The Couture of Laundry Soap.

A funny thing happened the other day.  My mom, who spoils me beyond anyone's imagination, heard me say something about how I needed some laundry detergent.  This conversation was around the time that I had two puking children, so the laundry room was working overtime.  She said that she needed to go to Sam's for some things and after a while came back with a bottle that I hadn't seen in my house, well, ever!  I was in awe of the fact that my mom bought me a Sam's sized jug of Tide..not that she wouldn't ever do such a thing, because she does things like this all the time, but because she bought TIDE! ...the couture of laundry detergents.  I was trying to remember the last time I bought Tide, and I don't think I ever have...ever.  Only because it's so expensive, and because I'm so cheap.  She laughed at me.  I covet that Tide.  I use it sparingly so I can maybe make it last longer.  Then when it's gone, we'll go back to having average smelling, but still clean laundry. 

'Tis the season...

Isn't it fun to get all the Christmas decorations out?  I love it...as do most, I think.  J got all the boxes down and put up the Christmas lights on the house, which look GREAT!  I looked at all the boxes in the garage, there really aren't THAT many...maybe 4, and started thinking about where certain things will go.  Most of the things I have are hand-me-downs...GREAT ones, all of which I am thankful to have.  Christmas decorations are unnecessary and overpriced, but also are AWESOME!  So I'm glad that some of my family members donate to the cause.  :)  I have things in those boxes that I remember from my grandmother's and great-grandmother's houses during Christmas.  As I was trying to remember what all I had stashed away, and trying to place all those items around our house in my mind, I started opening a box.  I didn't remember this particular box from last year, but it did say, "CHRISTMAS" in red letters all over it.  I ripped the tape off to find and Wal-Mart sack FULL of NEW Christmas decorations!  I remember now!  I hit the after-Christmas sales last year and had lots of new things!  Mostly evergreen and red berry garlands, but still, new things!  It was exciting!

Anna and Grey's Christmas List:

Anna: 

1: An attitude adjustment.

2. Having the ability to not blame Grey when I tell her to do something, or blaming him for not "letting" her do something she wants to do (such as taking a drink out of her cup, or something else ridiculous).

Grey:

1: A miraculous recovery from all of the different sicknesses he's had (non-stop) for the last few months.

2. For Anna to stop waking him up in the middle of the night from his perfect sleep because she's crying about something.  Something like "I have a bugger in my nose!!"

Beware.

I'm about to make THESE and I'm not sure that they'll make it to the church in time for our Thanksgiving dinner (because I might eat them all).  Please pray that they do and that others at our church can also share in the clogging of arteries.  My mom says that my dad could live off of them...but not the clogged arteries.  Close your eyes Erica, your blood sugar may go nuts if you even look at this!

Update: They made it to the church, and NONE of them made it to my mouth.  But it's ok, the CUP of butter that is used in the recipe sort of grossed me out when I was making them anyway.  HA!

Been Tagged...

1: I like the smell of burning flesh.  Like if I burn my fingers a little while building a fire...  I once had a pretty serious, but small burn on my hand and kept catching myself with it stuck to my nose.  I also like the smell of burned leather.  While in my sculpture classes (metal and jewelry), sometimes I'd "accidentally" burn my leather gloves just to get a whiff.  Weird.

2.  I've always wanted to be a meteorologist when I grew up.  Not the kind on camera, but the one of the geeks that sat and watched the radars/dopplers at the National Weather Service offices.  And be a storm chaser.  I even toured the National Weather Service once when I was in college for fun.  Too bad I can't do A LICK of math...  I took an Atmospheric Science course in college and it was the only good science grade I got.  I even got a bonus question about "vertical atmospheric lift" correct on a lab test.  It was asking what a certain equation would determine, which happened to be longer than a standard sheet of paper is wide. (sorry I stole this one, Erica.)

3. I am a pyromaniac.  Most of you know that...

4. I hate to brush my teeth...and four of my teeth are fake, but not because I don't like to brush them.  They were knocked out by a softball when I was in 5th grade.

5. I like the weird eerie feeling you get when you stand in the middle of the road.  I always have the urge to stick my hands in a saw blade...it's a mental war game every time I hear a saw.

6. I LOVE to watch people and try to figure out what they are talking about when I can only see their lips moving and their facial expressions.

7.  I bite my fingernails and chew on the bitten off part for hours...or until it falls apart in my mouth.

I think I'm the last of my friends to be tagged, therefore I don't have anyone else to tag.  :)

Wanted: NFOD

Or a "new form of discipline." We have several forms of discipline in this house.  The ultimate discipline is spankings.  If nothing else works, then that's what she gets.  Anna has decided lately that she's REALLY push our buttons and see how far we'd really go.  She has been in trouble for the majority of the evenings of the last couple of weeks.  We seem to always get to the ultimate discipline every time.  But then a funny thing happened.  She started acting like getting spanked was no big deal.  Over and over she'd misbehave, talk to me in like a 16 year old who hates her parents, etc.  I'd do all those things that lead up to spanking her and nothing would phase her...and now this.  I told her the other night that if she did that again (whatever it was...) then she'd get a spanking.  She did it, I reminded her that that was about to happen, she stood there, looked at me and said, "It's ok 'cause I not gonna cry when you spank me..."  I spanked her anyway, looked at her and it was like looking at a crazy serial killer with no emotion or remorse.  She took it and walked away.  Nothing.

Poor Grey.

But he really doesn't care...  For the record, this was Nana's idea.

The dead zone.

Anna goes in and out of a "death" phase.  She's back into it lately.  The other day we were making some pancakes and Anna was helping me put in the ingredients.  She cracked an egg, put it in the bowl, and said, "Look Mommy, it's dead now."  Weird and a little morbid, but true.  She has been killing the poor little bugs that crawl past her again....mainly to see them smashed and twitchy.  And during "sick week" while Elisabeth and Erin were here, Anna had a brief conversation about death with Elisabeth.  I can't remember exactly how it went, but it was something like this:

Elisabeth: (sitting on the bed while looking at Erin and Chas' photos on the computer) Anna, what are you doing?

Anna: (also on the bed making a shoveling motion) I'm digging a hole.

Elisabeth: Why are you digging a hole?

Anna: Because...

Elisabeth: Are you going to put something in the hole?

Anna: Yes...you.

Elisabeth: I'm going in the hole?  Why?

Anna: Cause you're dead.  

Erin assures me that the "death phase" is normal and that most kids go through it.  It's just SO weird.

Verification for comments...

Have you ever over-analyzed those jumbled letters that you have to type when you want to leave a comment on someone else's blog?  It's kind of funny...the combination of letters that you "randomly" get sometimes completely relate to either whatever you've put as a comment, or relate to the post you're commenting about.  Weird.  Sometimes the jumbled letters need to make a word (or a couple of words), and sometimes the funny part comes when you just repeat the letters to yourself.  For instance, here are some of the ones I've gotten lately and wrote down:

artbegr: (as a word) Related to a blog post by a local photographer who is just "getting started."

fivcup: (repeat the letters) Related to a blog post of a friend talking about potty training her son.

fawping: (as a word) It made some sort of "sound" when saying these letters as a word...kind of like when a tennis ball bounces then hits a racket.  I don't remember the post it related to, but I remember that it went with it...

dulthet: (as a word) Related to someone talking about a case of the "Mondays."

stixies: (as a word) Again, related to a blog post about giving up on potty training.

Does anyone else "get it?"  Or is it just me having too much time on my hands...how is that possible by the way?

YAY!

Wanna see one of the prettiest rocks ever?  

Congratulations Russ and Elisabeth!

Up from the depths...

"What woman?! I'm trying to eat these magnets!"

He tries to find me behind the camera.

These are the very few smiles we've gotten all week.  This boy has just been sick.  You name it, he's had it.  Well, not that extreme.  But we can now add one more thing to the lists of ailments, an ear infection.  Yep, one of the things that I hate the most.  We got a very gracious house call last night from our friend, Elizabeth, the pediatrician, who has been amazingly gracious to us all week.  She has been genuinely concerned about the kids all week.  She came over to take a look at Grey last night.  After digging large amounts of wax out of his ears so she could just get a glimpse of this eardrums, she looked at Erin, who was also there for support, and said, "This is what an ear is NOT supposed to look like..."  Nice.  She was SO great and called us in some antibiotics this morning.  It will be a few days until Grey really starts to feel better, but at least we may be on the downhill slide.  This, for sure, is still our enemy!  It's day 6 of diarrhea.  Please make it stop!

A little off the top...

You may have read about the haircut Anna gave herself.  Here is the evidence.  It looks like more than it actually is, and I must say that it could have been WAY worse.  But there is a significant difference in the way her hair goes into a ponytail now.  The damage is mostly on her right side in the front, but there is still a good five inches of hair left there.  It does not go all the way back into a ponytail and has to be clipped much more than before.  She needs a little "evening out" haircut, but I'm not so sure how much good it will do.  At least this didn't happen the day before one of the many weddings Anna is scheduled to be in.  She no longer has the privilege of using scissors....ever.

A Glorious Comeback.

Remember when poor Puppy took a backseat to Baby?  Baby has spent the last week in Anna's "crack" as she likes to call it.  That's the space between the wall and her bed.  I asked her where her baby was and if she wanted her since she hadn't been feeling well.  She said, "She's in my crack."  Needless to say, Puppy came out of hiding soon after Anna became sick.  He has been by her side ever since.

A little game of Catch-up.

Both kids are asleep so I finally had a little time to upload a few photos and post a few entries.  This was the calm before Anna's part of the storm...taken 4 days ago.

...life goes on and on and on...

I've always feared the day that Anna would decide to give herself a haircut.  Today was the day...  I'm just thankful that that girl has curly hair down to her butt....and she still does in some areas.

Life goes on...

Today was the day that J and I were supposed to leave for a much needed trip away.  J had a conference for work and they always exceed our expectations with accommodations, meals, and entertainment for us...a completely paid for trip (almost).  And it would have been great to see some out of town friends again that we don't get to see often.  But since the kids have gotten sick, yes I did say KIDS (plural), I'll be staying home this weekend.  

After the Wal-Mart/puke episode, Anna got sick as well.  It wasn't until the next day.  She was pretty mopey most of that morning and I just thought she was sad that I wasn't playing with her much since I was changing a diaper and/or clothes about every 5 minutes.  She was actually just feeling bad.  She didn't eat much all day and at about 2pm, she threw up all over her bed.  It was VERY traumatic.  I heard the weird and alarming couch/gag and ran into her room.  She was standing on her bed screaming and pointing down at the puke on her sheets.  I grabbed her and tried to make it to the bathroom without succeeding.  She threw up right at the door to her room.  She was flipping out.  This girl just doesn't get sick and it had been a long time since she had really thrown up...I'm sure she doesn't even remember it.

Erin, the lifesaver and one of the bravest women I know, came over to help out.  She took Anna outside, watered the plants, went on a nature walk and gathered things for a craft, and helped Anna "puke like a big girl in the potty."  Erin also brought over some Pedialite and some coffee for me...to, of course, keep ME hydrated!  HA!

Anna was sick the rest of the day.  She really was a big girl and ran into the bathroom when she needed to throw up.  She calmed down and seemed to feel a little better before bed.  She got up at about 2am needing to potty.  She sat down and said, "Mommy, I puked in the potty like a big girl today!"  She was so proud.  She slept well the rest of the night.

Grey has also been sleeping well, but is still sick.  Our genius friend/pediatrician, Elizabeth, told me that it's just a stomach virus and not the dreaded "Shigella" (sp?) virus that is going around.  That sounds very scary, and we are thankful that neither of them have it.  She did say that the diarrhea, which Grey has had for almost 4 days now and Anna started today, can last for up to a week.  Grey's poor bottom is as red as I've ever seen it.  He just doesn't seem to feel well at all...certainly not as well as Anna.  Anna is back eating and drinking normally.  I'm trying to keep things light for her.  Grey just doesn't seem to want much at all.  His poor legs are completely raw from the one legged combat crawl since I've been keeping him in only a long sleeve shirt because of all the diaper changes.  I hope he feels better soon.

J will be leaving at around 5am tomorrow.  He stayed today to help me out.  I hope neither of us get this bug.  Our hands are cracked and dry from all the washing and hand sanitizer.  I also hope that J doesn't get it while away.  There will be another trip for me to go on.  I'm not worried about it.  I was earlier, but am not now.  I thought that I totally NEEDED this trip after this crazy week, but I'll be fine.  God definitely slapped me with the selfish stick this week!  I have great family and friends that will come over even when I have puking children.  Thanks guys!

Long story short...

Grey had been doing fine the majority of the day and I NEEDED to go to the grocery store.  We all (me and the kids) went to Wal-Mart.  Grey was sitting in his "hip hammock" and Anna in the cart.  All was well until the very last isle before going to the register to pay.  Grey unloads another gallon of puke all over me, himself, and the floor.  With the basket full of groceries, me soaked, Grey with a greenish-white face, and Anna screaming because she got some puke on her finger, I pulled my bag out of the cart, grabbed Anna's hand and we were outta there.  Yep, I left the FULL cart right there in the middle of the frozen section.  I'm on the verge of a breakdown.

A fabulous ending...

...to the longest day ever would, of course, be a sick kid.  Poor Grey has been snotty for a while now.  He has gotten a nasty cough in the last couple of days too.  I have been giving him lots of "dry it up" meds for this because I'm deathly afraid of ear infections.  Because of all the meds (I'm guessing) he has gotten dehydrated.  He has no problems drinking his bottles and seems to feel fine.  But he started getting dark circles under his eyes a few days ago.  I looked at them more closely and saw that the dark skin was very dry and felt hollow.  So I thought he was probably dehydrated.  I obviously have NO medical training.  I decided that I'd cut back on the meds even thought I wasn't even giving him as much as I could have been giving him, and made sure that he was well hydrated.  The cough and snot continued(s)...

Late this afternoon, Grey was playing his typical roll of "McScreamy", which is usually caused by me not being somewhere in the room where he could see me.  I went back to him and tried several things that normally work to calm him down.  Finally I just sat him in my lap in the chair.  After getting very comfy he rolled over and a gallon of puke came shooting out of his mouth.  Nice.  I got him cleaned up and took his temp.  Normal...98.6 exactly.  I gave him a little medicine for the snot since I figured the puke was from having too much snot in his stomach.  I put him to bed and he slept for a very long time...about 2 hours, longer than he's slept in a while.  I went to wake him up so he'd sleep tonight and found that he had puked again in his bed.  After getting him up, he puked two more times...but not much since he didn't have much in his stomach.  Still no fever.  Then came the "squirts."  Yep, both.  So now after washing our hands a million times and starting the washer with a load full of nasty clothes and blankets, and lighting a candle, every one is in bed.  Except for me of course.  I'm sure I'll be up all night, thus continuing the longest day ever.  HA!  

Hmm...

I usually like this time of year...  Leaves changing, days getting cooler, nights getting colder...  But this time change is a load of poo!  The last two days have been the longest days of my life!  Daylight Savings Time??  Today just won't end.  I keep looking at the clock thinking my husband would be home soon.  Once  I thought that I should start getting dinner going and looked up and it was 2:30pm.  Anna woke up at 7:10 this morning, much earlier than the norm because "it's light outside" (as she pulls the sheers back from the windows in our bedroom), "it's morning!."  And Grey not far behind her.  Sorry I acted like it would be no big deal at church Carla.  I think it has become a huge deal with both me and the kids.  Sheesh!

The Grey Area.

Grey is 8 months old today.  He has NO teeth and he has only just begun to master the one legged combat crawl.  But he goes very slowly.  He made it to the tile yesterday and you would've thought he made it into enemy territory and needed air support.  He was not happy with the hard surface.

Some Hah-aween.

This is the main reason for getting this costume.  It spins.  Anna has worn it many times before Halloween and it will be a staple in her dress-up wardrobe.  She was a "kitty princess."  It came from The Children's Place and really was more of "just a dress" than a costume.  It had a mask that went with it that she didn't really like to wear for very long.  We got her another one that only lasted a few more seconds on her face than the first one.  It didn't even have a tail...Nana and I got a feather boa and I safety pinned it on the back for the tail, she had some feathery hair clips in her buns on her head for "ears" and had some furry bracelets that she decided not to wear too.  But she had a blast spinning!  That's all that matters.  She spent most of the day dizzy.

And here it is.  The homemade costume for Daddy and Grey.  Grey's was NOT homemade and cost way too much for the amount of time he wore it.  Maybe 15 minutes.  Daddy was a building and Grey was King Kong.  All Daddy's idea.  The building was very homemade looking....

Grey was very hot.

He ate the "fire" off of the building...and a few windows fulfilling his calling for the day.

We went out the usual hot spot for Halloween night which was my sister's house.  A bunch of other kids always come over and they all go out and trick or treat.  Thanks Tara and Allie for entertaining Anna!  She had lots of fun.

Grey did a little "looking" for candy himself inside Todd's nose.  

I painted a nose and some whiskers on Anna's face for trick or treating.  She didn't REALLY look like a cat without the mask, and wasn't going to wear it, but she thought a little "makeup" on her cheeks was pretty cool.