WRITER'S WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY

In my blogging absence I have truly missed Mama Kat and Writer's Workshop Wednesday but no more....here I go!

This week I choose.......#1)  The moment I realized I was a grown up.

When I knew I was going to be a mother, I had all the little panicky but you really don't need to panic moments that every other mother-to-be would have.  I knew in my heart I would be fine.  I always wanted to be a mother but I was told when I was 21 that I wouldn't be able to have children.  Obviously, that doctor was wrong since I now have 2 ornery little boys.  Imagine my shock, surprise and excitement!  I was going to be a mommy.  Hmmm.....I convinced myself I would be a natural except for one terrifying aspect of motherhood.

VOMIT

Now I am not talking about spit up but vomit.  I have a very very sensitive gag reflex.  I remember having a very serious conversation with my mother.

Moi:  "Mom, what am I going to do if he pukes?"

Mom:  "Clean it up!"

Moi:  "Moooomm, you know I will gag and puke!  Seriously what am I going to do?"

Mom while laughing:  "Wellllll, I wouldn't do that because then you will certainly have a huge mess!"

Moi, "Don't be surprised when I call you!  Hubs will just have to clean it!"

Mom.....still laughing!

She was not very sensitive to my worry.  It was serious life altering stuff here! 

Elijah was born.  He was happy, healthy and a very easy baby until.......dodo dodo.....he got......

ROTOVIRUS

That is one nasty, evil, nasty, stinky, nasty, hospitalizing virus!  Ugh, just thinking about it makes me gag!

I will never forget the day.  It is burned into my brain.  I was scampering around picking up odds and ends while Elijah's cute little self was sitting in the highchair eating peaches with macaroni and cheese which to this day he has NEVER eaten again.  He coughed a couple of times which I thought was rather odd and maybe he was choking so I walked over to him and then.......

he puked

Without even a thought or a gag, I cupped my hands to catch it.  I caught my son's vomit then proceeded to yell for Hubs while I dumped it into the sink.  Then while Hubs went to get Elijah some clean clothes and a wash rag I decided to call my Mom because surely that is what everyone who is excited to catch vomit does, right?!  I was so proud!  Now not so calm and supermomish over the next day since apparently lightning speed projectile vomit is uncatchable and does make me gag; however, I knew I was a grown up with my supermom vomit-catching superpower until......

Elijah ended up getting very very ill.  We took him to the hospital where it was finally determined he had rotovirus.  Now if you don't know, you don't want to know and if you do know about rotovirus, you can totally sympathize.  When we finally got to take him home, we had to give him suppositories.  Umm....now that is a totally different not so supermomish phone call, "Mom, how do you get Elijah's suppository thing to stay in?" followed by several gags and my Mother's unsympathetic laughter.  Needless to say after my poor baby had rotovirus, I knew I could handle it all!

"MAY"HEM

Here is May and the beginning of June in a nutshell......hold onto your seats folks......

Friday before Mother's Day, Dad went into the hospital where he remained for a week with diverticulitis and a perforated colon.  I battled bronchitis and didn't get to even visit my Dad.  My sister also went to the hospital when she passed out while getting her haircut. I missed two days of work due to illness then an EF2 tornado hit our neighborhood....scary yet somewhat humorous post with pics will be up soon.  No power for about a day!  Dad and Sister got out of the hospital then I went to the ER because........I could NOT breath like thought I was going to die can't breath.  Now if that doesn't freak you out what will.  So Dad went to the cardiologist the following week to hear "Everything looks good.  There is one area of the heart that is not getting enough blood but I can give you a medication for that."  Ok things looking up right!

WRONG!

Dad started the new medication which apparently was supposed to start gradually even though this was not the directions from the cardiologist!  This made his blood pressure plummet and sent him to the hospital once again on Isaiah's birthday.  The same day Avani got second degree burns on her thigh and also went to the hospital.  My sister also went back to the hospital.  All three are out of the hospital for a few days.  My sister goes back into the hospital and has her gallbladder removed.  This was supposed to be the end of all the drama since May was finally over.

So we thought......then June rolled in!

Isaiah had to have oral surgery on June 1st.  A few days later Dad went to his primary care doctor for a routine visit BUT got sent straight to the hospital yet again to have a heart cath.  A day later the heart cath revealed a 90% blockage and they placed a 2nd stint.  I guess it is time for a new cardiologist since he totally missed the 90% blockage at Dad's appointment the month before and said, "Everything looks good!" 

Last but definitely NOT least...

I go to Urgent Care because I got bit by a brown recluse....more on that later too...but to ease your fears my leg did not rot off!  Then nephew Logan goes to the ER twice in two days.  Then Avani damages a previous break in her wrist at my boys' birthday party (more on that one too!) and goes to the ER.  I am shooting for a peaceful July and starting it out with a mini vacation!  That should do the trick!

We don't plan on seeing the inside of the 4 hospitals and 2 urgent cares the family frequented anytime soon....although I guess we didn't plan any of those visits to begin with!!

FRIDAY HIGH FIVE

Time for Friday High Five!

Come join in the fun....please!Make a list of 5 things ~ ANY five things you want! 5 favorite things, Top 5 Vacation spots, 5 most embarrassing moments, 5 favorite pics, 5 reasons to not pick your nose......A LIST OF ANYTHING YOU WANT IT TO BE....funny, serious, sentimental, to dos, pictures, no pictures ~ anything!

To see my Friday High Five posts for examples, click here!

Post about it, linking back to me (now you can copy and paste the HTML at the bottom of this post for a button!) then sign Mr. Linky! Please use the Friday High Five URL post in Mr. Linky's URL section instead of your blog URL and here is how: write the post, publish the post, go to edit posts, VIEW the High Five post, copy the URL in the address portion at the top of the screen then paste it in the URL section of Mr.Linky!!

Sounds complicated but it isn't too bad!

If you need help, let me know in the comment section!

Go view all the other High Five posts and comment away!

Have fun!


5 decisions from this past week

5. If Moose won't runaway on his own, then he may need help! He is an idiot after all!

4. Breathing through the nose would be a great idea!! I would love love love to be able to breathe through my nose! My nose has failed me yet again folks or maybe it is this allergen ridden state!

3. No insurance...sucks! No job....sucks! Doctors cost too much money! I need a job like NOW to save my sanity!

2. That noise in my car is not going away but in fact getting louder! Hmm.....

#1

I think my second grade son has too much homework! That or we have too little time! The entire second grade is on the same plan but for some reason my son doesn't understand why he has to go to school all day then do homework every night! Hmm......I wonder what the other mothers think?

<center><a href="http://angeleyesadventures.blogspot.com/search/label/Friday%20High%20Five"><img alt="Angela's Adventures" src="http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r134/gigibryan/HighFive-1.jpg" /></a></center>

DISTURBING UPDATE ON THE NEW NEIGHBORS

Just moments after my "Dear New Neighbors" post the drama really began! I told the boys we needed to go inside. Elijah had to go down the street since the "new" boy had taken his bicycles pegs for his own bike and I was busy telling Isaiah to get his camera (toy ~ starting him young) from the "new" four yr old girl. Did I mention that everything in that post happened in the past 6 days? Wow! SO......the girl would not give Zay his camera and I told her she had to give it back b/c we were going inside for the night. Elijah couldn't find his pegs since the boy had left his bike at another neighbor's house. Then some other drama with the "old" trouble maker neighbor kids, their mother (and I use that term very very loosely since she only has custody of her latest two kids and the prior 4 are with her Grandmother and Sister) and the "nice boys" parents drew quite a scene. Apparently, the "nice boys" dog bite the youngest of the troublemakers who then ripped her hand away from the dog tearing the skin off of her finger. The trouble makers Grandmother and Mother went storming, yelling and screaming about calling the pound, the dog having rabies and the dog being put down. The "nice boys" parents trying to explain the situation. My question is why was THAT 4 yr old girl in their house to begin with when the kids were in front of my house. Sadly, the girl probably did something to provoke the bite but I was not there so I don't really know! She is the youngest of the "trouble makers" so your guess is as good as mine! I finally get the boys and all of their toys into the house. Then after pulling a tick off of Elijah (I really wish I could keep him out of all the trees) and all the drama that brought, I took them in for a shower when low and behold the "new" 4 yr old girl is using our bathroom. Freaking stalker!! Why she was in MY house ALONE I'll never know?

Showers done, tick burned and pajamas on!

Silence!

Beating on the front starts!

Imagine that since usually they don't even knock!

They ask to come in. I politely say no since the boys are ready for bed about to eat and going to bed. They ask if they can come out and sit on the porch. Again, I politely say no. The little girl says, "Why?" in an extremely rude manner. I said, "Well because I am their Mom, they are in for the night and I said NO!" while trying to keep my cool!

Hubs finally makes it home after a long work day since it is his on-call week. I was laying on my bed talking on the phone to my Mother. I was enjoying the quiet as the boys told Daddy about their day. Suddenly, I started to hear noises either on the roof or on the side of the house. I asked Martez to see if someone was on the roof or on the side and he quickly said no as if I was crazy. I went out front to look when I could hear the dogs freaking out on the side of the house. I peak through the fence to see the "new" boy teasing the dogs. The dogs were freaking out and I thought Moose was going to have a heart attack. WAIT........did I mention in the first post that "somehow" Moose started spontaneously bleeding earlier when the boy was in the backyard? If not, well that happened earlier in the evening but no one knows why. Sounds a little fishy to me! Did I also mention that the new boy gave Moose two 4 qt bowls of water? You don't give Moose large quantities of water b/c he will drink it down to the last drop in minutes. Weeellllll, Moose drank all 8 qts then proceeded to walk into the house and vomit! NICE! Anywhoochie, (like that Shan I used your word) I told the boy to stop teasing the dogs and to go home. He proceeded to argue with me at which point I said, "Stop teasing him before he bites you!" He quit! I walked in and asked why they were in the yard. Hubs said, "They asked to come in when I was walking in and I said sure." I said sternly, "They NEED TO GO HOME! I have been dealing with them all afternoon and evening and I am done! They need to leave before someone gets hurt! I told them NO three times so why did they even ask you!"

I felt sorry for Hubs since at the time he had no clue about the "drama" and proceeded to go back out front to cool off! While getting off the phone with my Mother all of the sudden the boy appears and starts to run. He had climbed our fence and jumped the gate to get out. I told him to not climb our fence or jump our gate again because he could get hurt at which time we both hear "I'm hurt" screams and I told him to get his little sister and go home. Take into account this conversation just lasted seconds. NOW Elijah KNOWS not to climb the gate or fence but he did. Once the kid got over he then tried to scare Elijah and pushed Elijah who then fell and busted a tooth, his top lip, bottom lip, skinned his knee and cut his hand. Now I completely understand Elijah made the decision to climb the fence on his own but I am 100% sure he did not plan on getting pushed and this is probably the reason the boy was trying to run home so fast! I was ticked! We have an 8 foot fence and Elijah could have been seriously injured!

After calming Elijah down and tending to wounds, I proceeded to tell Martez everything that had happened today. I was saying this, that and the other when Isaiah chimed in with, "Yeah and when Shelby was in my woom. She told me to take my pants down!" Instantly, we both said WHAT! My insides turned and my heart was racing but I tried to repeat in my head "kids that age are curious, kids that age are curious". He proceeded with his little story........"yea she said, "take your pants down" and I said, "No!" She said, "Take your pants down!" and I said "No I will get in trouble and that will make my Mommy mad!" Then she said, "Take your pants down so I can take your picture!"

Even typing this makes me want to puke! Ugh! We then proceeded to calmly ask him questions. Apparently he did not take his pants down and neither did she BUT........ugh! Earlier in the evening while they were in the room, I caught her peeking around the corner and asked what she was doing even though I could see into about half of the room at the time. She said, "nothing!" then proceeded to go into the room and shut the door. I quickly said, "Open the door! We don't shut the doors!" A minute or two later they were going into the closet and I was uncomfortable with her need to hide since hiding often means trouble so I said we all needed to go outside.

Back to the story........Isaiah asked if he was in trouble and I said, "NO but you don't take your pants down for anyone! If it isn't Mommy, Daddy, Meme or Papa, then your pants should not be down. Your teachers, family and Mommy and Daddy's friends can button your pants after you go potty but they shouldn't need to take your pants down. Never ever let anyone touch you or take your picture naked! If someone asks you to or tries to, then you need to scream and tell Mommy and Daddy! How do you explain this to an almost four year old little boy? I tried my best. My heart was racing. My palms were sweating and I felt like I could puke. I went to find his camera and found nothing except she did climb their dresser. I called my Mom all shaking and upset who then said I needed to call someone. Then Shan and Chai called and they both said the same thing. I KNOW kids are curious at that age even though that makes me uncomfortable at times. BUT why would a four year old little girl tell him to take his pants down SO SHE COULD TAKE A PICTURE!!! What does she know about that? Why would she want a picture? On his camera? Why? To me unless she has experienced a nude photo then there is NO reason and that is beyond curiosity!!! For a four year old to actually say, "Take your pants down so I can take your picture", in my mind, says that someone has said that same thing to them. What do I do? Do I talk to the parents? Would that cause more trouble for the kids? Would they say he is lying? Would she change the story? Am I making too much of this? We in ABSOLUTELY NO way brought anything of this topic up. He interrupted our story to tell us his and he had no idea how troubling it would be for us. This story would never have crossed my mind. I should not have to explain things like this to him yet! I don't live in a bad neighborhood and I don't subject my children to questionable people so why do I have to explain this now! I know that it doesn't have to be a stranger and in fact it is normally someone they are close to but again why do I have to explain this now!?!?!?!? Do I call CPS? DHS? Police? Save her? Mistakenly accuse the family of things that may not be happening? Maybe she saw it on TV? Why would she be watching something like that? Well they are irresponsible parents after all! Is it my job to tell? Would I be saving her or tearing apart a family with a false accusation? In my mind, something has happened to her or why would she even want to take a nude photo? Can this backfire somehow? I need to move! My mind just won't stop! That house has been for sale for well over a year ~ why did they have to buy it??

LET'S DISCUSS WHAT SUCKS!

So I feel awful and I am going to give my view on what sucks!

Being an allergy sufferer who ran out of her medicine and failed to get more because she thought "oh I'll be ok for a few days"

when a few days turned into two weeks then

BAM

stupid indecisive Oklahoma weather decides to

be hot,

be cold,

be rainy,

be hot,

be cold,

be windy,

be rainy,

throw in 10in of snow,

be hot the next day so the snow all melts,

then decide to rain,

then be chilly

be warm again,

.........play with all of the allergy suffering residents!!

WHY

didn't I go get more allergy medicine?

Since I can't sleep because of my inability to breathe, I decided to look up some things. Although I always knew Oklahoma is not a good state to live in if you are an allergy sufferer, I didn't realize how bad my state and even my CITY were for allergies. At first all I could find was statistics from 1999 saying Tulsa ranked #7 out of the 100 worst cities for spring allergy sufferers. Then I came upon 2002 statistics saying we had improved and were then ranked as #17. Whew, what an improvement! (I hope you feel the sarcasm!) Then I found horrible 2007 statistics and I wanted to pack up my family and move far far away!

In 2007, Tulsa, Oklahoma was the #1 worst city for spring allergy sufferers!

I live there!

Holy cow!

Luckily by 2008, we were way down to #19 out of 100 of the worst cities!

The AAFA (Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America) has yet to release the 2009 statistics for the 100 Worst Cities for Spring Allergy Sufferers; however, they have released the worst 5 and Tulsa is not on that list.

Whew!

Six or below is our goal!!! hahahahahaha ~ sadly that was probably only funny to me!!

Do you know how many cities there are in the US?

Wait for it.......

.....wait for it.....

That's too bad I don't either!

I bet you totally thought I had the answer!

I did try to look that up too but couldn't find it. Granted I didn't look too long since I became frustrated. They all went into how places are classified as cities, towns and counties and how different states use different methods so it is hard to get a count of actual "cities" and blah blah blah.......SEE why I didn't look too long!

The point is why as an allergy sufferer do I even live in a place that makes it onto the 100 Worst Cities for Spring Allergies list in the first place.

Hundreds of thousands of cities in this country and I pick one of the 100 worst for allergies ~ idiot I tell you and not even the bottom hundred at that!

WHY?

All because I wanted my boys to grow up near their Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins!

Or just pure insanity and fear of change!

Take your pick!

Now onto what else sucks since I just happen to be making a list.....

not breathing through your nose, the nose congestion traveling from one nostril to the other taking turns blocking one completely at all times, blowing your nose and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING EVER comes out, ear popping, throat pain but only if and when you swallow, not breathing through your mouth, gland pain, not breathing through your nose, eye pain, watering eyes, sneezing, itchy throat, headache, not breathing through your nose.................

Did I leave anything out?

Oh yes I did.......

gargling salt water *gag*gag* you can't even begin to *gag*gag* imagine how much I hate *gag*gag the taste of salt water so you know I was desperate, no sleep for days, warm cloths over your face while giving yourself a facial rub since according to the stupid liar of a nurse "it will work wonders" ~ LIAR ~, then sleeping for 15-20 minutes at a time, nasal congestion, Neil Med nasal rinse especially if you fail to read the instructions COMPLETELY before use (THIS ONE is a post all on its own!), nose spray that just drips out or runs down the back of your throat, not breathing through your nose, medicine that makes you feel like you wiped the inside of your mouth with a giant freaking cottonball and no amount of liquid seems to make this side effect go away, have I mentioned nose congestion and throat pain yet, drinking excessive amounts of liquids to cure the cotton mouth only to get up to pee every five minutes, putting a blanket on because you are freezing then fall asleep and wake up sweating, not breathing through your nose.....................

I think that might be it.......

NO WAIT you didn't really think I was done did you.......

.......Let's add ~ getting said allergy medication to be taken every 24 hrs then accidentally taking one at 5:30pm then one at 9:30pm on the same evening.

What was I to do after swallowing the second one and realizing my mistake?

It isn't like I could puke up just one of them. If I thought I had dry mouth before, then I was sadly mistaken. You would think I spent days in the freaking Sahara. I thought I was going to rig a line of tubing from the refrigerator water dispenser to my mouth or go get an IV of fluids put in! Then I laid in bed wondering since I was awake from not being able to breathe through my nose and all if I would notice side effects from taking too much medicine or if I would just die in my sleep. Those are always comforting thoughts while you are lying there going insane from not being able to breathe through your nose. Had I mentioned that yet?

Now I am done!

APRIL FOOL'S!

Crazy bloggy friends I'm not done ~ it was all true I'm just not done yet!

You know what is worse when you are feeling down with all of this??

Hmmm.......

....now let's stay on track with giving me all of your pity and not elaborate on how good my life is and I should be glad to even be breathing although not through my nose.......

.....let's pretend I am the center of attention here.......

Now what could you add to all of this to make it worse.......

Diarrhea from antibiotics and pink eye......YEP.......I am lovin' my world right now!

Now you want to know what sucks the most.......

I have pink eye in BOTH EYES on top of all the other crap!!!

Needless to say I have been looking pretty hot around here lately!

Moral to the story ~ If I want to continue to live in Oklahoma and breathe through my nose, then I should not run out of daily allergy medicine and never ever ever skip a day for any reason whatsoever.....EVER!!!

Why when I put spaces in between sections where I WANT THEM does blogger erase the spaces when I publish? It never USED to do this!!

I TOLD YOU SO!

Sadly I had a HUGE "I told you so!" moment that I could not use because I felt so bad for Hubs that I dared not utter the ugly words so I thought at least I could type them since he will never read them!!

I have been telling Hubs he has diabetes for going on 3 months now. He would always get mad and say, "Why do you want me to have diabetes?"

In turn, this would anger me to say, "I don't want you to have diabetes but you have too many of the signs to not have it and I don't want you to go into a diabetic coma because you are to chicken to go to the doctor!!"

Finally Friday we went to a doctor who confirmed my fear and amazing diagnosis skills. I SO wanted to say, "I told you so! Haven't I been saying this for almost 3 months!" ALAS I just felt so bad for my Baby that I swallowed them and wanted to cry but I stayed strong. He took it pretty well I guess but I think he is scared now and still in shock! We left the doctor feeling pretty good with our instructions only to find out after talking to people that apparently we NEED to switch doctors because we did NOT know a thing and he never mentioned diabetic education courses or diet plans beyond a list of 6 things NOT to eat and 3 things to cut back on. After his A1C results (a blood test that will chart his glucose levels up to 90 days back) come in, I plan on getting a copy and scheduling an appt with a new doctor who will immediately send us to a diabetic education course that we desperately need. Keep Martez in your prayers as this will be an adjustment for him!

I felt so bad for him that upon leaving to run a kazillion errands I stopped to get my KING SIZE Snickers and went about my day. I did check my blood sugar out of curiosity later that evening and mine was normal.....surprising considering the major sugar attack I had from fear of no more Snickers or sugar in our house! Martez is the biggest sugar addict in the house so this could be quite a challenge but he is taking it in stride and plans on taking good care of himself. Don't even get me started on his Mother's reaction to the Doctor's diagnosis b/c this post will be entirely TOO long! Her lack of knowledge and misuse of the Bible astounds me! So far his count hasn't gone below 300 even with his medication in fact he has mostly been in the upper 400s but everyone has told me it will take a minute to go down to normal and taking it down too fast will cause problems too. I will be calling his doctor tomorrow though just to be sure!!

FAMILY OF SICKOS

Elijah was unable to keep ANYTHING down yesterday and I mean ANYTHING! His pediatrician had called in some Phenergan Gel aka creamy gold and said if he was still puking in the evening to take him to an after hours facility because she was already overbooked. At about 5 o'clock, Elijah comes in crying that his stomach just hurt so bad. Not knowing if it was cramping or just sore from puking all day I said, "Does it hurt bad enough to go to the doctor?" He said, "No!" and quickly returned to his room. I didn't really want to take him to the doctor because I figured it was a stomach virus and it would just have to run its course. An hour later he comes in bawling and pleading to go to the doctor. In his almost 7 yrs of life, this boy has NEVER ASKED to go to the doctor so I figured it must be really bad so off we went. I kept thinking about my appendicitis and prayed my little boy wouldn't have something as bad as that. Of course, once we get to the doctor he is acting fine! Why do kids do that? They can be acting like they are dying and you are so scared for them but once you make it to the doctor/hospital they make you look like a fool. Turns out he has strep throat! I guess you learn something new everyday ~ did you know strep throat can upset your stomach and in children make them vomit? I didn't know that! Did you also know if left untreated Strep can go to your heart? I DID know this little fact and used it to scare hubby into going to the doctor to get checked. Hey I know it isn't an everyday occurrence but I had to use something scary so he would actually go get tested. So turns out Elijah isn't the only one with strep......ALL of us have it ~ hubby, me, Elijah and Isaiah and we are all on meds. Tez is at his mother's for Christmas so I am not sure if he has it and we all know she won't take him to the doctor and pay a copay. Long story short.....stay away from us! Oh forgot to tell you while we were at urgent care someone had to be transferred to the hospital b/c of meningitis. One of the BA Fire Dept came in to be treated as a precaution since they had also seen the patient so this makes me wonder if it is so contagious and BAD then should we be treated as a precaution too because with my luck that will be what I get. Freaked out a little when they were talking about if anyone had been spit on, bled on or puked on and how they were going to need to disinfect everything in the office then they come in our room fondling our throats, glands, taking temps and all the other fun stuff. Nice!

WHO LOVES PHENERGAN GEL?

WE DO!!

So Friday Isaiah had some kind of virus that caused vomiting and diarrhea but it only lasted one day! I rubbed him down with Phenergan Gel leftover from his surgery and I must say I love that stuff. Stops the nausea/vomiting and knocks them out! What is better than that? Nothing! I scrubbed the bathroom and disinfected everything in sight but somehow now today Elijah has the diarrhea and vomiting. This occurred after I had already dropped them off at my Mom's house and she insisted I stay at work. I begrudgingly offered to pick him up and go home but my Mom being the wonderful person she is said, "Well we've been exposed now so you might as well leave him here!" Let me think for a second....OK!! Not have to deal with a vomiting 6 yr old...you don't have to pry me away from work today!! Another day off with vomit is not my idea of fun. I called the pediatrician and I must say personally knowing the doctor's triage nurse definitely has its perks. She called back in about 3 minutes and called in some creamy gold - Phenergan Gel - without hesitation. Lord knows they don't want me to bring my vomiting child to their office. I pray this is a short lived virus for Elijah like it was for Zay and I also pray that no one else in the family gets the virus since Christmas is in two days. I also hope the friends they've been around this weekend don't get sick since we didn't know Elijah would get it and Isaiah was fine. Oops! Sorry guys! I would feel REALLY bad if my Mom got it for Christmas ~ NOT quite the gift she is requesting!

HERE HAVE SOME NAPKINS!

In the children's minds Friday is Doughnut Day!! No, contrary to popular belief this is not a national holiday. I know, I know stay calm I am working on that through our state representative but it might take some time! I am off on Friday and instead of going to my Mom's to sit for 40 minutes I take the kids to eat INSIDE the doughnut shop. I know HOW great am I, right! Yes I not only feed my children and Avani fried sugar coated fat the breakfast of champions once a week but I also allow them to eat inside the doughnut shop! I know, right, hold the applause please! This morning after happily taking the hubby to work because his lovely truck is broke down *hold on I am gagging on my lie* I got the boys ready and out the door to get Avani in record time. I like Fridays not only because I am off of work but because the mere mention of Doughnut Day and all its excitement really speeds up the morning routine! Much easier for me.....I think for this reason alone Doughnut Day could easily turn into a daily routine if I would let it! I know guys stop with the Mother of the Year shouting......come on I have a story to tell! So everything was going as planned we made it to the donut shop, bought the donuts when Isaiah said, "I don't want mine" without even a bite. Hmm....he doesn't want the breakfast of champions...this is truly odd. I bagged the delicious, round, glaze coated, fat maker thinking he would probably want it later since he still had an hour and a half until school. He then had to go potty so I took him. Nothing out of the ordinary! Back to the table where he then proceeds to eat the doughnut all the way down to the last bite when.............

wait........

wait for it.......

hold on gagging here........

......he pukes all over himself and the floor. I quickly said, "Why did you do that?" "Are you ok?" and waited a moment to see if he was done. I didn't know if he was sick or if he had choked on the fat roll. I said, "Are you sick or did you choke?" He replies with, "No I not sick Mommy my stomach made me do it!" So the reason for this post is this:

I easily could have just walked out and left the vomit on the floor without them even knowing but being the stupid responsible, kind-hearted, adult, mother that I am, I didn't think...well at least more than five times...before deciding to clean it up myself. I told the woman at the counter, who obviously knows me well since we are there every Friday, that I thought my son choked on his doughnut and he had puked on the floor. I was thinking she would give me a dish rag or mop but she just looked at me. I said, "Do you have anything I can use to clean it?" Her answer was "Sure, here have some napkins!" as if she was doing ME a favor. My mind says, "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!" Now you all know that donut shops have those cheap, small, thin napkins and she handed me about twenty! My mind repeats, "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!!" However my mature, responsible, filtered, adult mouth says "thanks!" and begins to clean it up! You don't even want to know the rest!!! *gag*gag* You have NO idea how bad I wanted to just walk out and say, "Clean it up yourself!" or throw the vomit soaked napkins at her head or rub them on her counter. REALLY! Now I can understand if I had NO other option and let's say I was driving then yes I would have voluntarily used anything I could get my hands on like the donut shop napkins to clean the vomit BBBBUUUUUUTTTTT I know she had either a mop or something resembling a towel. It isn't like I was telling her to clean it, I just needed something to clean up the vomit and you give me thin, tiny napkins! WOW! I know she was probably grossed out or worried about spreading a virus or something but give me a break....twenty tiny, thin napkins are definitely not the answer in this case! Ugh.....napkins....seriously.......I hope it happens again and I won't alert her to the fact that she has vomit on the floor I will just walk out after screaming "There is mouse poop inside my doughnut and a roach on our table!!!!!" Needless to say I will not being finishing my million and one things to do today like.....Christmas shopping and a ton of errands!! Home with sick child!!

NO ALLERGIES!!

Yep it is me again with another post! I don't think I've had this many posts in one day but oh well I am a chatty girl! I forgot to mention that yesterday morning Isaiah's pediatrician called with his lab reports. They took blood for allergy testing while he was under anesthesia last week. They tested environmental, food and animal allergens. The results are in and he has NO allergies!! This is WONDERFUL news! Hopefully all of my baby boy's problems were caused by his nasty tonsils which the ENT forecasted! I'm so excited! I hope having his tonsils removed will be all that he needed to be well and "normal" or as "normal" a child of mine can be!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!

DISGUSTING HUH!

Friday I finally decided to go to the doctor after not being able to breathe through my nose for at least two weeks if not more. I mainly went b/c I was starting to cough and didn't want to not be able to go to the recovery room after Zay's surgery on Monday b/c I had some nastiness going on! So he asks what is wrong and I reply with, "Well I haven't been able to breath through my nose for at least two weeks. I am sneezing constantly. My ears popped and now everything sounds muffled. I started coughing about two days ago but I don't feel it is in my chest but rather just a really bad tickle or something stuck in my throat. My jaw, eyes and cheeks hurt and my head is almost to the point of exploding. Other than that I am fine thanks!!" He then looks in my ears with a deep MMM..HMM! Then he looks in my nose and really says, "Wow you definitely have something going on here and it's DISGUSTING!" Thanks Doc! He then looks in my throat and says, "I found the tickle in your throat. It is snot running down from your nose!" I thought hearing that would make me gag but I was just baffled by his brutal honesty and had to laugh as Isaiah repeated everything he said!!! He then said, "Well I am putting you on steroids which should make you feel better almost immediately but keep taking them. I am also putting you on some serious antibiotics that will probably give you diarrhea!" My response to him was a shocking, "No biggie to me I have IBS aka diarrhea EVERYDAY in fact about two minutes after I take my last bite of each meal I am already on my way to the bathroom especially if I drink milk! I really don't know why I am fat because nothing stays in my body too long!" How is that for blunt! As for the steroids and the so called immediate relief--bunch of crap all they are doing is making me sweat!! After three days of steroids, antiobiotics, nose spray, warm compressing and facial massaging, I am no better off than I was Friday just $37.65 poorer!! Thanks Doc! They really called this morning to see if I was any better......"NOPE! I stopped coughing but I still can't breath and my head could easily explode at any moment!!" "OK well go ahead and add a decongestant! We will be in the office tomorrow if you need to come back in!" Great so now I can add dry mouth to the list of ailments!!

HIGH HOPES FOR THE BABY BOY

So Wed the 12th Isaiah had to go in for his 6mo ENT checkup and we came out with way more than expected! He officially has "birdies" in his ears which is a playful way for the Doc to get the kids attention and not be scared complete with birdie sound affects but now Isaiah thinks that there are birdies in his ears. I guess that is better than the before believed bugs which he now says are dead. One of Zay's tubes had fallen out however the other remained. I took this opportunity to discuss Zay's breathing/allergy issues with the cutie patootie young Doctor boy. I talked to him about ALWAYS being "stopped up" and a "snot factory" to put it nicely. I told him how he has been on several meds over the last six months that only seem to work about 7 to 10 days then I might as well give him a syringe of water b/c the med becomes that ineffective. I REALLY WISH HE COULD BE ALLERGY MEDICATION FREE but so far that has not been the case. He was med free for about nine months but the past six months he hasn't been so lucky! I told him about the snoring, his awkward sleeping positions, unpredictable sleeping patterns and the horrid breath of a small forest creature devouring spoiled food. Seriously his breath is bad and that was supposedly going to be remedied by the removal of the adenoids. I also told him about his pediatrician telling me he needs his adenoids removed when I informed her they were done about 18mos prior. I also brought up the fact that I was supposed to take him to the lab so they could take blood for further allergy testing since the nurses couldn't get any blood after three tries. I could just say I am lazy but I will tell the truth and go with sympathetic to my three yr old son and say I just didn't want him to have to endure that again even though he is quite the trooper. I just wish he didn't have any of his little "issues" but what Mom doesn't! ANYHOW the doctor took a look in the ears, nose and throat since that is what a ENT does..ha....and he was NOT pleased!! One of his adenoids had in fact grown back! I was never informed that this was even possible and wondered if maybe it was just left from the original surgery until my friend informed me being the freak that she is (love you Shan) she had to have hers done four times!! Freak huh...told you! He also said he seriously needed his tonsils taken out and soon since they are cm. from closing his throat! He said this should solve the horrid forest creature breath, the snoring and the restless sleep since he will finally get air. He also told me to watch him at night for erratic breathing, sleep apnea and gasping. If this occurs, call him immediately and go to the hospital!! WHAT! OK now I will NOT sleep AT ALL and I'll be the Mom accidentally waking her baby up by constantly holding a mirror in front of his mouth to check his breathing especially since the surgery isn't scheduled until Dec. 9th. They gave him meds to hopefully reduce swelling and scheduled surgery to replace his tubes (YEAH!!! I truly think his tubes and his ENT are gifts straight from God! They changed his whole little world!), remove the adenoid that grew back, take all the blood needed for allergy testing while under anesthesia and remove his tonsils. Dear Lord, I pray this will be the end of all his problems and he will soon be drug free! I truly love our ENT and not ONLY b/c he is a cutie patootie!! He also told me that he may not even have allergies or they could be minor and most of his issues could be caused by the tonsils but that won't be known until after the surgery and testing. PRAY HARD!! Well the weekend came along with a fever and coughing. I didn't worry about it until the sleeping stopped and we got about 8 hours in TWO nights. I called the on-call ENT Sunday night who said to go the pediatrician first thing Monday. We did!! More antibiotics, steroids and after she talked to the ENT surgery was moved up to TOMORROW Nov 24th! They discussed it and decided the surgery could NOT wait until Dec 9th because his throat is closing faster than expected. I was then told more things to look for, keep him out of his little preschool and told to call with ANY changes but they wanted to get the antibiotics through him before the surgery if at all possible! OK so tomorrow morning we will be at the hospital at 6:45 am and surgery will begin at 8:15am. If everything goes well, we should be home around 11am and I will be able to blog...oops I mean clean house...while the baby boy sleeps in a drug induced pain-free state for days or so I am told! Pray for the hand of God to lead the surgery, for my baby to be ok even better than before, ease through the expected bad next few days and hopefully this operation will take care of all of his problems!! It is funny how tonsil removal surgeries differ from one Mom to the next! One will talk about how bad it is and the next tells you what a blessing it was and it wasn't that bad! I am going to pray for Shan and Quin's experience since the situations are a little more similar than others I have heard. I am hoping that since his situation is so bad now that the surgery will be more of a relief than a pain otherwise I am shipping him to Shan's so Quinlynne can take care of her man!!

WHY? THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD

This morning was normal until we are on our way to drop Tez off at school - the first stop of the day - and we get about 3 miles from the house when Isaiah says, "Mommy I pooked". Thinking he pooped, I looked back to ask him why in the world he would poop his pants when I see my 3yr old, his car seat and portions of the floor board covered in obviously "unsettled" stomach remains of a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit. I only got graphic b/c vomit in itself is nasty BUT sausage, egg and cheese biscuit vomit is nastier!! TMI I know! Oh the joys of motherhood! I arranged for Karen, my sister-in-law, to take Elijah and Avani to school so I could get a towel from her and get home faster to clean the mess. I must tell you I would rather have puke on my carpet than to take the car seat apart to clean every little tiny trap with a q-tip! Not cool! He was fine the rest of the day. This is sort of normal for him - every time he gets a cold he vomits in the morning but from now on he will just be eating toast!!

I'M NOT SICK I'M JUST BUSY

Isaiah had croup over the weekend which you already know if you read the never ending blog - my friend said it was like reading war and peace!@? Thanks Shan you always know how to say just the right thing!! I think it has now turned into something else so I decided to take him to the Dr. today. He insists he is not sick and that he is just busy. Not sure what that means but okay. Long story short he has developed a sinus infection but the cute part of the story is when the doctor was done and walking out of the room Isaiah's yells at her , "HEY!". She stops in her tracks and says, "Well yes sir!" He then says sounding very angry, "I can't leaf you didn't make me feel better!" She just smiled and said, "well I thought you said you weren't sick, you were just busy and I can't help you being a busybody!" He then says, "You got to be tidding (kidding) me!" Out of the mouths of babes!

MIAMI GAME W/A CROUP TANGENT

WARNING APRIL: THIS BLOG IS EXTREMELY LONG AND I WENT OFF ON A TANGENT & IT TOOK AWHILE TO GET BACK ON TRACK! IMAGINE THAT!

Meet Miss Ellie

I had a picture of the back of her shirt but I accidentally deleted it! Oops!

It read "My 3 big brothers are going to crush you!"

Elijah had his first football game today in Miami at 9am. Seriously they should not have scheduled all the away games so early - they are only 6 yrs old you idiots!! The plan was to have the team meet up at 6:15am HOWEVER as luck would have it Isaiah got croup. Croup is an evil little illness - it always starts in the middle of the night. Being a croup expert I heard a couple of croupy coughs earlier in the day and had mentioned to my sister he was about to get croup. Elijah got croup when he was 18mos old and then he would have croup every three months on the nose. I am not lying every Feb, May, Aug and Nov Elijah would get croup. He would get croup REALLY bad and we would end up in the hospital each time over a period of about 2.5 yrs. It got to the point that he would require epinephrine breathing treatments so they would then need to keep him for a while to watch his little heart. The past two times were mild almost just blips on the radar. It is so weird - he would have a bit of a runny nose, complain of a headache and then be a little hoarse then the next evening here came the evil illness. It didn't always help that he would panic which would make him cry and make the coughing worse. But the other thing I think makes it weird is the fact that the first night was always hell, the next day would involve a lot of sleeping and excess eating from the steroids and then it was pretty much just over. I THINK he is finally growing out of it though, please Lord!! A lot of moms ask me about croup and I just know what I have been told - most kids will never get croup, if your child does get croup more than twice then more than likely he/she will continue to get croup until he/she grows out of it between the ages of 6 and 10. The signs are (at least in my kids): they will complain of a sore throat or may sound hoarse, a slight runny nose, headache the night before but more than likely the signature barky cough (they WILL sound like a seal HOWEVER if they get it as bad as Elijah YOU won't hear the barky cough only the respiratory therapist will be able to hear it through the stethoscope - that's the time to worry) will start in the evening or middle of the night! You can call the doctor but more than likely you will spend hours in an ER waiting room so you might as well be at home, right!! They will prescribe steroids - IF POSSIBLE ask for a single dose of Dekadron (sp) it is one oral dose administered by them instead of you giving them yucky tasting steroids four times a day for a week. Caution: steroids will make them cranky, irritable, hot and hungry!! They would also give Elijah some Lortab elixir mainly to RELAX him so the coughing would slow down so he could sleep. If you decide not to go to the ER overnight, try to keep them calm crying will only make it worse. Take them into the bathroom shut the door and turn the shower on HOT for fifteen minutes while you sit with them so they can breathe the steam THEN immediately take them outside if it is cold to breathe in the cold air (it sounds mean but it helps). You can also open the freezer and place them close to it so they can breathe in that cold air or if it is a cool night take a drive with the windows down. Keep a cool mist humidifier on them at all times while they sleep. If you have a nebulizer you can give them a breathing treatment, the actual albuterol will not affect Croup but for some reason they still tell me to do it to calm down the breathing. If they sound wheezy or gasping for air take them to the hospital b/c they have Croup with Stridor and you will be able to get them right in (saying your child can't breathe gets them right in!) Out of all those times Isaiah has only had croup 3 times including this one and he doesn't seem to get it as bad or maybe he deals with it better. The poor boy has been sick so much in his little life that he deals with illness better than most kids. Croup is about the only time Elijah is sick but Zay is a walking illness magnet!! HOW IN THE WORLD DID I GET ON THIS TOPIC AND THEN RUNNNNNNNNNN AWAY WITH IT?!?!?! Sorry this blog was supposed to be about Elijah's 1st football game.....here we go again..............I finally got Isaiah to sleep at 2am and I got up at 5am. I called my Mom to see if she would be able to watch Isaiah since I already had him started on steroids there wasn't much else that anyone could do and he would probably sleep anyway and I knew Elijah would be very disappointed if I missed his first game since he already does not understand why I don't go to every practice. We all got ready, took Isaiah and met the team to leave for Miami @ 6:15! Whew I am tired just talking about it! AGAIN why are 6yr olds playing an away game at 9am PLUS they have to be there an hour early for stretching and weigh in!! Do they realize how far away that is? Why are we playing Miami anyway? What about Jenks/Glenpool/Owasso???? Help me!! We all arrive to find out we were given the wrong address! Being the smart cookies that we are, we figure there is probably only one other place the game could be in Miami - the college. Our game was on the college practice field - no lines, no scoreboard, no bleachers, no restrooms..........need I say more! What the crap! Why couldn't we be told beforehand to bring chairs. The Miami people know they don't have bleachers and therefore bring their chairs - could they not have informed the officials when scheduling the game.

The Miami side with their comfy little chairs - I hope they were wet!!

(See how positive I am! lol)

Part of our side - pullin' chain and standing

My chairs will no longer leave my car until football season is over! After being there about 10 min. down came the rain!! Needless to say we were all cooped up in the back end of all the SUVs that were there. The rain lasted about thirty minutes then quit!! The boys were holding steady at 20 - 6 for the first three quarters then the game ended with us winning 26 - 20!! Good job BA Gold!!

Carson going for a touchdown!

ISAIAH'S PNEUMONIA

My baby is finally better and yet I am still pissed at his doctor. The week of the bad ice storm when no one had power neither did any of the doctors but I was able to get Zay in on that Wednesday. Isaiah had been coughing terribly, gagging and puking on excess snot almost every morning for three months. He got his ears done in May and had not been sick since then until Labor day weekend which might I add was a record for him. Anyway he would cough really really bad I would give him a few breathing treatments and he would be better for about three or four days then it would return. So when I took him in the week of the storm I told the pediatrician who had already been told about Isaiah's situation that it had now lasted a little over three months and something needed to be done. Well he listened to his lungs and said, "He sounds good. He just has a virus!" My response was "the energizer cold virus because it has been over three months and he coughs to the point of puking up flemy snot EVERY morning no matter where he is! He can't possibly feel good and I am sick of cleaning snotty puke I would rather clean up hotdog/macaroni puke than that!!" He says "Well kids get 6 - 8 viruses a year." I said, "ALL in three months!! Could it possibly be an allergy of some type?" His response "Just a virus!" Needless to say I left pissed at being totally dismissed and tired of him acting like I am an idiot. It really pisses me off when doctors do that!! I am not the worry wart mother who takes her child in for every sneeze, sniffle, cough and fever!!! I learned very early on in the journey of motherhood that for the most part doctors won't do much for the common cold and fever because "coughing is good and helps breakup and get rid of the nastiness". I believe though there is a point where a little sleep would do everyone some good!! Besides the fact a "virus" shouldn't last three months without being looked into!! I know there are mothers out there that take their children to the doctor for every single little thing and expect some sort of medication to fix every little thing; however, I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE MOTHERS! My doctor should know this and I know he has tons of patients but he knows me because Isaiah has been a sicko so he could just look at the chart to figure out when I bring him in he is actually sick with something that REQUIRES medication!! I take care of the little things on my own and if I take my children to the doctor - they ARE sick!! Well I went with the doctors prognosis even though it went against my gut feeling! ONE week later I was working late so my mother brought the kids up to my work and my dad said "I think you need to take him back to the doctor listen to his breathing." In a way he sounded like he was gasping. I decided to take him to MedNow since they are close and have always figured out what is wrong and fixed it all the while acting like they actually care!! Well I go in and explain everything and he asks why I haven't taken him to his pediatrician because his oxygen level was bad enough to be admitted into the hospital. I explained I had one week prior and was basically ignored and told he had a virus but I also expressed my concern for the so-called "virus" lasting a little over three months with no concern from my pediatrician. I got "diarrhea of the mouth" and told the poor guy my concerns about him coughing, gagging and puking excess snot EVERY morning for months and my concerns about the doctor ignoring me then my whole speech about that came out. I really felt bad for the guy later but I explained it wasn't him I was mad at but I wanted tests run because something was wrong with my son!! He checked him over and said, "his lungs actually sound good but I am going to run some chest xrays because sometimes the worst sounding kids turn up nothing and the ones that sound okay end up having pneumonia!" He did chest xrays then came in the room and said Isaiah had bacterial pneumonia in his right lung and he was going to see if a breathing treatment would help his oxygen level before he went any further. The treatment brought the level up and he maintained it for awhile so the doctor said since I had a nebulizer at home he would let him go home so he wouldn't be in the hospital over the holidays. He prescribed breathing treatments every 4 hours, very strong antibiotics (which in turn caused diarrhea not good in the potty training phase - yippee!), and I had to do counts on his breathing and bring him back the next day to recheck his oxygen level. He said to take him to the ER if he got any worse otherwise have his chest xrays redone in 10 - 14 days either there or at his pediatrician. My poor baby boy had to do breathing treatments all the time even on Christmas he had to open presents then do a breathing treatment but at least he wasn't in the hospital!



This is where my conflict came: do I bring him back to Mednow who actually listened to me and took care of my son? OR do I go to the pediatrician and rub in into his face that he was wrong and from now on when I am concerned enough to bring my kid there he better act as if he cares and actually do his job? The doctor at MedNow said he had no way of knowing exactly how long Isaiah had pneumonia. He said he could of had it 24 hours, 2 weeks or 3 months but from the scenerio I had given he thinks he had it for quite awhile. He said he would probably do better because of the breathing treatments but would just get bad again because he was never given anything to get rid of the pneumonia! Nice I know! Why didn't his pediatrician listen to me? Well I finally decided to take him back to MedNow for the 2nd set of xrays since they were thorough and knew what was going on AND because a visit to the pediatrician would not have been pretty especially since I am still fuming mad just talking about it weeks later!! I still plan on having a talk with his pediatrician to let him know I don't appreciate being ignored especially since I am not one of those helpless, needy, worry-wart, drug seeking mothers! When I tell you something is wrong then something is wrong! At least try to get satisfaction by attempting to prove me wrong instead of pushing my intuition aside, ignoring my concerns, acting like I am the idiot while jeopardizing my son's health or I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!!! You may have more education than me but that doesn't mean you always use it so quit acting like an overpaid know-it-all idiot and start doing your job at least for the childrens' sake! Thanks guys sorry you had to read all that if you didn't stop half way through but I really needed that! Isaiah got his repeat xrays and they were clear!! He is feeling great not coughing, gagging or puking and that is not only a relief to momma who is always cleaning it but to Isaiah who was at the point of saying "momma I no want puke!" every single time he even coughed. Sad but true! My baby is back to his normal bad little self not that pneumonia stopped his ornery little butt from being bad!! Kids - gotta love 'em! Doctors - gotta watch 'em and keep them on their toes! Pray that next time I blog I am not in jail for assault or disturbing the peace at a local doctor's office hehehehe!!

THE NASTY

Warning to Christy you may not want to read this since some things about the body are better left unsaid!!!!! OK so last week went pretty good I even let Elijah walk to class with two friends on Thursday after I walked to him to the main door. I might add I have been asking him daily and he actually didn't want me to stop walking him at all!! Yes isn't it great to feel needed!!! Alas I pushed him on with his friends and watched for a minute from the window. I bet the office workers crack up at the kindergarten parents every new school year!! I then had to take Isaiah to his meet the teacher! It went especially well since his teachers from last year moved up and will be his teachers again this year! Yippee.....no screaming for him!!!! It was also nice to see they covered the toddler playground and fixed the grass, laid new tile inside, installed cameras in the rooms so you can get online and watch your kid (how cool is that).......glad to see my money is going somewhere!!! I also found out they started teaching kindergarten this year sure would've been nice to know that when I was dealing with the whole enrollment fiasco!!! But since public school is free I think I will stick with that for now! ANYWAY I worked, went to the chiropractor, went home then went with Martez to Parent night at Elijah's school for the class meeting with Miss Personality. She just talked about what they would be doing the whole year, what is expected of your child, dress code, PTA.....blah.......! Well an hour later after sitting in our child's seat in a childsize chair I realized I went to the chiro on the wrong day boy was that a waste of money. Do they not realize you can't put two parents into one child's spot at a miniature table and expect to keep that many spots at each table!! And they are the teachers!!! Well I got up and I stumbled and told Martez I was dizzy all the sudden. At first I said maybe it is because my oversize adult hinny was in the mini chair meant for a 5yr old and somehow it cut off circulation to something!! We signed up to do the whole class parent deals - I must say Martez was so excited but he is corny that way- and left. When we got in the car I instantly had a terrible headache. We went to get the boys at my moms and then my throat hurt really bad and I was hot but freezing with goosebumps everywhere. I said I think I must be getting something but I've been fine all day! I took Tylenol which brought the fever down some and eradicated the headache. Friday morning I got Elijah off to school and informed him there was no way mommy could walk him in. I went home and crashed! I called the doc and no appts so I went to urgent care after my friend said her and her other friend both had strep throat so I should go get some meds. Ok thanks but next time could you mention that BEFORE me and my family come near you!!!!!! Man that ticks me off! I hate it when people invite you over and they or someone in the family are sick or they bring sick kids to your house!!!! That has to be my biggest pet peeve and it happens again later!! Seriously can you be that stupid! If you don't know that is one thing but well you should just know!!!!!!!!!! I went to Urgent Care told him my symptoms all of which went with Strep but when he tested me he said and I quote "It isn't strep but whatever it is turned up to be one NASTY virus! Haven't seen something like that in awhile!" He sounded like he was in a sort of weird awe of the pain going on in my throat then proceeded to tell me my lungs sounded tight. What? I didn't even mention the chest since it didn't hurt YET but my throat was raw! So he put me on decongestant, an antibiotic in case I had a little some bacterial too, an albuterol inhaler which at the time I didn't understand and still don't since it is only immediate relief, and told to alternate tylenol and ibuprofen until the fever has been completely gone for at least 24 hours if not more!! It only went down hill from there! Today has been my VERY first day since Thursday night that I haven't had a fever. I have taken 5 million showers and am still paranoid I smell like sweat! I also have had to alternate tylenol and ibuprofen every three hours and with everything I had to take at different times I lost track of what I was taking when so with my luck I'll end up with kidney or liver damage from too much tylenol or ibuprofen which ever causes it!! Oh and get this the doctor instructions for the decongestant---take 1 every 12 hours but not in the evening since it will keep you up at night! Hello is that possible every 12 hours there has to be onein the evening! Good medicine for someone who is an insomniac coughing all night! Brilliant I tell you! Well Friday afternoon my husband's older son shows up at the door! Ok well he hasn't been over in awhile and Martez really wanted to see him so whatever just tell him to avoid me! Then Saturday morning Martez takes all the boys to the barber shop and it was wonderful. Peace and quiet! Elijah and Isaiah think every time Tez comes over they have to wrestle and fight like big boys and then someone always gets hurt and it is just a vicious cycle that I think they would learn by now but I guess that is why they have parents huh! THEN HE COMES HOME WITH SIX KIDS AND AN EXTRA ADULT!!!! You have GOT to be kidding me!! I am still mad about this one! He must've completely lost his mind to think this was ok! He had to pick up this one at his cousins then the cousins kid and his other cousin wanted to come to the barber shop! That is totally fine with me but he shouldn't have brought ANY of them back to the house. Even if your not thinking about me - which obviously he was NOT - did you stop to think about them at all!!! Do you honestly think the parents of all these kids want them to get sick and possibly pass it on to their family? I seriously doubt it! There goes the lots of rest part of the prescription! Now I go to the anger portion of the blog: I lost 8lbs in the first 48hrs from a fever average of 103.7 and going as high as 105 so far lasting 5 days (and hopefully won't return tonight because I am so sick of sweating), been to urgent care twice, I have been taking 29 pills a day, now I am doing 6 breathing treatments a day using a nebulizer, I can't eat, sleep, be around my own kids for fear of them catching the "NASTY" virus, can't work :), my house is a mess since someone can't seem to pick up and you are worried about them being "bored" at their apartment so you bring them to our house to have FUN!!! Man I am SO MAD! Did you not think maybe I want to sleep whenever I can actually fall asleep? Did you not think that maybe if I am able to get up to venture into another room that now I won't since I look like death warmed over and we have company? Did you not think that potty training Isaiah would involve actually making him SIT on the potty chair for more than two seconds instead of running around naked peeing whenever, wherever? Good thing we have wood floors and carpet cleaning machines! Did you not think that when I call your name even though I barely have any voice and haven't said more than 20 things all weekend I might need something and not yelling "what" three times expecting me to respond before coming to my aide would be really nice? Did you not think when you asked a million times that I don't know where I caught this, what it is, or who I caught it from and it really doesn't matter you are just supposed to support me and help me with whatever? It isn't my fault and I didn't have it worked into the plans for the week! What is it with husband's that are awful while their wives are sick? It is like a switch goes off and they instantly are buttheads and we are the grumpy ones! He really said Sunday morning after feeding breakfast to our guests (Yes they slept over! How sweet! Just wait until they are gone!) "I hate seeing you like this baby! I hope I don't catch it! You are just so grumpy!" I thought it was going to be a sweet comment but grumpy oh please if he was in my position he would be dying, call 911, he has to be in the hospital. He is NEVER sick so don't think I didn't want to rub all up on him but feared catching it again myself only worse the second time around! But when he is sick he is the biggest baby and everything is terminal! And me next time I am inviting over a ton of people~ anybody he knows that I don't like and don't care to get sick and allowing them to throw a major party while me and the boys go out on the town to Incredible Pizza! So by Sunday evening my future twelve pack (with all this coughing I have to be making twelve pack abs screw the six pack they hurt so bad it better be something amazing) hurt so bad and I didn't realize I kept moaning while trying to reposition on the bed and I guess Martez was in the bathroom and heard me and his response was "Are you hurting?" I instantly starting bawling hysterically and said you can't possibly be this dumb or inconsiderate to invite people over while I am sick and ask me if I am hurting. Are you kidding me? Please say that was a joke. So I went on and on about everything that was wrong with me right down to diarrhea from antibiotics to sweating buckets feeling like I was so hot I might just explode to finally coughing up mucus all day long but now all I taste is snot and the list went on and on and on and I made it gruesome for him! He actually even gagged - I was proud! I then called my mother to tell her Martez was bringing the boys over because there was no way I would be able to get them ready and drive them to school without interacting with them!! Martez took them I did a breathing treatment and fell asleep and when he got home he walked straight in and woke me up to ask if I needed anything! WHY would you wake me up??? He really is an amazing person so caring with the inability to tell others no (that is all new to him), he is a lover not a fighter, he is an amazing father and he has the most beautiful, contagious laugh and smile BUT if I am sick .zrzrzrzrzrzrzrzrzrzrrzzzppppp.....rewind because all that goes out the door!! Went to the doctor yet again yesterday and now am down to 4 breathing treatments a day until Friday because of mucus in a plug or something I think my friend Melanie has mentioned that before and it was scary! I am feeling better not good but better than I was this past weekend! Still unable to go back to work he said maybe tomorrow I said that like I missed weeks when I haven't missed but half a day yesterday because I HAD to go in yesterday for sales tax day because no one else knows how to do it! I have got to start teaching other people how to do my job! Oh and the doctor said yesterday to go ahead and take the nightly dose of the decongestant it shouldn't keep you up! RIGHT!! I did and it did! I have been going to bed about 7 every night these past 5 days sleeping about an hour and a half, up for about 2 then repeat all night long.....not last night I was up until 3 a.m. WIDE awake just sweating and coughing with no outlook for sleep. Won't be doing the decongestant at night again! I must say though there are two benefits to the ever elusive "NASTY" virus: 1) you lose weight due to excessive sweating from a very long drawn out fever and 2) it in no way involves your nose!! No stuffiness, no running it's great I think if the nose was stopped up too I would have rather been shot like wounded cattle but it is only throat and chest nastiness and trust me it is nasty! I love The Never Ending Story - don't ask me why just accept and move on - and I feel like I am fighting the NASTY like they were the the NOTHING!!! I think I will go watch that now! Oh Elijah is such a sweet boy he came home from school yesterday and said "Mommy I love you millions and millions and I am so sorry you are sick! I hope you get better soon so you can read to me because Daddy won't do the cool voices!" He is so sweet and I said "I love you too baby and because I love you I need you to stay out of mommy's room so you don't get sick and you should go practice cool voices of your own" He did and then I heard a coughing which was promptly followed by my prayers asking God to only make it allergies because I can't fight The Nasty for both of us right now!!!

ONE SICK SOCCER MOM

Elijah is playing soccer so I guess I am the ever dreaded soccer mom now! Ha! Anyway one of the mother's was asking how Isaiah was doing and when his surgery was so I answered her (we've known each other for awhile) then I got the third degree from another woman. She acted like it was a competition to see who had the sicker child and she drove me nuts. I mentioned the RSV deal and when everything began and she went on to tell me her son had RSV at an even earlier age - so! Her high and mighty tone killed me and she wasn't involved in our conversation to begin with. Then I mentioned his ear infections and the fact that his surgery was to get tubes and have his adenoids removed and she got snotty and replied her son had his removed at seven months. I tried to show her some sympathy and act like I cared but don't ask me why he is having surgery if you don't really care to know. I know there are many children in worse situations than Isaiah but that doesn't mean his problems aren't serious to me. Really my son may have permanent hearing loss and she was worried about proving her son was worse off when he was Isaiah's age! She acted like no one's problems mattered because they didn't compare to hers. "I don't care and don't act like your issues are the only ones that matter" kept running through my head!! Her ranting and raving went on for quite awhile and I eventually just blocked her out. It wouldn't been so bad if she wasn't soooooo rude about it! Her son who is now Elijah's age seemed fine to me as he played soccer! Well I saw her today in drug warehouse while picking up a prescription for Isaiah who has developed an infection since the surgery. Again the competition resumed! She asked how the surgery went and I told her good and mentioned what the doctor had said and that now two days after the surgery he has an infection so I had to pick up a prescription. I kept it short and sweet with as little details as possible for her to compete with. Then it happened: Apparently her son had the worst adenoids ever seen by an ENT in the US and he developed an infection only one day after surgery instead of Isaiah's two days. I was really getting annoyed! Who gives a rat's a**!!!! She went on and on how I was lucky Isaiah wasn't as bad as her Griffin. WHAT? So I replied, "Yeah I am so lucky my child hasn't been able to hear or talk correctly, has had a runny nose every day of his short little life and has had 10 ear infections in 11 months along with diarrhea and diaper rash due to the array of antibiotics he's had to take. You win okay you have a sicker child than I do! Are you happy? Now leave me alone I really don't give a rat's ass because this isn't a competition and if you want sympathy it is between shit and syphilllis in the dictionary!!" The pharmacy staff just starred at us totally clueless then said that'll be $30! Melanie would be so proud she told me the sympathy phrase but I never thought I would be angry enough to use it and I probably shouldn't have but I loss all filters in that moment. I probably shouldn't have got so angry but it has been two weeks of her crap and just the way she says everything annoys me! Well it should be really interesting at the soccer game on Saturday. Hopefully she will decide not to sit beside me like she does every week.

MY PERSONAL SNOT FACTORY

I was taking a shower this morning when I heard Isaiah screaming at the top of his lungs over the water running and the exhaust fan running. I turned off the water, grabbed a towel and ran in his room to discover the most disgusting thing I think I've ever seen. The nurses and doctors said he will have some nasal discharge and some coughing for a few days. What I saw was beyond excessive in fact he looked like something off of an alien movie and I would rather clean up a full room of vomit than do what I had to do!!! Since I've become a mommy I've learned to handle things I never thought I would like projectile vomiting and diarrhea but this one grossed me out! Isaiah had a mound of dried snot covering his nostrils and dried into a little hill between his nose and his mouth. His nostrils weren't even visible. His shirt, hands, mouth, and pillow had neon green strings of snot everywhere!!! Yes it was a gag fest!! He was screaming and I tried to clean it off but it was stuck. I had to soak it with a warm cloth. After I got the mound removed I tugged at a booger from the edge of his nostril and I never could've imagined what happened next. The booger ended up being about an 8 inch long string of green snot that just kept coming out of his nose! Isaiah was crying and all I could think was I want MY mommy! I got Isaiah cleaned up and he put his head on my shoulder then began to scream again. I thought maybe his ears hurt but no it was just more of the alien invasion snot fest that was now stringing down my shoulder. That's it I was calling the doctor because there is no way this is "normal". Well it's not he has an infection so he needs antibiotics which means diarrhea and diaper rash for my boy. I hope this all ends pretty soon because I know he has to be miserable!! I also informed the nurse not to tell parents they may have some nasal discharge but instead tell parents their children could wake up resembling a slimy green little alien!! I really should've taken a picture because no one can even imagine the amount of snot coming from my boy it was unbelievable but I didn't think he was in the mood to smile for the camera!!

TUBE TIME

Yesterday Isaiah had his ear surgery. We had to be at the Tulsa Spine and Specialty Hospital (71st & HW 75) at 6 a.m. Now we all know that I am an insomnaic and hate mornings especially early morning appointments!!!! I went to bed at 1:30 a..m. and woke up at 4:50 a.m. sometimes I amaze myself with how stupid I can be! Isaiah did really really well!! No end of the world tantrums except for when they put him on the scale then decided they didn't need his weight that bad!! He went into surgery at 7:15 and we went to eat breakfast in the mini cafeteria. It was actually good! Dr. Vaidya came back at about 7:50 and said everything went well. He said Isaiah had even more fluid than he had originally thought and he was surprised he talks as much as he does because there is no way he was hearing very much at all. His adenoids were "huge and nasty" but gone!!! Are adenoids ever not nasty? I hope this fixes all of my baby's problems like the constant bad breath, hearing and speech probems and the 24/7/365 runny nose. The doc said his breath would actually get worse for awhile and would "test the love for our child because it will be like breath from an animal that eats its own feces". Did he read my blog??? So far so good he woke up at about 8:45 and we got to go in and see him. I was ready for the screaming fit I was told would occur due to the anesthesia but it didn't happen. WHAT? No my child was the only quiet one of the bunch - now that is the true shocker!! They said he slept so long that he probably slept off more of the anesthesia than the others. He saw me said "Unt juice!" He downed two cups of juice, they took out his IV, we were home and he was in bed by 9:50 a.m. I had to stay up because Elijah had his spring music program at school at noon. When I got home Isaiah said "HI Mommy" and was eating. He is truly amazing - the kid has had two surgeries in 9 mos and both times you wouldn't even know he had anything done by that night. Then it was time for the ear drops or WWIII! Isaiah is doing really well and hasn't even had any of the after effects they said he would have. No blood coming from his ears and no bad breath YET! He will have his first hearing test in two weeks. I am willing his results be the best possible!!