Monday, October 30, 2006

Us Zero, Nissan One!

Well, BD is caving. His 2006 Nissan Altima was subject a crappy "recall" that doesn't do anything for him except get his oil checked more frequently and top it off. After quite a while of this, Nissan finally decided to replace his engine. Unfortunately, they are replacing it with a remanufactured one. He decided he wanted either a brand new engine or a new vehicle. They denied his request.

So, we decided to look into the Lemon Law for our state. Unfortunately, after they deduct for all of his miles (he drives so far to work that he already has over 14,000 miles on the car and has only had it since the end of March!), we would be out quite a bit of money. This amount would be more than the value of the car will be reduced by replacing the engine.

So, we are rolling over and taking it. Yes, the remanufactured engine. I just HOPE this solves his problems and we don't have to deal with this anymore!

Us One, Insurance Zero!

For PM's asthma, he has been using a medication called Xoponex since he was a baby. By baby, I mean before he was even one year old! Well, imagine my surprise when two weeks ago I went to get a new prescription filled for it only to discover that we needed a prior authorization. I absolutely had to get it for him, so I paid full price for one box (which lasted about a week) at $86.99. After many telephone calls to both the doctors office and the insurance company, I found out that the insurance company, in their infinite wisdom, has listed for him to "try" albuterol first and then if that doesn't work they can get Xoponex. WTF! I am NOT "trying" a medication that affects his ability to breathe when I know this drug works and he has been using it for this long. So, after much work, the prior authorization went through and I was able to finally get a whole whopping 21 days supply for $30. Of course, we are about halfway through that and now I need to get a refill, but oh well. At least he can breathe!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

So Proud!

Yesterday after picking up the kids from school, we proceeded to do a few pages out of a workbook while dinner was cooking. I gave DQ a worksheet that had her match the same colored trains (yes, too easy for her) and then she had to circle all of the red items and then color some items red. I definitely need to give her a more difficult one today, as those were way too easy for her. She was bored with it. I gave PM a more difficult one, I thought. His had him match lowercase and uppercase letters by drawing lines between them. That was a piece of cake for him. Then, it had him color all of the balloons with a capital letter. Once again, too easy for him I think.

After finishing those we ate dinner. During dinner, we discussed what they learned at school. PM told me about them talking about blends. They are talking right now about "na" and how it sounds. I asked him if we put at "t" at the end of the "na" what would it sound like. He sounded it out with me and came up with "nat". But, that wasn't the end of it. He went on to tell me that I wasn't right in calling that a blend. According to him, a blend is "only two letters one consonant and one vowel." How smart is he??? I am so proud!

Now, if anyone has any ideas on how to get DQ focus more on what we are saying to her instead of what she is trying to get out. She seems to get "stuck" on trying to say something or on one task and just can't change gears until she gets past it.

The American Flag Means We Are Free

I spoke to DQ's teacher yesterday afternoon and found out what actually was discussed in her class. Apparently, all of the three year olds in the room (11 of them) have been "goofing off" during the saying of the pledge to the flag. Mrs. Erin has been trying to get them to take it more seriously and not goof off. So, on Monday, she went the route of explaining that the flag means that as Americans we are free to worship and pray as we please. She told them that in some countries, you cannot pray or your will be arrested.

So, problem solved. The school isn't teaching my child crazy things!

Monday, October 23, 2006

Ringing of the doorbell

So, as anyone with young children probably does, around 7:20 we are getting pajamas on and brushing teeth in anticipation of calming down to go to bed. Tonight however, as we finished brushing teeth, the doorbell rang. At 7:20 PM, it is now dark outside. Our porch light was not on, nor were any of the lights that are posted on the side garage. So, why did someone ring the bell in the dark so late at night? (Yeah, yeah, I know, 7:20 isn't really that late, but to a 3 and 4 year old it is!)

I'll tell you why, because three people thought it would be nice to visit. That is, three people from the church that the kids "new" school is run by. They thought it would be nice to pay us a visit to invite us to their church. BD answered the door and went onto the porch to talk to them, after locking the dogs in our bedroom. He thought at first it was some type of political campaign thing. But no, the kids watched through the sidelights as he fended off the Freewill Baptists trying to get us to attend their church. They asked him if we had a church and he told them we did and that we are Catholic and the name of the church we attend. After a few minutes he told them, very pleasantly (I am shocked!) that we are very happy with our church and do not plan to attend a different one.

So, any Freewill Baptists reading this, please don't take offense, as I am not criticizing your religion. Just know that housecalls, while appropriate for people without small children are not really helpful for people with small children. A simple item sent in the mail would suffice and probably save money, since they wouldn't have had to pay for their gas to drive all the way over here!

With that said, I do really love their school! They are learning quite a bit!

What does the American Flag Mean?

Our kids attend a 3k and 4k at a Freewill Baptist church. We are Catholic and attend a Catholic church, regularly. Our decision to send them to this particular program was weighed heavily with the type of religion they would learn. Would it counteract our own beliefs? Would the little bit of exposure to a different religion, while still Christian, have any negative impacts or does the quality education outweigh the risks? In the end, we decided to send them, after we were told the religion they learn at this young of an age is so generic that it really applies to all Christians.

Tonight at the dinner table DQ says to me, "Mommy, God is always with us. We can't see him, but he is there." Great! That is what I want to hear them learning!! Then, right after that, she says, "Mommy, do you know what the American Flag stands for?" I ask her what it stands for, thinking she will say Freedom or something to that affect. Instead what comes out of her mouth astonishes me. She says, "It means that if you pray to God in a place that you aren't allowed to that the police will come and get you and throw you in jail!" She continues, "At our school, it's ok because the police won't take us to jail, but somewhere else they will!"

WTF!!! I hope that she misunderstood or the teacher was talking about how in other countries you aren't free to pray to whoever whenever you want. But, I am scared that she is really talking about the issues with religion in public schools. Either way, I am calling the school tomorrow to find out what was really meant and ask her to clarify this with her students, who are all only 3 and really don't have any concept of this yet. Praying is a "new" concept to most of them!

Your thoughts?

Styrofoam Walls

One of our co-workers, our only male in our immediate department, left a large pile of styrofoam in the middle of the floor after unpacking some monitors today. Well, after tripping over it several times, we decided to get even! Take a look for yourself!


I am so glad I have a door to my office... At least I can keep them from getting me back like this!

So sad...

One of my online friends posted the below about her child, that I am copying verbatim. Please, please, please, watch carefully what you are doing and keep those hot liquids away from your children! I have changed their names as to protect their identities, but have not changed anything else. Please keep Baby Son in your thoughts and prayers...

Friday morning the kids and I headed down stairs. Husband was in the kitchen and the Baby Son and I walked in. I proceeded to get silver ware and bowls for breakfast and Husband was fixing a cup of tea. The kettle just stoped whisting. and he poured it into his cup.The Baby Son was clinging to my legs. Little Girl walked in and started animatedly speaking to us. We were groggy still and turned around to see what she was so excited about. Husband placed his very hot cup of tea on the counter. Then while we were looking at Little Girl and still holding my leg he did it. He reached up and grabbed the friggin cup. I saw Husband quickly turn and try to grab it, but the liquid had already done it's damage. Husband scooped him up and I was yelling for him to get water on his face as that is where I thought he was hit. I saw Husband push him off of him and say that his shirt was steaming. Of course he was wearing a onesie. My HUSBAND was trying to tear it off as I was dropping his pants to not only unsnap the three buttons on the bottom but this one also had the snaps on the side of the neck. When we got his shirt off, his skin was hanging. Like the pics of the people bombed in Hiroshima. All I could do was throw his shirt and say FUCK like 3x ( this Little Girl and Little Boy repeat verbatim) I ripped of my clothes and ran with him to the shower. Husband uses loose tea and the leaves were stuck to his chest. I put the water on luke warm and aimed it at his back and shoulders so the water would fall over onto his chest removing the leaves. Husband was throwing clothes on the kids and strapping them in the car. I some how got clothes on me, shoes and a diaper on the Baby Son. We could not put him in a carseat obviously, so I sat on the floor of the sienna and held him as he frigging screamed. I could not even hug him. We arrived at the hosp with in 15 min of the burn. I had the valet guy come and i rushed in with the kids. apparently they took one look at Baby Son Son and brought him back and immediately gave him Morphine. It all hit me when I walked through the doors and stood there in the middle of the room sobbing. A nurse showed up and said you must be Mom. I was crying so hard they could not understand my answers. They watched the kids in the playroom and I was allowed to go back. They already had an IV in place and he was still not as groggy yet. Because of his pain, it took a while to kick in. They had cold wet sheetsover his chest. It was horrible. The burns looked much worse now that some time elapsed. With in 40 min Baby Son and I were transported via ambulence to a hosp 30 min away with a burn unit. Things got worse.

They had to take pics, so they can track his progress. They game him two drugs, one so he won't remember and again morphine. Then they held my sweet boy and scrubbed his burns with dry gauze so they could get the dead skin off. This really sucked. They said that once they were done restraing him, he would not scream. This was true and they bandaged him in this body wrap and handed him over. He just stared at me so pathetically that even though I was beyond a wreck he made me smile.

He is doing good, and his pain is very well controlled. He has a catheter in his penis to moniter his urine out put as burn victems can dehydrate quickly. He had an IV in place for the first two days, but is eating and drinking on his own and his Foley(penis) catheter will be removed today and he will likely be discharged tomorrow.

He has deep 2nd degree burns over his chest and part of his neck and first degree and his mouth and other part of neck. Most of the healing will take about 6 weeks and he will look like a burned boy for about a year and then it should fade and be barely noticable, but they can't promise anything. We will be making a lot of trips to the burn clinic over the year. This sucks, but at least it is something we can fix, and ultimately he is ok.

Bad things can happen when you are right there. Please watch out when you are cooking,turn those pot handles in, get step stools out of the kitchen,beware of candles and lightbulb,sockets, and cups of hot beverages. Burns happen so fast and they are so painful and take a really long time to heal. Learn from me, learn from Baby Son Son.
I will update you in a few days. I need go apply some makeup so I don't look like Heroin addict anymore, and switch with Husband so I can go on night shift with Baby Son.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Parenting responsibilities?

So, yesterday I pull into our neighborhood and saw one of my other friend's two year olds was in the road on his little gator. Check out this picture.

At this point, he was going down the road that goes to the right in this picture at the stop sign. I saw him turn the corner torwards his house, so I figured they were out for a walk and he was just behind. Ok, I can live with that.

Well, a few minutes later, he he comes down the main road that goes into our subdivision. Basically, he had gone through his yard and through another houses yard into the main road leading down to the stop sign. He was weaving around in the middle of the road and cars were trying to get around him. Now, our subdivision isn't small (I didn't draw all of it here) and we have close to 150 homes (not large either), but it was "rush hour" when everyone is coming home from work and such. I tried to call my friend whose kid it is and no one answers. So, I leave PM and DQ with C (whose house we were at, as I was dropping off her son) and walk over to get the little boy and walk all the way home with him. When I get there, his older sister, who will be 6 next month, was outside playing and says something to the effect of Braden, where were you? I ask her to go get one of her parents. My friend comes out and I tell her where he was. She says, oh he likes to ride over in front of so and so's house. I told her no, he was completely in the road and cars were trying to avoid him. She says, "B, you know you are not supposed to ride in the road" and that was it.

OMG! He is 2 for crying out loud. The kid doesn't even really speak and she is leaving him outside alone to fend for himself!!! I jokingly said B you better listen to mommy or she will take away your keys or lock you in the backyard, yes they have a fenced in backyard.

Ok, I can see leaving him outside while you make dinner, in the backyard with the fence shut if you can see him from the house. But, at 2, I don't even know that I could do that. I leave mine outside, in the fenced backyard while I make dinner, but I can see them and they are older. It still makes me nervous! (I know, I am a worry wart.)

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Ha-ha-ha-ha!

I'll preface this with the fact that it may end up sounding mean, but I don't really think I mean it to be. (Ha! No pun intended!)

Every time I am in a public restroom and I hear some poor woman next to me messing with a feminine hygiene product, I want to burst out laughing! You see, I feel so lucky that I don't have to mess with those anymore, due to the Mirena. I was just sitting in the stall this morning while the woman next to me was fumbling with a package. I really wanted to shout out, "GET A MIRENA!"

Should I become a Mirena salesperson? I mean seriously, anyone that can get one that doesn't is crazy! What better could you have, 5 years (really 4.5 since the first 6 months really do suck!) period free!!!

Quick Fix

I so wish I was brave enough to try a diet pill. If I could just take something so that I didn't have to stress over what I eat and stress over not working out... Ah, life would be grand. My friend works out almost daily during the work day, I cannot do that. She is in excellent shape. She complains about her thighs and butt, but man, if I looked like that I would be so happy! Her tummy is completely flat as well. Me, I am carrying about 5-10 extra pounds right now. They are all around my stomach and upper thighs. I saw a diet pill the other day at Wal-Mart and at Walgreen's aimed at exactly those areas for moms. Apparently, stress adds to the tummy.

Should I buy them???

Sickies go away!

Uh-oh... I think PM may have something more than an asthma flare-up. He felt warm before we left for school today and when I took his temperature, it was 99.9. I went ahead and took him anyway and asked his teacher to call me if he isn't feeling good. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't get any higher.

I hate this time of year for the sickies... With the weather hopping back and forth between hot and cool, it just throws everyone's immune systems into a tailspin. DQ has a tummyache and her ears hurt, which really means that her throat hurts. The pediatrician did a strep test and it was negative, but yet she still insists things hurt. PM has a bad cough, a result of his asthma and is back on the Singulair pill daily. He is also back on nebulizer treatments. Xoponex and Pulmicort in the morning and evening and then Xoponex every four hours during the day. I was so hoping we were done with those. He has had them since he was a baby (I think around 9 months) and I HATE doing them. It just breaks my heart that what I passed down to my adorable little PM was asthma...

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Praise by Song

Is there anything more precious than two children praising God in song? Check out this video of PM & DQ and a new song they learned at school.

Video Link

Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Windy City

Well, it is my last day in Chicago at class. It has been a very informative class, but of course, now I am bored as I listen to something about the product that I do not need. As predicted, it snowed today. Our classroom has no windows, so I was surprised when I left the room and saw it through the windows. I was so excited that, like the crazy southerner that I am, I went outside into it and took pictures!

After the initial excitement wore off, I remembered why I chose to live in the South. It is darn cold up here! I hate the cold! It is fun for a few days, but after that, it just gets old!!!! I don't like getting into a car all bundled up in a huge winter coat and cramming myself into a seat and buckling. I feel like I am being smothered. I don't like coming inside and having to take off wet/icy/slushy boots and leaving a wet trail where I walked. I definitely do not like the terrible drivers.

I do like living in the South and having a lovely Southern Winter. We may get snow one time, if we are lucky, and that is enough for me. It is enough to give us the nostalogic feeling of snow when we were younger and short enough to where we do not get stick of it. I do like wearing a very thin "winter" coat and not being smothered in the car.

I love the South and I can't wait to get home this evening!

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Back home in Indiana

Well, I made it yesterday flying into O'Hare and then drove to Indiana to my sisters house. I had a good trip and a good time, unfortunately, DQ did not. I talked to BD last evening/afternoon several times and she screamed/cried constantly for about an hour and a half. She was just miserable and wanted me. I feel awful. I really didn't want to leave her in the first place, but I had to. Today she is much better, I guess she just had to get past that first day.

Today BD is taking her and PM to Sunday School. After that, they will eat lunch and take naps. Then, this afternoon, they have a birthday party for one of DQ's friends. It is a dress up party. BD should have fun, especially if PM decides to dress up too, like he did a few weeks ago.



Isn't that just the perfect picture? I can't wait until he is older. I can see this used when he is in high school or at his highschool graduation. I can also see this at his rehearsal dinner. Ah, blackmail material...

So, today I sit in my sisters living room listening to her try to put her son down for a nap. Have I shown you how cute he is?


Yes, he is absolutely adorable! He is a few weeks shy of being 10 months old. He is crawling everywhere and can walk behind a toy. Unfortunately, he STILL is not a good sleeper. I am currently reading Sleepless in America by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka and I definitely think she needs to read it too. Anyone with extremely sensitive children or those that just don't get enough sleep should read this book. I'll let you know all of my thoughts when I finish it.

Well, off to surf the internet some more. Later I'll be visiting with some friends and then having dinner with my parents. Only one more day after today in Indiana, then it is back to The Windy City!

Friday, October 06, 2006

Green Hair

DQ is currently at home again today with me while she recovers from bronchitis. Neither of my children have ever had this, so I was completely shocked when our pediatrician diagnosed it yesterday afternoon as bronchitis in her right upper lung. He did mention the "p" word, pneumonia, but said he wasn't going to call it walking pneumonia yet. Holy cow! She is barely sick! She just has a fever and a cough, that really isn't even that bad. Yes, count me shocked.

Right now DQ is downstairs playing with playdough that makes her My Little Pony have the most beautiful color of green hair grow out of it's head. She thinks the green hair on her pink pony is just lovely and spins the pony around on it's pedestal in front of it's mirror. Oh to be young again and think green hair is lovely...

Onto my dilemma... I am supposed to fly out tomorrow (Saturday) morning and not return until Thursday evening after the kids are already in bed. I have a training seminar in Chicago Tuesday through Thursday and I am going up early and driving to Indiana to spend time with my family. I really wish I wasn't going early now, with DQ being sick and all. I already felt guilty about leaving them for six whole days, but now it is killing me! BD seems to think it will be fine, in fact he isn't even making me feel guilty about it. I guess the pediatrician just scared me by saying if she still had a fever on Monday morning that she would have to be re-evaluated and probably have a chest x-ray and all. That just really freaked me out! So, what would you do? Would you go and hope for the best?

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Sick again

How many times can a 3.5 year old get sick in one year? Seriously?? DQ is just getting over croup, which she was on the liquid steriod for her lungs with, and last night I noticed she had a fever. Of course, my child can't be the one who just has a fever at night and is back to normal the next morning. Nope, she has to be a top prizewinner and run a high one in the morning too. So, here I am at work at 6:45 AM so that I can leave as soon as reasonably possible so that BD can go to work. Oh how I wish we had grandparents nearby...

On a happier note, I got my new Chi flat iron on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning decided to give straightening my strangely curly hair a whirl. Well, it worked beautifully. In fact, it worked so well that now I don't think I need to go and have the relaxer done for the winter. I just really need a haircut.

Onto why you care about my hair... I was lying with PM last night saying good night and he asked me why I wanted my hair straight. I told him I just liked it that way. He said "I like your hair when it is curly or straight". Then, he continued with, "I like your hair no matter how it is. Even if you do it in big circles!" Ahhh... So nice to know he is happy with me no matter how I look. It is a good reminder to slow down and not worry so much about the material/physical things and just enjoy the kids. So often, I am so worried about what I am going to wear, getting my hair just right, putting my makeup on and having the "right" accessories that I tend to not focus on what is important. What IS important is that I am spending time with them. Whether we are going to a birthday party or just the park or just hanging out at home, they are just happy to be with me. They don't judge based on looks and I need to remember that and just enjoy life with them more. What about you?

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Meet the family

I'd like to start by introducing you to the our family and then explain the title of my blog. First, BD is Big Daddy. No, he isn't a large (as in obese) man, but he is extremely tall (6' 5"!) and I am rather average at 5' 5". As you can see, there is a one foot difference between us, and therefore, he will be known here as BD.

PM is my little Peanut Man son. The PM was born in December of 2001. You do the math, but that means that right now he is two months shy of turning 5 years old. The PM was born in North Carolina and then we moved back to Indiana when he was just a mere 3 months old. We stayed in Indiana long enough to have baby number two in January of 2003. She is lovingly referred to as DQ or Drama Queen. I hate to use such a steriotypical name for her, but it is so fitting. Hopefully, as she grows, she will outgrow this name and move onto something sweeter, like DD (Dear Daughter), but we shall see. Shortly after DQ was born (exactly 5 weeks), we packed up and moved back to North Carolina. We have been back in North Carolina since February of 2003 and have no plans to move anytime in the near future.

PM and DQ look VERY much alike. In fact, I am constantly getting asked if they are twins. I was recently introduced to a new term "Irish Twins". People would ask if they were twins, when I replied with no, they are 13 months apart, their response was "Wow, pretty much Irish Twins then!". I had no idea what that meant. So, I took the time to Google the term. It turns out that Irish Twins "is a slang term that refers to siblings born 9 to 12 months apart - usually in the same calendar year, or who are in the same class at school", this is from Wikipedia.


Since PM and DQ are in fact 13 months apart, not 9-12, I couldn't really call this site "Irish Twins". Instead, I am going to say that they are "As Close as you can get..." to Irish Twins.

So, that is the short history of the family and how the site name came to be. I am sure as time goes on that the title will refer to many, many more possibilities, but for now that is it.

Just startin...

New to the blog community and wanting to get a feel for writing this stuff. I have lots to say and not a lot of time to say it....