I am SOOOO SICK of sickness......

Whose with me? Anyone? Anyone? If you are a mom with sick kids I bet you will agree. If you are a mom that has kids that has escaped the barrage of illnesses that have been floating around all winter, I hate you. Did I say that out loud? I meant to say that I am jealous of you. We had a pretty good start to winter but then the below temps kicked in and our heater started running non-stop! Did I mention how much I hate forced air heating? Don't get me wrong, it is great for when you are freezing your butt off and you need to get warm ASAP! On the other hand, it is drier than a Montana prairie in the middle of summer! It doesn't seem to matter how many humidifiers you have running it is always dry! I guess we could go to plan B....My husband told our kids that we couldn't afford the heat bill so we were going to buy everyone in the family a Snuggie and turn the heat off. (not to be confused with underwear up the butt.....at least that is what we called a "wedgie" in our house when I was growing up) A Snuggie (as seen on TV) is a blanket with sleeves....seems quite practical actually....I almost got sucked into buying one after watching a commercial for it when I was up late one night with a sick kid! (Infomercials are very dangerous to a bleary-eyed mom at 3 in the morning!) The kids actually thought that the Snuggie idea was pretty cool!
The other thing that really chaps my hide is making the decision of "how sick is sick enough to go to the doctor?" MY kids (and I have heard that it is quite common among most youngsters) have a knack for getting better the second I make the appointment and re-crashing and burning as soon as we get home again. (It's like when a woman hears a noise coming from the car but when the husband, mechanic or husband/mechanic tries to hear it they can't and again you are labeled "crazy" for hearing things) Then there is the ol' catch-22....If you don't think they are "that bad" and you don't take them in, you are a bad mom....but if you do take them in and they are "fine" then you are a/an (insert adjective of choice here) mom who apparently has nothing better to do than waste your doctor's time. I know it sounds horrible but sometimes secretly you wish that the doctor will find something wrong so that you don't seem crazy. I know that kids still get sick in the summer but at least they aren't trapped in the house and (if your kids spend as much time at the pool as mine do) hopefully all that chlorine in the pool will kill some of the germs!
So I say again, who's with me? Can I get an amen sister?!?!?! (how about a babysitter?!?! ;-)

TA! DA! My attempt at a Lightning McQueen bed

Well here it is. I finally finished the boys' bed last night. They are pretty excited about it....I hope that excitment carries over to bedtime tonight!! Please forgive the quality of the photos....my digital camera is broken so I had to use my phone! Ka-Chow!!!!!

Another "baby item" bites the dust....

Another milestone was hit in our box of heaven yesterday. I finally made the executive decision to surrender the place of mom and dad sanity where our sweet little one lays his head every night. (and sometimes during nap time) In case you are confused, we got rid of the crib. This is a decision I have been struggling with for a while now. Every time I would venture into his room to survey and try to make a decision I always came up with the same solution....let's leave him in there just a little bit longer. After all, he hasn't even tried to climb out yet! Our oldest could climb out when she was one, our 2nd oldest loved the crib and would probably still be in there if we had let her (did I mention that she is 8) and our 3rd child got booted out when he was not quite 2 to make room for little brother. There are only 3 bedrooms in our little cracker box....master for mom and dad, 2nd biggest room for sisters and the littlest room for the brothers. When one of the brothers is a little baby, it is hard to try and teach the bigger (but still little) brother how to be quiet while little brother is sleeping. Our solution to that (and I would say probably not a very good one) was to have big brother sleep in our room on the floor. He didn't mind since he got to watch T.V. (yes we have a T.V. in our room too) My husband grew tired of this idea quickly so big brother now gets to sleep in his sisters room. For the most part this has actually worked out well. Now that little brother is out of jail he is in the sisters room as well. He is not a pleasant room mate because he thinks it is cool to be with other people at bedtime which he sees as playtime. This means that I don't get much sleep because of all the "M-A-W-W-W-W-M'S" coming from the other end of the house. There is a set of bunk beds in the boys' room that we are going to try to employ. Right now they are painted white with pink and purple flowers on it. (Brings to mind a humorous image when you picture my 2 teenage stepsons sleeping in them!) Both little boys are in love with Lightening McQueen so we have decided to paint the beds red with maybe a lightening bolt or 2. Hopefully this will get them excited to sleep in there.....and if that don't work......you guessed it -- there is always the T.V.! (Please don't judge....its all for the sake of sanity!) I know the girls will be happy! Well, looks like I have some painting to do!

Now if I can just get the little one out of diapers!

My List of Firsts

I was reading through some of my old posts and I liked this one.  I wanted to rerun it for fun.......the sad part is that nothing in it has changed from when I first posted it. I know that I didn't travel back in time to change anything but I still hit the snooze button this morning, my husband was the first person I talked to this morning and no one has called or texted me yet......I'm not sure but there may be a pattern developing here......

Who was your FIRST pet? The first pet I remember as a kid was a blue tic hound named Freda. She had BIG floppy ears and was always baying at the moon. I remember one time when she tangled with a porcupine and mom had to pull the quills out with a pair of pliers! Wonder what happened to that dog.....

Do you still talk to your FIRST love? no

What was you FIRST job? My first job I got paid for was babysitting but my first real "had to have an interview" job was at the IGA

What was your FIRST car? The first car I had to drive after I got my licence was our HUGE station wagon. Needless to say, I didn't go out driving much.

Who was the FIRST person to text or call you today? No one yet!

Who was your FIRST grade teacher? Miss Loftus

Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane? To California

Who was your FIRST best friend and do you still talk? I would say Aurora....no

Where was your FIRST sleepover? Don't remember

Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? My husband

Whose wedding were you in for the FIRST time? My oldest sister's (does sitting at the guest book count?)

What was the FIRST thing you did this morning? Hit my snooze several times

What was the FIRST concert you ever went to? Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

FIRST set of stitches and how? I think it was when I cut my finger while trying to separate frozen side pork. I ended up getting stitches in my toe the same day I got the stitches in my finger taken out! Good thing I am graceful!

FIRST piercing? My ears when I was 13

FIRST foreign country you've been too? Does North Dakota count?

FIRST movie you remember? STARS WARS (I remember because I held hands with a boy I liked through the whole movie in a room full of kids and tried really hard for no one to see that we were holding hands under a pillow! ;-)

What was your FIRST bike? I got a reconditioned bike that was painted blue and had a new banana seat that looked like denim.....it was AWESOME! My brother taught me how to pop a wheelie on it but after I fell flat on my back it didn't seem quite as fun!

What was your FIRST computer? A Gateway that I ordered over the phone!

Who was your first roommate? I never had a roommate

FIRST kiss? Same boy from the Star Wars movie....different night

Did the world stop?

Oh wait. It was just the universe that swirls above our little box of heaven that we live in! Our computer modem went out Sunday morning and that meant the end of the world to our 2 oldest children! They were "SOOOO BORED!" and "HAD NOTHING TO DO!" Besides the weather not cooperating, we have all been sick so that just adds to the happy feeling surrounding this place! Also at this age, it would be preposterous to play with your sister or brothers! It is much more fun to irritate mom and dad or fight than just get along! The girls got into a fight Sunday night over whose job it was to run the remote to the T.V. (yes, they have a T.V. in their room) They sleep in bunk beds with the oldest on the top bunk. When the hula-baloo broke out my husband went back to see what happened. Madison wanted Emily to push the play button on the remote to start the movie. When she refused (the remote wasn't in her hand, therefore it was too difficult to comply with her sister's request) Madison got up out of her bunk and stepped up on her bed to hit her sister for not doing what she "ever-so lovingly" asked. She was so set on getting "revenge" that she didn't even bother to get the remote and push the button herself or even just go directly to the T.V. (That reminds me of the time that we lost the remote to the T.V. in the living room and ended up watching something dumb because no on wanted to change to channel manually)
I won't lie, it is a little tough for me when the computer is down, but I don't use it for anything important like taking care of virtual pets like my girls do. I just use it to pay bills and write blogs. (and the occasional facebooking) After waiting all day yesterday for they cable guy to show up between 10 and 2, I finally called again and found out that he would not be showing up until the next day. Well he showed up right as I was walking out the door to take the kids to school so we were almost late. (For those of you that know me that know me know that I would have been there sooner but.....) The kids hovered around him like he was the coolest guy on the planet! Of course he was......he saved the day by restoring our link to the outside world! Thank you cable guy.....what would we do without you?!?
Have I ever told you how much I like summer?..........Until next time....

Saying goodbye to the binky!

When my 2 older kids were little they had no interest in a binky. (that is what we call a pacifier in our house) If only I had taken that as a sign that I should not have even bothered to introduce one to my 2 youngest! When my 3 1/2 year old was a baby (and yes, he is a boy!) he was hungry ALL THE TIME! Or maybe he just liked having a boob in his mouth! He is, after all, a male! When he was six months old I got sick with the flu and he had to stay with my mom and we used a pacifier to help out. He also got introduced to formula because I COULD NOT nurse while I was throwing up.....I didn't want to risk dropping him in the toilet! Anyway, he ended up falling in love with his binky. We broke him of it on his second birthday. (his little brother was born 3 months before his 2nd birthday and he had already been ousted from his crib.....no need to kick a guy when he's down!) Everything went really well until I had to be in the hospital for 4 days when our youngest was 5 months old and the kids stayed with Grandma again. Thus, the binky resurfaced but for the littlest guy this time. Turns out that older brother rediscovered his love for his long-lost binky and started stealing it from him on a regular basis. Little brother didn't seem to mind too much since he wasn't quite as in love as big brother.......yet! I went back to work for a few months and that is when the binky became his best friend. I will admit (sadly) that for a short time they both had one because it was just easier to let it go than to hear them scream. As our youngest approached his 2nd birthday (which was this past February) we decided (and by we I mean my husband) that enough was enough....NO MORE BINKY! I took them away (and by took them away I mean I didn't completely get rid of them. I hid them.....just in case) the day after his 2nd birthday. We had some pretty upset boys and 1 slightly frazzled mom (from all the crying....did I say crying? I meant screaming) for a few days
but I still needed a way to break them for good. A friend told me about how they broke their child. You cut the nipple off of the binky. That way they can see that it is "broken" and no longer usable. The hope is that this will make more sense to them than saying, "you can't have it because I said so!" (I wish I could use this logic with my older children!) Well, I cut the nipple off of one and gave it to my son and boy was he UPSET! Even the older one got mad.....how would he ever steal it now? There were tears, but I think we finally got them both to understand. Sickness enter here....the next week everyone in the house got sick with a cold. Our youngest was the worst and he REFUSED to sleep! (Have you ever seen a 2 year old on a bender? Me neither but I am pretty sure that he could have been a poster child for that campaign!) This was only making him sicker so I caved and gave him his binky back. (What?!? This was a serious case of "just in case") After he got some sleep and was on the mend I told myself that I better take it away again before he heads off to college. Long story short.....I didn't have to. Big brother hid under a blanket with some scissors (good thing I had an eye on him....but in my defense they were child safety scissors!) and cut the nipple off of the last binky in the house! So far so good.....we will have to see how nap time goes! Farewell dear Binky! You have been a great friend! We will miss you!

Come One, Come All.....

Yes this was also the title of a post in my other blog, "Are You Smarter Than A Stay At Home Mom?" I am writing this with the hope of getting more readers to join me! Like I said in the other post....it doesn't matter if you know the answers off the top of your head or if you google them, but the fun part is posting them! Who doesn't have 5 minutes to exercise your brain with useless facts? The great part about them being useless is that you don't need to retain the information! This is NOT a test....I repeat....this is NOT a test :-) Please join me and have fun....and feel free to tell your friends!

Trying something new....

When I first read my sister-in-law's blog I thought it looked like fun so I thought I would give it a try! I thought with four hellions (did I say that out loud? I meant to say my lovely children) and a like minded husband surely I would have plenty to write about! Well the stories don't seem to flow as easily as I thought they would! So in addition to this blog, I have decided to try a new one.....I love trivia and little know facts that know one else seems to know or care about. (half of the time I am not sure how even I know some of this crap!) My hope is that even if my trivia can't make you smarter, it might make your mind a little less bored! (I have been told that my mind wanders a lot -- maybe that is why I like dumb trivia:-)

So the question is, "How much useless trivia do you know?"