Connor about gave me a heart-attack today!

Connor gave us the scare of a lifetime today. **let me just say, everyone is FINE now**

We had been playing outside. Today was the last day of school, it was a half day as well, so we came home and filled up the kiddie pool. Connor is not a water baby. He would rather take a bucket and dump all the water out of the pool and that's okay. He was in the pool for maybe five minutes, went down the slide a few times and then wanted a snack. 

He's sitting there, eating chex mix in his lawn chair when all of the sudden he grabs his neck with his head cocked to the side and just starts bawling while screaming ''it hurts! it hurts!". So I immediately think he had to have gotten stung by a bee. But I look all over his neck, no bite, no scratch, no redness. I start asking him questions: Does it hurt on your skin or inside, like your bones? He says '' I don't know but it hurts". His head was really bent over, so I tried tilting his neck to the other side...bad idea. He started screaming louder. 

Let me interrupt myself here by saying that on Sunday, Connor had a fever of 103, goopy green eyes and needed his inhaler...virtually out of nowhere. He was wheezing, coughing and burning up. I treated him with motrin/tylenol, gave him his inhaler and he calmed down. Monday I took him to the doctor and he was put on an oral steriod for his cough, as it was caused by his wheezing from his Asthma. So on Wednesday morning he was checked again and he sounded much much better. Doctor said to finish up the 5 day course of steriods to be on the safe side but that he was doing great.

So when today he is clutching his neck and screaming, my first thought was ''Oh shit, meningitis". I immediately yelled at everyone to strip off their swimsuits, go inside, go potty and get dressed as quickly as possible. It was 4:02 at this point and our health clinic on post closes at 4:30. I did not want to have to take him to the Emergency Room downtown. So I called the nurse at the clinic and she was hesitant ''The doctor is confident that Connor was doing better yesterday, maybe he pulled his neck playing outside, give him Motrin and rest''. I said ''No''. The way his neck was bent, I just knew something wasn't right. I said I could be there in 10 minutes, she said to bring him in. I left my house at 4:06 and was at the clinic by 4:13...I live about 12-15 minutes away but drove like an Italian and cut that time in half. To make a really long story shorter, it wasn't meningitis. 

It took two doctors but they finally said ''We think it's an acute dystonic reaction to his oral steroid medication." They were honest as they weren't sure. Neither doctor had ever heard of anyone having such a reaction after an oral steroid (only after anti-psychotic drugs or anti-nausea drugs) but since the treatment for this dystonic reaction is a high dose of Benadryl, we really had no reason not to try. If it was what they thought it was he would be better in 15 minutes or less. If it wasn't, then we would have to go to the ER for x-rays. So Connor got a big ol' shot of Benadryl. 

10 minutes passed and he was still refusing to move his head and the crying was now worse from the shot. 

20 minutes passed and Connor (who had been crying because of his shot) had snot running down his face. He immediately sat up and said ''I need a tissue'' and when doing so, had straightened out his neck. For over an hour; his neck was so bent that his left ear was touching his left shoulder and he would not stop crying. Luckily after this one shot and a full 30 minutes later, he was back to normal. We do have to give him Benadryl around the clock for the first 24 hours, just to make sure it doesn't reoccur before the prednisone works it's way out of his system. And he's done taking that. His lungs still sounded clear today so it's not an issue that he didn't take the entire treatment.

I was trying to stay calm, cool and collected but I was freaking out! Seeing him and knowing that he couldn't control his own neck, seeing how scared he was, made it really hard. Luckily Ron was able to meet me at the clinic and watch the other kiddos and I was able to devout my full attention to Connor. 

Once home, he changed into his superhero pajamas and was back to fighting crime. He's still pretty slow moving, still pretty moody but he's okay, he's home and while it might happen again, we know that it is more annoying than dangerous. (I'll be honest, I did NOT ask what would have happened had I not brought him straight to the clinic). I think I lost five years off of my life today, but he had it worse. 

The downside of living in Italy when you have 4 kids

We have lived in Italy for over a year and overall it's been a fantastic year. We have gotten to do so many things that I never imagined ever being able to do/see. Spring break in Tuscany? Check. Spending the day after Christmas is Venice? Done. Visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa...twice? That happened. Visiting the highest point in Germany which means being in the Alps? Did that too. Spending an afternoon in Austria? Yep! I've drank amazing wine, ate fantastic food, met wonderful people. 

But Italy has been very hard on us medically. One of the things that we were not warned about before coming here was that asthma sufferers usually have it worse here. Which when 2 out of 4 kids have asthma, would have been nice to know. Sissy has even been prescribed at inhaler since being here, though she doesn't carry the diagnosis yet. Mold is also a HUGE problem here in Northern Italy and Bubba's number one allergy is mold. Needless to say we are constantly dealing with albuterol & Flo-vent inhalers and oral prednisone. While all of these medicines make the kids better, I worry about the long term effects of being on them so often. These are steroids and these are small kids. (Bubba is almost 7 and weighs 42lbs) Bubba rarely needed his inhaler in Texas...maybe twice a month after playing outside or walking home from school. Now he takes them daily. Often I wake up in the middle of the night to his wheezing cough. It's really hard.

This is the first week of the new year and Peanut got hit hard with it. He had a light cough on Sunday and by Monday morning he is wheezing and I can see his chest doing that slight cave when he breathes. So we are back to breathing treatments (which for some reason are more effective than the inhaler with chamber for him).

So what started as a cold has now lead to prednisone twice a day, pulmicort via nebulizer twice a day and albuterol every 3 hours via nebulizer. He also has a slight fever and is complaining of his ears. So Motrin/Tylenol as needed too.

Now I know kids get sick, but as they get older they should start to outgrow this, so to speak. And Bubba was...but Italy makes it so hard.

Another part of the problem is hard water. Kids who have asthma, often have eczema...which is true for us. Both Bubba and Sissy will get to the point where they scratch so much in their sleep that they bleed. Despite limiting their time in the tub, using Cetaphil for their bath soap...its just so dry. So in addition to the asthma meds, both use a hydro cortisone cream on their skin and take Zyrtec daily. That is a lot of medicine for kids. Daily. Everyday, not just when having an asthma flare up.

Adding to all this is the amount of times that I've had a sinus infection since being here. I am also on Zyrtec daily, as well as Flo-nase. I use nasal rinses daily and still average one sinus infection every 6 weeks or so. So much so that I have to go for a follow up this month and if my sinuses are still swollen, I'm being referred to an ENT for sinus surgery. Since being here I've also had a few other issues resulting in neurologist consults, MRIs and seeing doctors on the economy. Nothing due to Italy but I'm not getting treatment like I should, being here. And paying €400 for an MRI isn't easy when you're a family of six and stateside insurance would cover 100%.

So as awesome as Italy is, and as much as we haven't gotten to do/see since being here...we're starting to think about life after Italy. Being here as civilians, we are here for 3 years. However, after one year if you get a job back in the states that will cover a PCS move you are able to leave. Due to the medical issues we're having here and the fact that at the end of 3 years we have return rights to San Antonio (none of us wants to move back to SA, even the kids) B has begun looking and at some jobs stateside now.

It's bittersweet. Of course in this economy it may end up that we will be here for a full three years and we realize that. We made it through a year of this, we could do two more. Just if we get the chance to return home, we are at the point where we will take it. It's leave earlier for a place and job that we would love to have and finally be able to settle down, or stay for 2 years and return to SA where we do not want to settle and end up moving yet again.

All of that being said, we're still planning on making the most of it while we are here! We are planning out our Spring Break trip now....Paris! We want to take the kids to Disneyland Paris as well as see the sights. I want to spend a 4 day weekend in Spain and I would love to visit Belgium. We're well within driving distance to Slovenia, Austria, and Croatia. As well as the French Riviera. We have big plans while we're here (and now that Sissy is potty trained everything is that much easier!) but we are okay if they don't happen either. I see it as yes, there is certainly a lot that I haven't done but I am so, so grateful for what I *have* done and I will not leave with regrets. I've already experienced so much more that I ever thought possible.

Are you Curious to see who turned 4??

So Peanut is my easy-going child, I've said that before. But when the kid decided back in May to have a Curious George Birthday party, I loved him for it. I was able to get all the plates/cups/napkins on clearance. I had MONTHS to think about the little things. Now granted, while the party turned out just how I wanted it to (well, minus helium balloons) I didn't have a chance to take the all the photos that I wanted. Not that it matters, my little man had a BLAST and that's all that matters :)

First, we sent the above invites. I designed them myself ( gotta love free) and after talking to Peanut we decided we wanted to try a breakfast/pajama party. I was tired of the hamburger/hotdog/pizza parties and he loved the idea of pajamas and a movie. Plus having a party where the guests are gone by 1pm and all people involved still have 1/2 the day to do whatever they want...score!

Tables set up in living room and playroom.

 Food table and book display in kitchen. The kids helped me find props to match the books (Curious George and the Aquarium= Penguin, Curious George Rides a Train= the thomas train, etc) This isn't even 1/2 the food as some was still in the oven. All together there was: cinnamon rolls, cereal, bacon, blueberry pancakes, yogurt parfait bar, an egg and ham bake (in crockpot), bananas, baked french toast, Sunny D, Yoohoo for the kids' drinks, Coffee k-cups and Milk (in glass bottles) for the adults.

 We watched the Curious George movie for a bit but the kids didn't want to sit still for very long. We ended up turning on the Xbox Kinect and they all LOVED that. It was a crowded living room but they were all jumping around. We settled down an ate, then opened presents.

 Then it was time for cupcakes and pinata!

 

 Peanut had so much fun with his friends. His friends seemed have all had a great time and the parents all thought the idea of a pajama/breakfast party was great. It really was easy to pull off, fun and to be honest...cheaper! Eggs, pancake mix, texas toast...all easy peasy on the grocery bill!

Gah! Talk about a blogging hiatus...

So I kinda took an unintentional month long break from blogging there...I was busy living life, instead of just sharing and telling about it.

We had Halloween parties and B leaving for a couple weeks for work. One mama with four kids, in the middle of cold and flu season left us with some pretty rough days. We had ear infections and sinus infections, antibiotics, vaporizers and doctor appointments. Add in a puppy who I'm trying to house train and who is also on antibiotics, a torrential amount of rainfall and flooding, 6 days of no school due to parent teacher conferences and Veteran's day, then the day to day chores and lastly Mom catching the stomach flu and whew...a whole month flew by since my last post!

I could say ''Oh it wasn't all bad" but honestly, it was rough. I'm used to B working overtime or going TDY for a bit here and there but this time he got to return stateside while I stayed back dealing with everything in Italy. That was a tough pill to swallow. He got to see my family, his family, he got to meet my new baby nephew, he was able to catch up with friends and cousins and shop at Walmart/Target. He went to the casino, ate Mexican food and shop at ''real'' Malls. He got to sleep in on weekends and stay out as late as he wanted. Yes, he attended a course for work while home, but he also got to have a lot of fun. And he got to see Kansas in the Fall. I love the colors and the crisp air that Autumn brings. Needless to say, I was (and I still am) uber-jealous.

And I don't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer...we tried to have fun too! We did see ''Wreck it Ralph", we went to our favorite garden store and saw their Christmas display. We went to the park and playground, we took photos for our Christmas cards (not once...not twice...but THREE trips to the park in order to get a decent picture). We made pizza, we had our lazy pajama/movie/xbox days too. We played outside, we played with the doggies...heck we even taught Lucca how to fetch!

Bubba and Pooks each had their parent teacher conferences. Both are doing outstanding!

According to his teacher, Pooks is a well rounded student. He is on track socially and developmentally. He scored mostly "CD"s on his report card with a few "P"s as well. (P= progressing, CD= consistently displayed). He is doing very well in his Language Arts as well as reading and letter recognition. He went into kindergarten recognizing all letters of the alphabet, upper and lowercase, but now he knows almost all of the phonics as well. He's recognizing numbers, patterns and shapes. Socially, he's on track. He's a good listener  he works well with other students....I could go on and on, but he's doing great! Mrs. T even joked about putting in a request now, to have Peanut in her class later.

Bubba is doing just as well. Mrs O said that he was an ''ideal student'' and she wished her own kids had been so well behaved and eager to learn. She thinks that Bubba consistently displays a desire and a true interest in learning. He's a good listener, he follows instructions, he is one of the students in class that doesn't need reminded to stand still in line or to get his snack, etc. He remembers to do his homework and does it well. He is reading at a level "I" which is right where he's suppose to be. Mrs. O said that his listening comprehension skills are good and his spelling is too. Each week they have a spelling test of 12 words and Bubba has never missed more than one word (and correct capitalization counts for/against as well). He loves art, he's great at drawing pictures for his stories and he is just right where he should be.

As a mom, I left those conferences BEAMING with pride. When you have two kids so close in age, it's kinda nerve-wracking  I'll be honest, I knew Bubba was doing well at school. He takes him homework sheet very importantly, he's constantly reading (for fun), he's never been in trouble and I've always heard good things about him from any/all of his previous teachers. But, I was slightly nervous about Pooks. He's in kindergarten, it's all new to him. He isn't as slow and methodical as Bubba. He rushes through his homework to get it done (and while it's often done hurriedly, it is correct). He gets antsy and things sometimes come easy to him which means free-time, which means he gets bored. So hearing that they're both excelling, made me proud. They got to pick out a book from the book fair and go out to lunch with mommy to our most favorite Italian restaurant while their little siblings were in hourly care/preschool.

And those little siblings? They're doing well too! Peanut will be four (FOUR!!) on Monday. He's been going to a preschool program on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-1:30 and while he's there, I've been putting Sissy in the toddler class for the same time. This gives me a break *yay* as well as time to volunteer in the older boys' classrooms (Bubba's class on Tuesday, Pooks class on Thursdays). He absolutely loves Miss Barbara, he has his little friends, he likes the lunch that he gets to eat and he naps there...he won't nap at home anymore. He has learned to write and spell his name, he knows all of his colors and shapes, he can count to at least 20. He has begun spelling small words (fun, me, go, no, yes...etc). He is always very excited to tell me what they did that day, what he got to eat and what friends he played with.

Sissy is still just a spitfire. She sweet and cuddly and lovey one minute and rough and tumble the next. She has been in the toddler class since she turned two and she also thoroughly enjoys going to ''school'' as she calls it. She has recently shown a huge interest in using the potty and has been going on the potty at school and staying dry the whole time she is there. Home is a bit different...she does sit on the potty but her success rate isn't as high. She constantly asks for a ''school potty'' which is impossible since it's a real toilet  just miniature in size. She is petite for her age (22lbs and wearing mostly 18mos clothing) so the "big potty" truly is BIG. She's staying dry at night, she can pull her pants up and down. Once we conquer the fear of the falling in, she'll do great. She is also learning her colors and loves to tell you when something is "purple'' or ''green'' (her favorite colors to say).

Overall, things are great. This month definitely had it's ''hiccups''. But this week is Thanksgiving! We're hosting which should be fun. Then Peanut's party will be on Saturday (a Curious George themed breakfast party). Pretty soon it'll be Christmas which means we will have lived in Italy for an entire year. That seems crazy!

Not to be forgotten...

Peanut was very upset that I didn't do pictures for him and because no one wants to deal with an angry 3 year old, here he is:

Please excuse the poor image quality, these are nabbed from Facebook as the power keeps going out and I don't want to ruin our external hard drive during the outages

Overdue update on Peanut

Obviously right now our life is more chaotic than it usually is and I'm pretty proud of myself that during this time of chaos, I've still managed to find the time to blog. Granted a paragraph or two then a photo collage isn't great but it's better than nothing (and honestly, blogger is pissing me off loading individual photos lately so the collages are easier). But I realized today that we've had milestones come and go without me acknowledging them at all! Okay, I acknowledged them but not on my blog. Geez, what kind of mother do you think I am!?

Back in summer and even early fall I was lazily attempting to potty train Peanut. He was almost three, he was full capable physically (holding it at naptime, able to pull his pants up and down, would tell me when he was dirty/wet) but he simply didn't want to. When Nanaw and Papa visited in July, he had it down. For almost two weeks he did awesome with the peeing part. Then Bubba started school...and right about the time Bubba was getting attention for that, Peanut stopped using the potty. He would pee in his undies, on the floor, in a diaper/pull up, anywhere. He wanted his ''kid diapers'' back (sissy's diapers were a different size so he said those were ''baby diapers'' but his were ''kid diapers''...he was NOT a baby if he wore the kid ones...at least in his mind. So after a few days, I threw in the towel. I realized that he wasn't ready. I was stressing myself out more than what it was worth. I knew that he would train eventually and I let it go. Sure we left his little potty out and if he went, we praised but we didn't make a big to-do either way.

Fast forward to October. He's really almost three now and I was feeling the societal pressure to get him out of the diapers. Well again, he let me know he had other plans. Some days he would do awesome and the next day he just wouldn't care. At this time, we got our moving dates and I decided to drop it and pick it up once we got settled here.

Well, apparently Peanut had other plans. See he decided to wait until the first week of December to ''want'' to go on the potty. He didn't even tell me or ask me to go, he'd run in there, use the potty then come back out and need me to button his pants and want a high-five. We had a few ''uh-oh I gotta go potty now" instances where we didn't make it to the potty in time but those happen. A few days after this is when we moved into the hotel. In the hotel, I did not have a little potty and he requested that I just give him diapers. Well that wasn't happening since I hadn't brough his ''kid'' diapers. Hours into day 1 at the hotel, he agreed to sit on the big potty and he (unintentionally) went #2 on the potty. Where my other kids were kind of scared to do that, Peanut thought it was SO cool. He loved using the big potty suddenly and it didn't matter where we were at, he'd yell ''I gotta go poop...now!" Honestly it's not even that embarrassing by kid number 3...I was just so proud of him for sticking to it! 

So while I was nervous about a full day of flying/traveling with a newly ''potty trained'' kiddo, it went really well. He's completely trained, day and night (though I do make him wear a diaper still at bedtime; only because he's sleeping on a hotel mattress and if he had an accident, I don't want to deal with that). But yeah, so Peanut potty trained himself. Completely and if you don't count all the pressure that I put on him (granted off and on, but still) he trained himself is about three days. So basically I've learned that until Sissy is ready, I'm not stressing myself out nor wasting the time. Besides, one kid in diapers is pretty good considering at one point not too long ago, I had three in diapers at the same time.

Happy 3rd Birthday Peanut!

Yesterday Peanut turned three years old. I cannot even believe that my ''baby boy'' is three. Time really does fly by. He wanted a Batman cake and when asked what he wanted for presents he simply said ''TOYS!" He is such an easy kid to please. I spent the morning frosting his cake while Peanut and his siblings played with the 20+ balloons I had blown up the night before and placed all over the floor of his room.

We took him out to Red Robin for lunch, which he requested...his eyes were on the ice cream sundae.

 After Red Robin we came home, took a two hour long family nap, then woke up and played outside. By this time it hit me that I never made or even thought about dinner. Whoops! So we asked the birthday boy where he wanted to eat dinner and he said ''Taco Cabanie" so off to Taco Cabana it was. After we stuffed ourselves there, it was back home for presents and cake. Of course we called Nanaw and Papa so they could be with us via Skype:

After cake it was on to playing with his new toys. We went pretty light on the gifts this year, not just with Peanut but with all the kids. While their birthdays are a big deal and a very special day, we like to treat them special all day not just with presents. We don't want the main focus of any day to be just about gifts but rather spending time with people who love you and celebrate that you are here. He chose what was for meals, he got to be first (big deal with all these siblings, lol) and he had a lot of fun. We love you Peanut!!

(and in case I forget, you truly are a little peanut! At your 3 year check up you weighed in at 28lbs 4oz and you were 36.25 inches tall. That's the 17th percentile and 34th percentile, respectively. She said you looked great but needed to start using the potty all the time, not just when you feel like it!)

Bonkbeds

"You can't climb on them or you could bonk your head...dat's why they're called bonkbeds"

 

The big boys have been begging us for months, but especially during the last few weeks to bunk their beds. When we first got the beds, they were WAY too little to be bunked. Then when we moved into this house, originally Peanut was in their room as well. Which made me WAY to nervous...that kid is a climber! But he now resides in the other bedroom with Sissy. 

 

And he likes sleeping there. He has his own shelves and "stuff". Bedtime is beyond easier, he actually goes to sleep now instead of climbing in and out, harassing his brothers, staring at us from the hallway, etc. Granted most nights he sleeps alone as Sissy pretty much co-sleeps with me at night. {she was in her crib but she's been waking twice each night to nurse so it's easier on everyone to have her with us}. But it's his and he likes it. 

So after Bubba and Pooks asked us for the 1,293rd time if we could PLEASE bunk their beds we had a conversation about the ground rules.

1. No climbing/touching/going up on the ladder unless your name is [Bubba] and you're going up to go to sleep
2. No standing/jumping/hanging on either bed
3. No leaning over the edges, no hanging body parts over the edges, no throwing things over the edges
4. No climbing!!
5. If you climb/stand/jump/hang/bounce then we will not only un-bunk the beds but we will remove the beds completely and you will sleep on a mattress on the floor.
6. No toys in the beds. Stuffed animals and paperback books only.
7. No climbing!

We made sure to stress what *could* happen if they were breaking the rules and got hurt. We explained broken bones {thanks to Peanut they know what a cast is!}, stitches {they hates shots and needles}, fat lips, broken teeth, etc.

Now, I don't want you to think we just scared the daylights out of them, we didn't. We talked about how they get bunk beds because they are older now. That the beds can be fun because if you behave, Mommy and Daddy can hang a sheet up and make a fort. How now they have a ''reading area'' in their room, how they have room to build their Thomas tracks now.  How daddy slept in bunkbeds while in the Army and how Mommy did too, at college.

They really did listen and take it in. When bedtime came Bubba gave Pooks a kiss, climbed up his ladder and laid down. Pooks watched him, they he laid down. Other than some excited talking, we had no problems. And having the extra room in their bedroom is definitely nice!

See all that floor space?! Plus of course, the ''reading area'' as they call it.

 That being said, I'm no idiot. I pretty much decided that until the newness wears off anytime they are playing (without an adult) in their room, I will probably just take the ladder out. I know, I'm probably overthinking it but, better safe than sorry!

these "Terrible Two's" are terrifying me

Peanut. Sweet Squishable Peanut. The littlest boy in our group of brothers, the sweet one who loves to flirt and hug and cuddle. Who knows and uses his "please" and "thank yous" with out being reminded or asking...

 

Where did he go? 

Who replaced my sweet loveable Peanut with this crazy hyper, demanding, yelling, pushing & hitting, two year old? The two year old who this morning didn't like the cup I had gave him so he poured his juice out all over the floor? The two year old who will walk up to his brothers and whack them in the back of a head with a diecast metal car and WHILE hitting them shouts ''Sorry!" with a smile on his face? This little boy who thinks it's a good time to let go of my hand (or his dad's hand) in the middle of a parking lot and take off running while LAUGHING hysterically.

Now I know you may be thinking ''Shannon, you're not exactly new to this. You knew it was coming." Well, yes, I did. But honestly I didn't think that Peanut could be any worse than Pooks was. 

I was horribly wrong. What I wouldn't give for some cart crawling and clothing hiding.

When I take Peanut to the store {lately} he will still sit in the cart. But every.single.item I pick up he says ''I want it''. So if it's a bag of apples, jar of peanut butter, box of cereal, he can hold it. I don't mind. When it's a package of ground beef, a glass jar of pickles or a carton of eggs, I remind him ''No, you can't have this, it's breakable/yucky...hold this instead.'' He shouts "I WANT IT!!" So I again say, "Well you can help mommy by holding this, you cannot have that". "BUT I WANT IT!!" he shouts in response. And again, he still doesn't get it so he proceeds to violently kick about the cart while screaming/crying/shouting. I've tried ignoring him. I've tried rationally explaining it to him. I've tried giving him something else. I'm not proud to admit it but I've even tried bribing him with something else. Nothing works. This behavior continues while I try to hurriedly finish my grocery shopping. Usually he all the sudden just stops. It may take 45 seconds, it may take 3 minutes but like a flipping a light-switch, he just stops.

Today when he did it, I stopped right there in the aisle. I stopped talking, stopped pushing and just stood there. When Pooks asked me why we stopped I calmly responded ''I can't shop until Connor stops screaming and being mean and sits nicely." Surprisingly this did cut down on the duration of the tantrum but we had to stop 6 times while at the store today. 

That's a trip to the store.

At home, it's a whole 'nother story. He is snatching toys that aren't his, trying to get things off of the counters, and insists that he do everything. He turns on the TV. He lets the dog out. He opens the fridge. He gets to chose his diaper. And if myself, B or one of the other kids happens to let the dog out, well be prepared for the insanity. It's a whirlwind of screaming, followed by him either actually hitting his brothers or just batting his hands at us.

Time-outs generally don't work because he screams so loudly while in timeout that he upsets Sweetcheeks and she starts crying. Then I have him in timeout screaming, her crying, Bubba ''helping'' me try to calm her down and Pooks yelling to tell me that Peanut is yelling too loud. Swatting his bottom doesn't work, he just hits back. Ignoring him doesn't work, he'll just continue hitting/snatching toys until someone intervenes. Sending him to his room is a disaster because he either a)stands at the doorway screaming which leads to the above scenario or b)starts making his room a mess by pulling everything off of his bed, throwing diapers around, etc. Not that I can't clean it up afterward (i do) but I'm afraid that he is going to hurt himself.

I am at a total loss.

And I should clarify he isn't bad every.single.second of the day. I'd say he's well behaved 65% of the time and awful about 35% of it. And it wouldn't be so horrible if his bad behavior wasn't SO bad. But, sadly, it is. *MOST* of the time when he acts out, I know it's because he's tired. The problem is that he has been waking at 6:30am and it turns out, that is too early for him to be nice. I have put up darkening shades in his room, I have a white noise machine going, I've turned down the AC at night so he's a bit cooler but nothing works, he still wakes up early. I tried letting him lay in my bed but he doesn't go back to sleep. He tosses and turns and talks to loud and is 'hungry' or wants to watch TV, or wants a toy, etc. And I know it's not us waking him because usually he wakes before B. It isn't his sister because lately {due to his screaming and protesting at bedtime} she's been sleeping most of the night in our room. {Typically I lay her in her crib around 9:30pm after he's asleep and then end up coming and bringing her to our room when he starts shouting at 6am}.

So again I ask What do I do? About the tantrums, the acting out, the waking early. Any advice on any of it. Or all of it.

I just want my sweet boy back again. When he is nice, he is really really nice. He loves giving kisses, helping his Sissy, cuddling up in my lap, and giving great big hugs. It's just that those moments have come so few and far between now.

Kids say (and do!) the darndest things...

Like the other night when watching TV and the studio audience laughed, Pooks turned to me and said "Mom...dat guy is not laughing, that kid is not laughing...den who is laughing? Where is it coming it from? I hear it but I not see anybody laughing." So I explain that the laughing is from people who we can't see, that are watching the show as they are making it. His response? "HA HA HA HA...now they hear me laughing too!"
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Today I am nursing Sissy and Peanut tells me that he needs to wash his hands. So I say okay and he heads to the bathroom. I hear water for a second, then nothing. I {foolisly} assume he's done and just assume that he's playing in his brothers' room. That is until Bubba comes running into the living room to tell me that his brother ''has soap ALL over da bathroom". So I set Sissy down and run to the bathroom. I find Peanut covered in the thick, clear Softsoap that had previously been inside the soap pump. Sticky thick soap up the sleeves of his shirt, all over the counter, all over the sink. I'm not kidding, he had pumped out the entire bottle {and it was just opened yesterday} all in the bathroom. I am stripping off his shirt, asking him why he did that? "Why did you need so much soap?" And his response? "Theres no bubbles. I need 'da bubbles''. So I exhaustively respond that you need water to make bubbles. "Oh..."

Yeah,  that was fun to clean up. Not.
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This morning we were watching the local news and they were showing footage from the Tsunami that hit Japan. Bubba was asking what it was and what was happening. So I explained, and I reassured him that he didn't need to worry. We live far, far away from Japan and even farther away from the Pacific Ocean where the storm was at. I let him know that it might cause it to rain here but it wouldn't be that much rain and reassured him that since our city didn't have an ocean, we wouldn't have to worry. He asked a couple questions (were those cars in the water? did it knock down those trees?) and I answered those. I let him know that even though it was really really bad now, that it would get better. It would take awhile but the people living in Japan and even people from here, would help clean up Japan and get it back to normal. He seemed satisfied and walked away. Fast forward to tonight before bed...."Mom, did they get Japan cleaned up?" So I explain that it takes a lot longer than one day to get it cleaned up. That it takes a long time and that they would probably have most of it cleaned up by the time he turns six. "Dat's a loooong time away. Why they not just ask Kung Fu Panda to help?"

Oh how the mind of an almost five year old works!
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Yesterday I was on the phone with Nanaw, but telling Bubba to stop running or else he would start wheezing {he's been dealing with allergies the last week or so}. I asked him if he needed a breathing treatment and he said no. I start talking to Nanaw and Peanut comes up and says ''Me need beaving treatment ma." He's not. "Are you coughing?" he replies "Yeah, I coughing all the days.''

Wordless Wednesday

One month later and Peanut is walking!!

Walking, climbing and playing to be specific!

Peanut hurt his leg on Jan 24th and was in a full leg cast until Feb 18th. Even though that was over a week ago, he just started walking again. Up until now, he had been crawling and dragging his leg but this weekend, he literally just stood up and said ''I walkin Mom'' and resumed walking again.

And it is wonderful! Not having to carry his 26 pounds is a blessing. My back is already feeling better and his mood and attitude is much much better! So in honor of him walking, here is a bunch of pics from this weekend and Monday of him playing.

 

 

 

 Woohoo!

In the eyes of a two-year old...

Tonight I was nursing Sweetcheeks while cuddled up in Peanuts bed reading him his bedtime story. Being two he frantically picks out the book but then only half listens. I'm reading while he is playing with his stuffed animals next to me, giving them voices and having them talk to each other. I continue reading and next thing I know he's smashing his 'Sheepy' up against my boob going ''gulp gulp gulp!" then Sharky...''gulp gulp gulp"....so I ask ''Peanut what are you doing?"

"Da're firsty mom...day need milk''

"Hon Mommy's milk is for babies, not for animals"

"Da're baby nan-i-mals mom and ewe got da milk...[shoves sharky back up against me] "gulp..gulp..gulp....awww. sharky says tanks mom."

Sure. No problem hon, glad I could be an open milk bar to all your animals.

Sickness has invaded our home

For reals.

First, Peanut fractured his tibia. Monday marked one week in the cast and overall, it's going better than I expected. Okay, that's a lie. I wrote it, but it isn't true.

It's been hell.

Well, scratch that too.

During the daytime, it goes better than I thought it would. He drags and scoots everywhere with pretty much ease. He has figured out how to get up and down off of the couches, he can get his toys or make his brothers do it for him without much effort.

But bedtime, naptime...is horrible. He won't sleep in his toddler bed {really there is no space for him and his giant cast} so he's sharing a bed with me while B gets stuck on the couch. Oh how I envy B.

Peanut sleeps all.over.the.place. I mean he flips and flops, he turns completely upside down and sleeps with his head just inches from the foot-board. He has to sleep with no less than four of his "loveys", two of which sing. He has a mandatory pillow pet as well as a sippy of water.

Did I mention we only have a queen size bed!?

So it's him, his four friends, his pillow, his cup and then me. He wakes no less than once every two hours, usually only half awake screaming, hitting, kicking, and usually trying to pull the cast off. I know it's hard on him. I know it probably hurts. I give Tyleonl and/or Motrin like the doctor suggested but it doesn't begin to help with the night wakings. I try to calm him down and it's no use. These night tantrums last up to 10 minutes and there is no rhyme or reason as to why they suddenly stop. We can't prevent them, we can't control them. We tried moving him to his bed after he fell asleep but before tantrum...yeah he woke up, scooted all the way to the kitchen {with all the previously mentioned ''necessities'' and proceeded to scream for his mommy.

Naptimes are better because he is so tired he falls asleep instantly. The problem is he sleeps about an hour, wakes and is miserable. He's not getting enough sleep which is effecting all of us with his behavior. He's acting out, he's throwing tantrums, hitting and kicking his brothers, throwing toys, slapping me. It's like the terrible two's arrived at the exact wrong time.

I'll be honest, the first couple nights/days I felt horrible for him. By night five, I was starting to get irritated. Now after a full week, I'm about to lose my mind. I've averaging maybe five hours of sleep and it's not even continuous. I have an almost four month old who sleeps all night but yet I'm getting nada. Last night I gave up and made B sleep in the bed with him while I parked on the couch. I try to let him get the peaceful sleep, even if it is on his couch, because he has to go to work in the morning. Of course I have to get up with the kids but I can rock the sweatpant look all day. If I'm lucky, I can even take a nap. It doesn't usually happen but occasionally the moons align and I get to rest.

However if all of the above wasn't stressful enough, every.single.kiddo is now sick.

Bubba has a high fever, nasal congestion and general bodyaches/tiredness.

Pooks has a cough and nasal drainage that leads to him coughing so hard he throws up...anywhere and everywhere, that kid pukes.

Peanut of course has the cast; but on top of that he's had a cough with nasal congestion/drainage which leads to wheezing. I took him to urgent care and they think he has the influenza virus. Despite getting a flu shot, he got the flu. So he's on breathing treatments, Tylenol/Motrin and an oral steroid.

Sweetcheeks didn't get off to easy either. She is really congested so I'm having to suction her nose out several times a day, which of course she hates. The congestion is leading to drainage which is causing a cough. So we've got a vaporizer running, baby vicks slathered on her and we're keeping her as upright as possible.

Basically every kid feels like crap and is moody. No one is getting enough sleep and we're all on our last nerve. Not a good combination. To top things off, it's freakishly cold in Texas and snowing (!) which basically shuts the entire city down. So we can't really get out to change the pace or scenery. It's been a super long week and I don't see it changing anytime soon. 

Well it's really wasn't worth waking up for...

 Yesterday I posted about how Peanut fractured his leg. Today we met with the Pediatric Orthopedic doctor and he reviewed the x-rays and confirmed that yes, Peanut would need a cast. Well I say "we" but I use the term loosely. What really happened was Peanut and I went back to wait for the doctor and he fell asleep. I mean the poor kiddo was out.

 So the doctor showed me the x-rays, explained the fractures (one a buckling and one a non displaced tibial plateau fracture):

He also explained that this is a super common injury seen in kids and that Peanut will heal up nicely with no lasting effects. He will need a full leg cast for three and a half weeks, keeping weight completely off of his injured leg. Now, keep in mind that as he's explaining this to me, Peanut is still asleep. So as the Doctor is talking to me, he is simultaneously working on little mans foot. First they did a layer of cotton, followed by plaster on the bottom half of his leg...

 then they did the same to the top, holding his leg at this angle. Never once did Peanut wake up.

 Lastly they wrapped his leg up in the colored fiberglass tape...since he was sleeping I got the choice of choosing a color and I went with a light blue (as opposed to a hot pink, neon green, neon yellow, dark blue, black, purple, regular green and regular yellow).

I mostly chose it because I knew that when we signed it, the Sharpie would really show up well.


After it was dry, I had to wake him up. The doctor wanted to make sure that he could wiggle his toes and I needed to get him dressed. Needless to say he was less than thrilled. I think he woke up obviously disorientated and then on top of that, his entire leg was in a cast. I promptly said "Look, your leg band-aid is blue just like Tow Mater". So now he is calling it his Mater :) Once he was awake and got his sucker, he was in much better spirits:

 We got him home, changed into some plaster-free clothes and he went right to playing. Here he is showing Chuck his owie...