Thanks For An Interesting Evening

ClarenceCribClimber:

Bottle Break 2010 was a success.  He hasn't had a bottle for almost 2 weeks now.  Nap time is a little hard on him, but he's been managing just fine.  Bedtime is the worst.  He still cries for up to 5 minutes when I put him to bed.  He does go to sleep though.

Until last night.  We went up to bed around 9:15.  He started crying; I walked away.

15 minutes later: still crying.
30 minutes later: still crying.
1 hour later: still crying.

I figured he has got to be close to crying himself to sleep by now...When all of a sudden, I hear his little voice.  Giggling.  From the stairwell.  This one:

The one that has lots of glass for him to smash his head into.  He made it all the way to the first landing (seen at the top of the picture) before I got to him.

While I was impressed that he made it down 4 steps without falling and breaking his neck, it didn't alleviate my my heart attack.

Apparently, he decided he was done with his bed and he wanted to come down to see us.

PriscillaPuker

This one wasn't too much of a shocker.  All day long, this kid has had gas that smelled like road kill.  We knew something along her digestive tract was bothering her, but she said her stomach felt fine.

Around 11:30, I woke up to her cries.  When I made my way over to her room, Mr. A was already there.  So was about a gallon of puke.

Family camp out on the couches.

Awesome.

Oh, except that ClarenceCribClimber can now get out of his crib and terrorize the house at will.

Sorry Mr. A, you're on your own.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................

The "Feel Better" Brigade

When you need to cheer up a sick sister, call in this guy:

 

He will perform invaluable services that are sure to make her feel better, such as:

• yelling in her ear
• bouncing her up and down right after she's puked
• stealing her crackers
• waking her up by knocking over furniture

These, and many more wonderful benefits can be yours for the low, low price of some Goldfish crackers and milk.

We Have Temporarily Exorcised The Demon

The flu came to visit us this last month.  Just as I was finally getting some decent sleep, the flu kicked down our door and viciously attacked my kids.  It was a nightmare of 105 degree fevers, vomiting, turning our bathroom into a sauna, humidifiers, and secondary infection.

Before it was over, ChrissyCoughs-A-Lot has gotten: the flu, a double ear infection and a urinary tract infection.  We learned one very important lesson with that: stop waiting for her to display abnormal symptoms or behaviors before calling for a doctor appointment.

We have, until now, operated on the assumption that we could just handle everything at home.  We both agreed that taking her out just put other people at risk for being infected by her.  Also, though, we didn't want her to pick up something worse in a waiting room.

Well, our reasoning got us a kid that was a lot sicker than she needed to be.  Now she's taking an antibiotic (that some idiot, who will remain nameless, let's just say she's normally totally awesome...ahem, left out on the counter overnight so she had to start her dosages over again) and she is doing much better.

The scary part of this story is that she really wasn't acting abnormally.  Even when her fever was leveled off at 103, she still chased her brother around the house and threw the mother of all tantrums when we wouldn't let her play outside.  She was not giving us any reason to suspect that her ears or her....anyway, that anything hurt her.

She's back at school now.  Which only means that we need to stock up on more fever reducer, because I'm sure the flu liked it here and will probably be visiting again soon.

Mystery Solved

Well, SisterSickopants, your Father's Day present to Dada this morning was to be a puking fireball of a daughter. He got to wake up early to your very loud crying, followed closely by your very loud vomit noises. Now we know why you were so fascinated with going to see the doctor yesterday.

As a special treat, your Dada got to make an early morning trip to Walgreen's for medicine, Gatorade and a thermometer that doesn't totally suck. Your temperature this morning, according to the one we had, was somewhere between 97 and 107 degrees. I had a feeling that the three 102 degree readings were more accurate, but I'd rather be sure.

Maybe next week we can take him out for a nice lunch like we were going to this week. In the meantime, rest up HotHeadHannah.

Why We Stay Home

Yesterday, I thought it would be fun to get the kids out of the house and hang out somewhere else for a while. After about an hour, I remembered why we don't ever do this. Our friends that we go visit don't live in a babyproof home. They're 3 bachelors, so not so much as one outlet cover and crap is laying out everywhere. This was my visit repeated on a loop for about 7 hours:

Get out of the cat food.
Get out of the dog water.
Get out of the toilet.
Stop playing with the drums please.
Get out of the cat food.
No eating the iPhone.
Stop climbing the cat stand.
Get out of his bedroom.
Don't put your face in the doggy's face.
Get out of the cupboards.
Stop pushing the buttons on the water dispenser.
Get out of the dog water.
You don't need to get into the litter box.
Stop stealing their chips off the counter.
Get out of the fridge.
Don't play with the electrical outlets.
Get out of the cat food.
That kitty's sleeping and he doesn't like you anyway.
Do you have something to clean up puke with?
Get out of the dog water.
Don't turn the dishwasher on.
Eat your granola at the table please.
Stop turning the lights on.
Get out of the fridge.
No climbing the entertainment center.
No you can't play with their flashlight.
Get out of the cat food.
Stop pushing the buttons on the water dispenser.
Is it time to go yet?

STOP!!

Missy Migraine:

STOP --

-- going into the bathroom when you don't have to go potty.
-- turning on the bathtub and sticking your head under the faucet.
-- standing naked in the front room window.
-- trying to play with your brother when he's napping.
-- brushing your teeth with the dog's water.


Bummer Boy:

STOP --

-- spitting your food all over me.
-- faking me out like you're going to take a nap, then not doing it.
-- crying and crying and crying and crying and crying....
-- throwing yourself backward when you know I don't have a good grip on you.
-- making little puke puddles all over the floor for me to step in.

Puke Ninja

In 3 hours, I've had to change clothes 4 times. Somehow my little PukeNinjaBoy has mastered the fine art of saving all his puke for Mom. He's very talented. He misses his bib, clothes, and burp cloth every time.

I'm surprised he has anything left in his belly. According to my clothes, he's run out of food. Time to stoke the fire.