I was a tad bit embarrassed to go in for that though. The doctor said I was the 4th case of the day at the urgent care facility. At least I wasn't alone.

So 65 dollars later I have a little tiny bottle of drops. DH was glad I went though because having it spread through the other 6 in the family would have been awful.

I had a funny memory from the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. Of course all of the commentators are trying to make it more interesting with a little info about this country and that country. When the Central African Republic came out the commentator said something like "The Central African Republic is located in central Africa...." I couldn't help smiling. You could tell they thought it was lame too.

Should I just say I am grateful that S has had so many steps forward in recent months because it makes me not as discouraged that she seems to be going back now. Maybe we had enough improvement that we will still be ahead. She's struggling with control issues again. She really thinks she is in control of everything.

D, on the other hand, is making progress on the lying front. He has had a few opportunities to make up lies and has told the truth. I'm hoping he sees that he's not getting in so much trouble now that he isn't lying as much.

Let's hope we have less doctor visits this week. We have the dentist on Tuesday for T. But that's it so far. We do have to call and schedule the pediatric GI appointment but I'm sure it will take them a while to get us in. But luckily we have no ballet or summer camp for D. If we have to go to appointments for the kids (most likely because of pink eye) it won't be as difficult.

Spoke Too Soon

Maybe we got lucky for a day with T. His tummy was back to being its normal messed up self. This morning we were going to go watch DH finish a half marathon. Right as I was getting ready to say get in the car, T threw up. I need to go back and look at the calendar. But I think this is about the 6th or seventh day of that in the last two and half weeks. What's crazy is that he doesn't usually throw up again on the same day. He acts fine. He is just getting so skinny. Yesterday he had on his short jammie shorts and I could see the bones in his legs all the way to the top and his little knees looks huge. I'm contemplating calling the doctor up again because he said if it went on for another week to come in and it's been a week now since we were there. We are going to have to put new flooring in the boys room. It has been thrown up on way too many times lately.

So we aren't going to watch DH finish.

Last night we went to a magic show. It was at a park. Right before we left I changed C's diaper. She made a funny face while we were there and then got herself into a funny position. Yep, she managed to pee out of her diaper onto DH's foot and leg. He left and I got to keep all 6 kids (we had a neighbor with us) with me. The good news in that is that I think she might be easy to potty train.

We may have figured something out

After talking to the allergist I decided to have T try lactaid. Supposedly you have primary lactose intolerance before you are two and both he and C were quite sick from the get go. So I did a little research and now am wondering about congenital lactose intolerance. Maybe we passed on some lame gene dang it.

Anyway, back to the lactaid. He drank it today and his tummy was fine. Maybe it's a coincidence but heck I'm grateful. I was looking at him today and his long legs just looked so skinny. A neighbor mentioned to me that he looked very skinny and all I could say was that has hasn't been absorbing a lot of his food lately.

I'm looking forward to continuing the little experiment. My good friend R notice today that S freaks out when she thinks she might miss a meal. She freaked out yesterday when I sent D down to pick her up. We were going to go out to eat. My friend said she needs to videotape it because she gets very worked up. Then today she asked to go home because she said R's house wasn't her house and she wanted to be at her house. It came up that we were having early dinner. R said it really is a panicky look. I told her I have seen it because she did it at the arch place yesterday when she thought everyone might get to the fries before she could get out of the playland. She literally acts like she is going to hyperventilate. I promise she is eating enough. She is looking so much more healthy. She no longer tries to eat as much as two adults. But she still has some issues.

How Not to Kill a Fly

We have had our fair share of flies in the house. (I know all moms are not even wondering why. Yes, it is the fact that 5 kids and all of their friends leave the doors open. If you are wondering why it's cooling down a few degrees outside you can thank us too.)

Today there was a particularly pesty one in the bathroom as I did my hair.

I tried to blow dry him dead. It didn't work.

It's too bad I just can't find my bug zapper paddle that dh got me for my birthday one year. My brand new bug zapper paddle didn't see a lot of action due to the fact that there aren't really any flying bugs in the winter. And then I put it in a safe place. It'll be an antique by the time I find it.

Just one last note

Tonight a good friend and I stole another friend from her husband and went out and grabbed dessert. I just have to add a note to this blog about it because I want to make sure I remember some day how lucky I am to have such great friends.

While leaving our neighborhood we saw a beautiful vibrant rainbow (actually a double). Our kidnapped friend asked to borrow my cell phone (which is dead from the vase incident) and then borrowed my other friends. She just wanted to call home to tell her kids to look outside at the beautiful rainbow. What a tender friend. I don't know if there are many people in the world that can find beauty in everything like this friend.

And on a funny note, my other friend got a text about a girl she had helped for a previous pageant. The girl was doing another one and forgot the bottoms to her swimsuit. She had to wear shorts. There's a reason to wear a one piece suit right there. :)

The American Boy Doll

The American Girl doll is a favorite in our house. M saved up for nine months in order to buy her first one. (Luckily, grandma got her second one for Christmas last year.) So for a year and a half M has been talking about this American Girl thing and that American Girl thing. Shortly after M got her doll, T started talking about how someday he was going to get an American Boy doll. We always just laughed it off. Of course he thought it would be cool. He is surrounded by M and all her friends that think AG dolls are the greatest thing ever.

I thought he had forgotten.

But today in the car M was talking about how she was saving her money in the bank for some AG stuff. T, once again, started talking about the American Boy doll. M told him the only boy was a Bitty Baby and he didn't care. He said he was going to get one that was just like him. He wants one that is totally cool like him. I could hardly control the laughter. Then later in the day I thought about it again and just started laughing away.

M's lost tooth

M lost a tooth yesterday. When I asked her where she wanted to go out to eat she said she wanted Chinese food. Then she paused and said she wanted to ask the others where they wanted to eat so everyone would be happy.

The goofball in me got a little teary over that. She's such a good kid.

But it's too bad. We are now stuck going to that arch place tonight. Oh, and the tooth fairy forgot last night. That dang tooth fairy.

I took 4 kids to my parenting group today. I filled my requirement of going but I didn't get a whole lot out of it. On the good side, I saved myself 17 bucks for a babysitter.

Yesterday I took T and C to the allergist. The good news is that C isn't showing food allergies, just intolerances. That's good news because she may outgrow them. The bad news is, of course, that there are still a ton of things that make that tummy of hers sick.

T, on the other hand, surprised the allergist. He said he was expecting him to have reactions but nothing like what he had. He said he is a highly allergic kid. We left there with another prescription for a daily med, reason to really give him his daily puffer, a suggestion to try to get rid of carpet in our house, and a choice to follow up with him or a pediatric pulmonologist in 3 months. No wonder the kid has landed in the hospital once and the ER many times. He's a mess. We are checking out some floor options for our basement. Right now we are looking at laminate and cork. We have hard wood upstairs but it takes a beating from the kids. Well, and at 1900 sq feet, laminate is a chunk of change less. But it'll be cold and I don't know about heating the entire basement floor like we are the bathroom down there. Cork would be warmer and more cozy to the kids' little (or not so little) feet. Choices choices! I'm almost glad we aren't on schedule with finishing it.

I'm feeling like a new person. My hair has no gray for a week or two. I'm such a slacker about getting my hair colored and so I forget how much better it looks.

We're all people

Today S asked me if I get boogers. I told her we all have them.

"Of course. We are all people."

I just laughed and laughed.

Can it really be August?

How in the heck can it be August? This summer has been full of running (but not the physical kind, more the soccer mom type). It seems like we have had no rest time.

Well that is finally changing. Dance and summer reading are done for the summer. We have swim lessons for M and T twice a week for the next month (D will start in Sept. when he has time). And of course, we have those music lessons for which the kids are unprepared. Still, that isn't bad at all. Maybe I'll finally have enough time to get that gray in my hair colored. I haven't really had enough time to get it in and have it process. So I have just let it grow. And let me tell you, that isn't pretty.

So what's new at our house? Not a whole lot is new. I am hoping D is ready to be a truth teller. He didn't get to go swimming on his field trip last week because of it. Today he FINALLY told the truth after starting a tale about a toy doing something on its own. He broke the cycle. This may seem trivial. To me, however, it is HUGE! He had a pretty good weekend. I think he is going to have a great week.

T has been a turkey. I went in today and found him moving the mattress on his top bunk so it would make a slide. How many times do I have to say that things like that are a little less than safe? I took him to the doc on Saturday for his well check. Of course he was a giant. I mentioned to the doc that I was a little worried about his lungs as we have had smoke from fires in the sky. The doc said he was wheezing a bit in one lung from the back. Then during C's well check he put the stethoscope (or however you spell it) to his chest to show her it was okay and got a little worried. He said he could not believe how quickly his lungs were getting worse and that it was good we came in that very day. The funny (not in a ha ha way) thing is that the appointment had originally been scheduled for two days earlier but we had sick kids (okay and 75 percent off toys at Target) and so we rescheduled. T ended up with a steroid in the office and a prescription for more. I'm so grateful we were there when we were.

M went with her Grannie to see her new cabin (the Grannie's not M's). She had a fabulous time collecting all sorts of rocks. Thank heavens I got a little wiser and moved her rock collection to the backyard. Some of these are huge. She finally earned her MP3 player by practicing. She has been loving that thing. I'm not so sure if I like her having it. She seems more grown up.

S had a date with DH this week. They went to arches place. It was a special treat because dh bought S a happy meal and we don't generally do happy meals. DH usually reminds the kids that we go to a restaurant to eat and not to buy toys. She was just so thrilled to go on her date.

C and I were in Target on Monday. I said something about how she was my baby and she suddenly said, "No baby!" Then she started screaming it. I hate to say it but for once a screaming kid in Target was adorable. She has really decided she isn't no longer a baby. She also hates having a wet diaper on. Maybe she'll be my one that is potty trained early. I tried putting her on but she really was only interested in wiping the cheek of her behind.

I got the kids signed up for school. I don't know M's teacher but the others should be fine. The kids are looking forward to school as much as I am.

I finished the book Breaking Dawn. I'm a sucker for those things (hee hee sucker). That really isn't what I wanted to write about though. Someone I know stopped by to drop some things off and I had the book in my hand. She mentioned that she didn't read them because she thought they were based on evil. You'd think I'd want to convince her otherwise because I really like the books. Instead, I found a greater admiration for her. She is sticking to what she believes and isn't just going along with the crowds. Good for her!

Hmmm... late it is. I had a little reminder that even in tough times, all is well. It was a good thing to be reminded of today. Life is good. It isn't going to ever be easy. But it is good.