New Years

Well, we've all been sick. Needless to say, my Love Dares have been put on hold. Between coughs, sneezes, bathroom issues and sleepless nights, Sug and I have maybe had 10 minutes total in the past week to share any type of information. We did somehow manage to take all the kids to dinner and a movie, where the baby proceeded to throw up all over me. Of course, we were at a hibachi restaurant and we were sitting with a group of other people we didn't know. Good Times!!! Our conversations have been sounding something like this: "Grrrrr" " "You, too?" "New Years Party?" " Everyone's coming" "Blahhhhh" "I know" "Honestly, poop?!?! You've got to be kidding?!!?" "Thinkin' about getting all my certifications this year" "Cool, me too." "Cool" "yuuuuuuuck" "Love you" "Love you too" I'll ring in the New Year starting The Love Dare over. I came across this link that made me think a little bit about what the whole concept of a new year is about. Check it out. . Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year!!! http://www.aholyexperience.com/2009/12/when-you-cant-figure-out-what-answer.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HolyExperience+%28Holy+Experience%29"

Taking out the Trash

I've hit one of those times in my life where I can't handle any of it any more. I went away for the weekend with just the baby in order to get a little relaxation. When I returned home, I realized the difference between relaxing and resting. Relaxing to me means the absence of daily chores and household maintenance. Which is exactly what I did while visiting a very dear friend and her family. Resting to me (which is now obvious) is sleeping. Hours upon hours of lost sleep regained through a day or two of uninterrupted SLEEEEEEEEEP. Needless to say, with Bunny being with me, my version of rest did not occur. So, when I came home to all the usual mayhem and chaos, I couldn't handle it. Sug wasn't feeling well (we know how that goes). Bird has been feeling particularly rebellious and defiant, and Bean is out of control. Her screaming, whining and crying has been a constant for a few weeks now. My sleep deprived mama brain can only bear so much and the amount has been exceeded for a while. I would be lying if I said that I didn't consider abandoning it all. I had plotted a month long undetected escape. Unfortunately, the type A personality that thrives within my being got caught up in the logistics and I was violently thrashed back into reality and the need for change. It is time for our family to take out the trash. Potty mouths, violence, back talk, disobedience, whining and screaming are all being kicked to the curb. Last night, I watched about 6 episodes of Supernanny and began to really take notes on what seems to work and why. I also began to pray to know and understand my children better so that I can execute the proper guidance and discipline required to each as an individual. I will also be implementing a special Mommy time and Daddy time for each child each month. My time away with Bunny will be her Mommy Time for the month. Bird and I will be attending a clothes swap this Friday evening and Beanbag and I will be touring our CSA farm and how it operates on Sunday afternoon. As far as Daddy time is concerned, I really want them to figure it out on their own (says the control freak). I'm ready to change the atmosphere of this house from children vs parents to our family vs the world. Keep us in your prayers as I am well aware of the fact that I can't do this properly on my own.

My Time Has Come

I woke up this morning with aching joints, a sore scratchy throat, and sharp pains in my ear, head and neck. I believe my time has come. Although Mommy being sick doesn't stop the spinning of the world, it certainly seems to slow it down a bit. Why is it that everyone else is healthy, strong and completely wound up from days of being in bed, and then I get sick. This isn't going to be pretty people. Pray for me, my 'sick socks', my Tylenol, and most of all my family.

Sick Socks

I need to send the greatest internet shout-out ever to my friend, Tracey for her post yesterday. It was perfect timing. I'm one of the many people that Tracey had recommended this treatment to a while back. It is known as the "Wet Sock Treatment", but around these parts, they're known as "Sick Socks". I can't believe that I forgot about "sick socks". They were what got us through our usual tri-annual sick phases last year in record time. Our first tri-annual sick phase is when it starts warming up and things start growing and the pollen is thick in the air. Our second tri-annual sick phase is now, when things start cooling off, dying, and decomposing. Our third tri-annual sick phase is when we start the wood stove (our primary source of heat). Each phase lasts about 3 weeks each. Last year it was maybe a week each, and we avoided Beanbag's tri-annual visit to the ER for croup. How could I forget something so detrimental to our well-being? I'm going to blame it on my post-partum mama brain (or lack thereof). For the past week or two we've all been experiencing a sniffle here, a cough there, a few sinus headaches, a twinge of a sore throat, but yesterday, Bird got sent home from school with a fever. I have to be quite honest with you, fevers freak me out. I only have 3 kinds of over the counter medicine readily available in my home: homeopathic eardops, homeopathic cough syrup (for Beanbag's croup, which also freaks me out), and Tylenol for every age group. After reading Tracey's post, I was reminded of the first time she had told me about "sick socks". Everyone in my house had been sick for about two weeks with no end in sight. Bean had just started barking, Bird was throwing up, and I had the worst headache (it may have been because I was sick or it could have been from listening to Sug complain about how sick he was, either way). I have been friends with Tracey for years and although some of the stuff she comes up with may seem a little off the wall, they are very rarely wrong. So, I collected clean white cotton socks for all of us, the hard part was the wool socks for the kiddos. Besides ordering them from L.L.Bean (which don't have them, but Rugged Bear does), I couldn't think of a place, locally that would sell such things, so I headed out to our local Salvation Army store and bought a wool sweater. I cut off each sleeve and made two pairs of kids wool socks out of them. They may not be pretty, but they work. We all hated putting the ice cold wet socks on our feet, but by morning, when they were dry and we felt better (and slept so well) there was no going back. Yesterday when I picked Bird up at school she had a temperature of 100.8 (30 minutes after being given Tylenol). She was asleep on the floor when I went to pick her up and she continued to sleep until 6:30 when I woke her up to eat something. I then gave her a bath and set the "sick socks" to work. She immediately fell back to sleep. Bird woke up this morning with a a temperature of 100.0, but she's feeling much better. I will be using them again tonight and keeping her home from school again tomorrow, but Thursday...it's on. Thanks again Tracey.

The Luxury of Illness

I never thought being relegated to the couch with a bucket and a glass of water for what seemed like days on end was a luxury, until now. Mommies are not given the luxury of self focus during illness. How can we change this? I'll sign any petition, or vote for any law that would require that ONLY Mommy is allowed to be sick when she gets sick, and no one else is allowed to complain about feeling ill or ask her to participate in any day to day activities. I do believe that a 2 day limit would need to be set for this law as the temptation to curl up in bed, left alone to watch an overabundance of junk TV could be devastating to our economy and culture. I also think that daddies need to be sick first. Around these parts, if anybody besides Daddy gets sick first, Daddy freaks. All we hear about is what we were supposed to be doing or how his plans have been thwarted and he trys to get the sickie to carry on as if they are fine. But when Daddy gets sick first, he gets it. The girls are set up with activities, fed meals, and bathed while Mommy get regular hydration visits and respite from arguments and mayhem. Unfortunately, Beanbag, Bunny and I got sick this weekend. We still made it to the Farmer's Market, Babies R Us, Kohl's (to return some stuff), JC Penney (to buy some stuff to wear to a wedding), Trader Joe's and to a baby shower (sitting in the back of course). I will finally get the chance to sit completely still for a few hours today just in time to beat the tail end of this thing.

The phone just rang and it was Sug. He proceeds to tell me that he had to throw up right before he went to work today and that he was planning on doing absolutely nothing when he gets home. Part of me feels a little vindicated, but Daddy being sick is a whole other issue in and of itself.