Monday, October 30, 2006
Us Zero, Nissan One!
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!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
So Proud!
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
So, problem solved. The school isn't teaching my child crazy things!
Monday, October 23, 2006
Ringing of the doorbell
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?
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
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...
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?
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!
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
Should I buy them???
Sickies go away!
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
Video Link
Thursday, October 12, 2006
The Windy City
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
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
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
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
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.