Mommy Sick Mode

Child 1 and Child 3 got sick at the same time but with two, very different things. Child 3's was painful and long lasting. Child 1 got an antibiotic and was at school the next day. Child 3 was sick and crying for a week. Child 2 jumped on the scene with Child 3's illness about halfway through Child 3's recovery, extending mommy sick mode by another 4 to 5 days.

Mommy sick mode...
No continuous sleep longer than 2.5 hours.

No continuous sitting longer than 10-15 minutes.

Medicine locator, dispenser, log keeper.

Magician...be able to open tiny packets of medication at 2 o'clock in the morning after having had 1.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, making sure to read tiny writing on tiny packet first, to double check dosage.

Pharmacist...must know amount of medicine to give based on weight and age, dosage times, what medicines interact with others to be the most beneficial to child.

Creative cook...must creatively think of things that child will eat, make them over and over again, time this well with medication so child feels good enough to eat it.

Line cook...make many different items with one bite eaten from them and then turned down, time this well with medication so child feels good enough to eat that one bite. Don't forget to cook dinner for those healthy family members.

Angel...do not ever lose patience with sick children. It is not their fault, combat the ceaseless whining and crying with hugs, kisses and love.

Entertainer...think of things that sick child can do while spending a week at home, miserable.

Teacher...help child make up mountain of work that has been missed, time this well with medication so child feels good enough to do it.

Interpreter...discern meaning of hand gestures and grunts.

Germ eradicator...wash sheets and pj's in hot water to ensure elimination of evil germs, wipe down all counters multiple times a day, clean bathrooms, don't forget door handles or toilet handles used repeatedly by sick child

These duties are in addition to other errands, chores and parenting of a teenager girl. Fear not, mommy sick mode is saved only for those illnesses with a duration longer than your average ear infection, strep throat or vomiting in the middle of the night illness. There are other lists for those types of illnesses.

But truly, this should be easy...I'm a stay home mom after all. What else do I have to do?

Now, why I am grateful...
I have money to buy medicine. I have money to buy a variety of foods to try on the sick ones. I don't have to miss a week and a half of work to care for sick ones. I have a big enough bed for all the sickies when snuggle time is a necessity in the middle of the night. I know they WILL get better. This is a virus not a life threatening disease. I have toys, video games and books galore to entertain them. It is not Thanksgiving day. My husband will come home and tell me that I am awesome. The teenage daughter still comes home from school and gives me a big hug and tells me that she loves me. Life is good.

Conversations over Halo

My boys just started playing Halo--the old one, with aliens. They love it, I love their conversations.

J: I have to go to the bathroom. N: ok (J returns) N: I had to kill you. I needed your gun. J: See what happens when a guy takes care of his business! Jeesh!

N: Follow my orders and you won't die. J: You are ONLY the boss of me in this game.

N: Come to where my bombs are and stay put. J: Can I fire at the bad guys? N: Yeah just don't die.

N: Mom do you see how diligently I am working? Me: Yes, good job getting those aliens. J: Mom, I'm what Nathan said too. Me: Good job bud.

To Be Continued...the soldiers are in the tub.

Happy Boo Boo

Humor in adversity is a hard concept to teach. I might even go so far as to say that it is unteachable. You either have it or you don't. The people who inherently know how to turn something difficult into something funny are happier. They get along better with others. I have a child who does this and I wasn't aware of how well she does this, until last night. It was the homecoming dance for her high school. She is a freshman and, as your average freshman would tell you, nerves can be a factor when you are the newbie going to your first big dance. Her dress--beautiful, make up--just right, hair style--fashionable and pinky toe--bleeding profusely. We put pressure on it, taped it, bandaged it and it just kept bleeding. She was invited to a neighbor friend's house for dinner and pictures beforehand. She was very late due to this bleeding toe. We finally bandaged it as tightly as we could and headed over. Sure enough, bled right through. This has been an hour of bleeding people--enough already! Thankfully these are close friends and weren't too squeamish about propping her foot up and rebandaging it. It was bleeding as if it had first happened.

After 15 minutes of more pressure and knowing that it was only 20 minutes until the dance started, I saw it start to happen. Her eyes were tearing up and she said, "It's ok mom, I can just stay home. I don't mind." This kid was going to the dance if I had to cauterize the stupid toe myself! I looked at her and said, "Bek now is the time you pray. Ask for God to help us find a way to fix that little toe so that you can go." I don't know what she said inside that gorgeous head of hers but she did look away for a minute or two. I sprayed this new stuff on it--liquid bandage and the bleeding stopped. I wrapped it tightly with gauze, bandages and tape. It was huge but it wasn't bleeding. Of course her shoes were sandals and that pinky toe was hard to miss.

This 14 year old freshman smiled, drew a happy face on her toe with sharpie and named it "Happy Boo Boo". She said, "Mom, next year everyone is going to want one." She went to that dance with her head held high and came home smiling, laughing and glowing. She had a blast.

Her humor in adversity is making her a very happy person. You rock Bekkah.

Signs of Fall

Yes fall is in the air. Pumpkins and mums are showing up at grocery stores, bugs are sneaking indoors to get away from chilly nights, leaves are starting to change, football is on after church on Sunday AND, the nebulizer is out of storage. Fall brings school, which brings germs, which brings out my little guy's nebulizer. Breathing is not optional. I hate the wheeze. He gets this look, other moms of RAD kids would know it. It's a little pale, a little dark under the eyes, a little noise that goes along with that deep breath. As much as I hate that nebulizer, I love it. It kept my little guy going during his bout with pneumonia, it kept him going when he coughed until he gagged and choked. Fall you are beautiful and so are you mister nebulizer--let's get the little guy through another season.

Going, going, gone!

We had quite the football weekend last weekend.

It started in Elkridge at 7:30am with Nathan's team winning 20-0. Talk about fun to watch! All those young guys really learning how to play the game--it just clicked. They played again the next day and won that game 14-0. I am not sure how many more times Nathan will be able to say that my team won two shut out games in one weekend. Talk about a self confidence booster. Nathan was ecstatic!

We then moved on to Bowie for Josh's game. Our little guys were just that, little. They were, by far, smaller than the other team. Some of them can barely keep their head up with that huge helmet on, I think they look like lollipops running around out there. The kids love playing and being in their gear. Our coaches are really great with them, patient, teaching, encouraging--just what coaches of 5-6 year olds should be. The coaches of the other team were your stereotypical loud, obnoxious over the top coaches. They have forgotten that most of these kiddos have been on our planet for 5 fingers--only the fingers on one hand. Well, 3 touchdowns from them later, I was afraid our kids would be getting discouraged. They put Josh in as the quarterback and he did the quarterback sneak. He kept the ball and ran 40 yards for a touchdown. I really can't tell you from a mom's perspective how I felt to actually watch my child do that. I forgot about the huge camera around my neck, started jumping up and down, screaming and running down the sidelines. Are my eyes really seeing this? Josh made the first touch down of the first game of the first season that this team exists. I don't care if the other team made a gazillion touchdowns. Josh made one and that was more than enough for me!

I am now hoarse yet incredibly happy for my guys. Now on to watch my girl play some volleyball. Go Bears!

A Football Epiphany

I was begged, pleaded, cried, coerced, talked to, stared at into signing my boys up for football. I didn't want the HUGE time commitment or the generally football-crazy coaches screaming at my children to run until they vomit. Preconceived ideas but a worry still the same. (In hindsight I should have been worrying about the fact that every check I write is to their organization for one thing or another). I signed them up. My younger, who I believe weighed so much at birth because he came out with a football in his hand, literally quivered when they put his helmet on. It actually gave him the chills. "Here we go.", I thought.

There have been some great things that have come from this new family adventure. My boys have exercised more than they ever have before. They are strong and becoming stronger. They are confident. They are being given chances to work hard and succeed to the cheers of a whole team of people. They are learning how to work hard even when you don't feel like it because people are counting on you. They get to play in the dirt! The coaches have been great (with the exception of one that I want to throw a yellow flag at and kick off the field).

The epiphany part: The first practice, I set up my chair, had my water, put on my sunglasses and then started to look around and watch the kids, parents and families. There were boys everywhere---literally. I watched them: catch grasshoppers, chase yellow jackets, shove each other, squirt each other with their water bottles, kick dirt, make all sorts of unimaginable noises with different body parts, scream, pee on trees, chase each other, try to out kick, out throw, out run, and out 'whatever else you can think of' each other. Moms and dads were running after the particularly rambunctious ones, screaming their names over and over again. I heard one mom say to another, "Well, we are the parents of boys, we know how to roll with it." I got that. I understood that. I related to them and all 280 loud, wiggly, lovely boys. This was worth the time commitment, all those checks I had to write and so much more. My boys are just that, wonderful, curious, energetic awesome boys.

I really AM a good mom!

Well, we had a first. After having shopped at a big box store with the initials BB&B we were walking out to the truck in a consumerism stupor. My boys started to argue about who would open the door to get in. Really. The next thing I know boy child #1 has the t-shirt of boy child #2 pulled over his head (Ovechkin would have been proud) and was punching him. This sent boy child #2 over the edge and he started punching boy child #1. I was dumbfounded. How did we get to this point? Are my offspring actually fighting in the parking lot? Unreal. I had no idea what to do. I felt like I had to explain this atrocious behavior to the adults passing by the melee. We really don't do this sort of thing! I wanted to raise my hands and shout,"Move along...nothing going on here, no worries, we're just joking, hahaahaaa.....". After both boys were breathing heavily and crying I asked, "Did that work for you guys? Did you accomplish what you were trying to do?" Both cried harder and said no. "Next time lets use our words."

Blah

My Husband favorited this tweet.

Me: blah blah blah blah blah Matt: walking away from that, what exactly do i need 2 know Me: well, blah Matt: ok Me: the story's good too!


I often wonder how much he hears me say and how he discerns what is important. I used to be offended at his "efficiency" in communication. Now I know we communicate on different planes. I am all about the details. Tell me the story honey. He wants to know what he has to do. We have come to a mutual understanding, I respect his need to know and he respects my need to info dump. Now if only he could figure out a way to be "efficient" besides saying, "Tell me when I should start listening.". God love 'em.

Victory

This is my awesome daughter after she made the JV volleyball team. I love the look of self confidence. That was a very tense day for both of us. I died a thousand deaths while she was at the final cuts of her tryouts. I fidgeted while wandering around in psychotic circles. I showed up early to pick her up, not having eaten anything all morning. I will never forget her face when she made it, the complete joy, disbelief that the coaches believed in her abilities, excitement of what was to come and relief. I know that these occasions are rare. Oftentimes our endeavors do not result in us raising our arms in victory. The fact that Bek has this look a week before the start of her first year of high school makes me think we are starting out on the right foot. May this be how you feel more often than not, my incredible daughter.

I. LIVE. WITH. _________

I live with___________. Fill in the blank. Yes, this picture speaks volumes about my life. The second boy child was actually pausing the game of the first boy child while attending to personal business. What started out as laughter ended with one child chasing the other child out of the bathroom. The second boy child even forgot his weapon of irritation in the private room. I think he was running for his life. Thank goodness he was finished doing what he needed to do!

Magical Puppies

My son and his friends were playing a game called "Magical Puppies". I observed from the background while going about my inane household chores. The rule changes were frequent and all based upon the whims of 5 and 6 year olds. The changes often resulted in one of the "magical puppies" gaining the upper hand in said game. I was intrigued by the swiftness in which these puppies were able to assess their current situation, determine their weakness and then declare the rule change that would give them power in the game. This was all done with complete confidence that it would be accepted by all the other puppies. Amazingly enough, this happened over and over again. I then had an interesting thought: these children were practicing business strategies during their game. Big banks/credit card companies are being run by magical puppies! They change the rules to suit their needs and make them the most money! This magical puppy ruled the game with his magical, puppy hat of fire. We better hide that hat bud, we can't let it fall into the wrong hands.