Thinking Outside the Box

At some point between him laying down and waking up, his brothers decided to go in his room and throw him something over the railing so he wouldn't be bored while in his crib. He knew that Mommy never gets him out until quiet time is over, so he had to get a little creative and use what resources he had. I went to go get him up from his nap and, low and behold, our sweet boy has (once again) demonstrated his brilliance. Can you guess what we are currently working with S on? It's true... sometimes you just got to think outside the box.

Or in this case, inside the box! What else would you use a lego box for?

On a side note, did I mention he loves to help us clean? About a month ago we started taking him into the bathroom to get him used to the idea of peeing in the toilet. We'd give him a little privacy so he wouldn't have to perform in front of an audience. He got to the point where he would pull off his diaper and say, "I go potty!" and run into the bathroom. I'd wait a few minutes then go check on him to see if he was done. Every time it would be wet around the rim and we'd have a Wa-hoo-you-went-pee-pees-in-the-big-boy-potty-yay-for-S! dance and never gave it much further thought.

A few weeks pass and one day he pulls off his diaper, says "I go potty!" and off he went. I went to go check on him and saw that it was all wet around the rim. I begin to dance the special dance and start singing when.... wait a minute..... why is he running away? Better yet, what's in his hand? S, get back here. Aaahh, holy crap! He joyfully walked back over to me and handed me ["mom, I clean!"] my toothbrush, my WET toothbrush. Further investigation proved that the liquid on the rim was not urine, but the toilet bowl water that came from Mommy's "cleaning" brush. I love you too, S!

Almost There

Summer School Update

3 weeks down (23 writing assignments) , 2 more to go

It's not as bad as I thought it would be, but I hate always being tired. I seem to be maintaining a 95% but we will see what happens... It has been "fun" pulling all-nighters at least twice a week. The nights when I get lucky enough to get 3 hours of sleep, 6:15 comes way too fast! 8 more days.... 8 more days.... I can do it!

Summer School 1

The grades have been posted for the English class during the summer 1 term. I got...

an A (96.4%)

Any Takers?

Up for grabs

#1: 5 years old
Focused: if allowed, can sit in front of the TV playing video games all day
Talented: insists that he's better than anyone else (including Mommy & Daddy)
Confident: has a big head but "that's because there's an even bigger brain inside of my big head"
Sharp: Very good memory, can recall things that happened years back and what you offered in a negotiation 5 months ago, that has yet to be delivered
Trained Monkey: will mimic you to a T: "That's really great G, you're doing a good job. Now leave me alone for a while so I can finish what I'm doing."
Will ask daily, "can I go to school yet?"

#2: 3 years old
Dedicated: will fight tooth and nail to convince you he's really 5 years old and just as big as his other brother and his brother's friend CM
Handsome: a mini Joaquin Phoenix
Outspoken: must always get the last word in
Determined: will go out of his way to get whatever he wants. "I want new undies" No, you can't have new undies. "Oopp, there's a little drop of pee pee on my undies so I better go get new ones on"
Great teacher: (see example in #3)

#3: 2 years old
Comedian: finds humor in taking diaper off while in the crib, moving cherished blanket to the corner, aiming his king in-between the slats in order to clear the crib, and pee on the floor, bonus points it accomplished while also making #4 laugh hysterically
Great Student: has been trained (from #2) to yell "eeehhh!" as a way to express your opinions
Smart & Rich in Omega-3: Fish fiend, can pack away a bag of goldfish in a blink of an eye. If he's done eating them, he knows that they are to be placed back in their proper environment: a bunch of water.

#4: 8.5 months
Mobile: Can crawl/slither his way to anywhere he'd like to get
Artist: uses spit-up as the paint and carpet/tile/rug/wherever-he's-at as a canvas
Vocal: can yell and squeal louder than anyone
Resourceful: climbs on top of his brothers to wrestle, but quickly gets off before he can be the one to get blamed for his brothers screaming

Wanted
Chef: prepare at least 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches, and 2 dinners, and well as snacks for every 30 minutes. Have beverages on the table before food is presented or you will hear about it.
Maid: clean the toilet (and surrounding area) after every use, approximately every hour. Wipe down the table after all breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks. Clean the sliding glass down, inside and out, daily. Be sure to vacuum rooms that were vacuumed earlier that day. Address the cob webs that have collected dust. Sinks should be clear of any dishes.
Secretary: Take messages, organize, and keep an ongoing shopping list. Must remember where everything is at any given moment.
Nurse: Tend to the wounded after getting at battle. Willingness to deal with blood on a daily basis.
Accountant: Pay all the bills in an timely manner. Find alternative means of keeping budget consistent while prices of everything soars.
Handyman/woman: fix the 50 cent toy that, heaven forbid, fell apart.
Gardener: Ensure all the weeds are pulled and bushes are trimmed so the neighborhood nazis (aka HOA) don't leave a sticky note on the front door.
Laundry Service: Scrub ketchup/mustard/barbecue sauce/spaghetti sauce/poop out of clothing. Iron, fold, and put away.
Personal shopper: Find clothes for everyone's constantly changing sizes. Accountable for not running out of food and having backup Goldfish, for #3, a plus.
Student: Make sure all the assignments are completed, free from any bodily fluid, food, or beverage before turning in.
A Good Wife: Needs to have undivided attention and spare time to sit down and listen to husband and occasionally go on a date.
A Good Mother: Needs to provide undivided attention. Willingness to sit and "watch" child's accomplishments helpful. Brush kids teeth, get them to bed at a reasonable time, read the books they each picked out, all the while trying not to yawn. Must also act as though you hadn't realized you have all boys and you don't have a little girl when someone points it out.
Detective: Figure out where the funky smell is coming from and then determine what is it.
A good Sunday Member: Must not lose it and yell at the kids when they start fighting during Sacrament meeting.

Did I mention there is no salary involved for these services?

Madness

So the past few weeks were busy to say the least. Lucky for me, I have a mother who is awesome and is willing to help any opportunity she gets. I love you Mom!

6/27- Wake up in pain. Both ears hurt but I've got homework to get done. Start homework, then get a phone call that my sister is coming to stay with us the following Friday. Later find out that they won't be coming after all. Emailed my rough draft for peer review and got time to relax and holy crap my ears are really hurting now.

During the night I wake up in excruciating ear pain and start taking some leftover Percacet from the C-section. It wears of quickly so I alternate between that and lots of Ibuprofen every time I wake up (every 2 hours just like clockwork)

6/28- Wake up @ 5:30a in complete misery. My ears are totally infected and have become very swollen. I can't seem to break my 102 temp and become very nauseous. Go to urgent care, get prescribed antibiotics and Vicodin as I'm almost out of Percacet. To add to the joy, the nausea takes over and I start throwing up. (it was fabulous considering I had only ate some bread and crackers for the prior 24 hours). Life must carry on for at least another day as my final draft English paper is due by midnight and I still have until Wednesday until the class is over.

6/29- Still running a fever. Call urgent care and am told to either come in for a shot (that may not be effective) or go to the ER. By this time, my ears are completely swollen shut! I love my life. My fabulous husband and TB (the guys initials, no, doesn't stand for tuberculous) give me a blessing in hopes we can avoid an ER visit.

By this time, I can't hear a darn thing which I would normally sign up for but I can't enjoy it as the pain is miserable. We go to the ER and they run through all the questions (of which the husband has to answer for me because I can't hear) and then take a look at my ears. The dr. took a look and said, "wow, impressive!" and ordered a CT scan. Meanwhile, I'm put on strong IV antibiotics as well as a morphine drip. CT scan results: (in non-medical terms) double ear infections with scar tissue indicating I've had chronic ear infections. (Really? That's news to me! jk I've had ear problems my whole life, it's just something I've learned to embrace. I get one AT LEAST every other month but I don't let it get in my way because quite frankly, I don't have the time to sit around to dwell on it. This one was way beyond my "don't think about it" superwoman powers.) Referred to ENT in addition to adding to my list of meds.

I call my mom husband calls my Mom to see if see can come help on her way to Texas. She books her flight and is coming the following day.

FYI, I'm extremely OCD about cleaning my ears regularly. I clean them at least 2x a day, if not more. I can't stand stuff being in my ears. I love Q-tips and hate ear drops!

6/30- Go to ENT. The front office staff (consisting of girls, 99% of them who have bleach-blondes [not a hater, I too once had the same super blonde hair] with boobs double the size of my beyond engorged working boobs, a waist size of our 5 year old, and weighs perhaps a little more than our baby) are really dumb but they're "cute" so what more can I expect? Just please make sure that you tell them your name twice, spelling it the third time around. Get ear wicks crammed into my ears... bluntly put, they are the equivalent to having ear tampons... to force them open so that the ear drops can go in and all the infection can drip out. Love it! Prescribed 2 more prescriptions.

Instructed to never use Q-tips again. Are you kidding me? I can't have Q-tips but I have to continue my ear drops. Talk about torture! For all of you fellow Q-tip fanatics, apparently you're not supposed to use them in the first place. The "proper" way to clean your ears is to, after taking a shower, put a tissue on your pinky finger and wipe whatever is right at the ear opening. What kind of nonsense is that? Luckily, I'm not much of a proper person but we'll see how long I can try to act as though I am. :)

My Mom flies in and takes care of me and the boys while Daddy goes back to work. I'm pretty much useless by now so my Mom quickly takes on all the responsibilities around the house.

7/2- Big course portfolio, 3 different assignments, due for English. I tried my hardest to have them at least appear like the same person who wrote all the other papers completed the portfolio. There's only so much you can do while on heavy painkillers for 5 days straight. Luckily I almost had 100% in the class so even if I did horrible on the final, I should still probably get an A.

7/3- My Mom leaves for Texas. :( Another ENT visit, looks like things are improving and I won't have to be admitted to the hospital. Hooray! I didn't have time for that anyways. I can hear out of one ear, but the other is still closed. Have to come back Tuesday to get my ears vacuumed out.

7/4- 4th of July. Still out of it and start getting headaches. In case you're wondering, this still sucks.

7/7- First day of Summer 2 term.

7/8- 3rd ENT visit. N went with me and very loudly kept asking me, "Mom, when are they going to start hurrying up and call your name already? It really stinks in here so I think they should open the door and call your name so we can go into a different room." (Thanks for that insight son!) They hired a new girl, who (I'm sure by pure coincidence) looks identical to the other girls, but turns out to be even dumber. People, do not work in a medical office if you have do not have any medical background knowledge! The patient shouldn't have to explain medical terms to you so you can understand what you're writing in their chart.

Specialist findings: "all the gunk from the infection has settled right against my ear drum, making it impossible to vacuum out at this time. I'll prescribe you some new ear drops you'll use 2x a day for two weeks. Come back then and we'll see if we can do it then. Remember, no q-tips!"

My thoughts: ok, you can take away my q-tips, but you can't then give me ear drops. It's either yes q-tips and yes ear drops, or no q-tips and no ear drops. You can't co-mingle the two!

The ENT specialist read my thoughts and reiterated the instructions. What a stink butt, no wonder he's not married! lol

7/10- Still not 100% better but I'm working on it. One ear feels like an infection may be coming back but I can't tell if it's an infection or my superwoman weather barometer readings of the pressure changes that are happening all this week. (My ears can predict whenever there are pressure changes in the air. It's just another hidden talent I've been blessed with as a result to my chronic ear infections while growing up.)

Until my 2 week follow-up of a follow-up appointment, I'm left with the following feeling:

You have NO idea!!

Sad Day

I've got a gazillion things that I need to post on here, I promise I'm working on them. I'm also playing catch-up with reading everyone's blog. It's been a long, long time. I just started my second summer term yesterday so here we go again, but until then.....

Does this picture say enough?


I don't normally follow this nonsense reality TV show but I caught bits and pieces of the last episodes while channel surfing when I was still nursing. I realized it is Tuesday and I missed a big finale. While doing online research for an English paper, I took a break to see what happened last night. Despite all my yelling, "Don't do it, don't do it! Don't you dare send him home!" at the TV, he was still sent packing. The computer has now heard my opinion and the DH got a phone call at work because let's face it, this is some important stuff here. lol But seriously, what the heck was she thinking?

Hang in there Jason, America loves you!

Shame on Daddy

They played a little game of "how well do you know your son/Daddy" in Primary on Father's Day. Daddy was informed ahead of time so he could wear a tie that could be cut. Each time they got an answer wrong they would cut a little bit of his tie. It was hilarious!

"What's your Daddy's favorite dessert?"
Carrots

"What size are your Daddy's shoes?"
17

"Where was your Daddy born?"
Umm, I can't really remember....Probably in the desert with scorpions.

"How much does your Daddy weigh?"
25 pounds

This is what he came home with-