Birds

Last Tuesday, my male Parakeet, Forrest, died. C cried all day long about him passing away. She had never paid a bit of attention to either Forrest or Skye (the female), so I have no idea why it hit her so hard. Of course the next day she was all over me, telling me I had to go get another bird that looked just like Forrest so we could name him Forrest the Second.

So just forward to Friday. Skye was a little lonely, so I did go buy her a new friend to keep her company. I got a male that is blue and almost looks like her. B is the only one of the kids that knew I was getting it, and that's only because he went with me while the other two were at school. Neither C nor R noticed the new bird in the cage at all. R did finally noticed, but only after my dad walked in the door and went over to say hi to Skye and says "Good, you got her a new friend so she won't be lonely." Then R jumps up and runs over there. C never noticed on her own. Finally at bedtime I told her to go look in the bird cage. She was excited for all of 5 minutes, then got mad because I didn't get a green bird. Anyway, the new bird's name is Cobalt.

Young Marines

Ray had been wanting to join the Young Marines, so I finally got him signed up. He started is recruit training for it this past Saturday, and will have his graduation from recruit training on May 1. When I picked up him, he told me, "They could have went easy on us since it was our first day." I told him that once he goes back next Saturday, he will see that they probably did go easy on him, lol. And even though he thinks they were hard on him and the other new recruits, he is ready to go back. He is looking forward to what the Young Marines have to offer, and all the cool things he is going to get to learn and do (like the camp outs and rappelling down things).

He does have to know the Young Marine Creed by Saturday, so we have been going over it several times a day. I'm afraid he won't have it memorized though. It takes a while for him to memorize things like that...just like his daddy. But all I can do is my best to help him remember it

Spring Break - Day 1

Today was the first day of Spring Break for my kids. It started with Brian rubbing sunscreen all over the kitchen floor and some pictures. Then either Ray or Chey decided casting Brian's fishing pole in the house was a good idea...I know it wasn't Brian since he doesn't know how to cast yet. He has a Spongebob fishing pole that has one of those things that tie on the end to give it some weight to help learn casting. So one of them casted the thing and got Plankton stuck in a plant hanging from the ceiling. Then instead of coming to get me, they just pulled on it to get him unstuck. They got him unstuck alright...along with half of the plant! Of course, Ray said it was Chey, and Chey said it was Ray. The both got a talking to since the plant was right in front of the window!

Who knows what the rest of the week will hold. But I am sure by the time school starts back, I will be ready for a padded room. And even saying that, I wouldn't trade my kids for anything in the world.

I wish....

I wish that the sick germs would just once pass by the kids and myself! Some stomach bug has hit the house. First it got C, and I was hoping no one else would get it. No such luck. R, B, and I all got it.

Now that the weather is getting nicer, and we can get more fresh air, hopefully we all won't catch as many germs

4 Years Ago

On this day for years ago, I was 5 weeks away from my due date with my 3rd child, Brian. While it should have been a joyous time, I was miserable! I had been on partial bed-rest for almost a month. The baby had already dropped into position, so it was very uncomfortable to even stand. I was still suffering from horrible morning sickness...okay, all day sickness where I could hardly keep anything down. And I was taking care of an almost 6 year old (Ray) and an almost 17 month old (Cheyenne) at the time.

As I said, I was miserable. The only good parts of my whole pregnancy with Brian that I can remember is my ultrasounds and getting to hear his heartbeats at my doctor's appointments. But if I had to go back and go through that horrible pregnancy again, even knowing that it was going to be horrible, I would do it all over again. Because just 2 weeks later, my baby boy came into this world. And now he is getting ready to turn 4! He is growing up so fast. And even though there are times he makes me want to pull my hair out, I wouldn't change a thing.

Not a Good Winter

This winter has just been the pits. It all started 2 days before Christmas. That is when Chey started to run a fever, and was vomiting. Her fever finally broke Christmas Eve night. Only for me to wake up Christmas morning feeling like I had been run over by a truck and having to blow my nose every 2 minutes. The afternoon brought Brian vomiting. Thankfully, Ray got by without any of it.

Chey and Brian got better, but I didn't. The month of Jan brought Pneumonia for me. Then a couple weeks ago Chey was diagnosed with Pneumonia. Then this past Saturday night, Ray started to complain that his throat hurt. Sunday he was running a fever that didn't want to go down too much, didn't want to eat because his throat hurt him too much, and he started vomiting. Since it was a Sunday on a holiday weekend, I took him to the ER. The poor boy has strep throat. Monday night Chey started running a fever again, but thankfully it was gone by morning and didn't come back.

And for me, it has just been one cold after another this winter. We have never been sick this much before. I wish I knew why this winter is different.

Feeling Better

C was sick most of last week, along with the end of the week before. The poor girl had pneumonia. She was running a fever for 4 days from it. I felt so bad for her while she was down and out since I just got over the same thing a couple weeks ago. I know how crappy it made me feel, so I can only imagine how crappy it made a normally energetic 5 year old feel. Thankfully she is better now. She went back to school on Thursday. Although she hated to take her antibiotics, she will admit they made her feel better.

I Don't Want to Go to School

C is only 5.  She is in Pre-K (her b-day falls after the cut-off date for starting K this school year).  Up until Christmas break, she LOVED school.  A lot of mornings she would wake me up.  The mornings I had to wake her up, she jumped out of bed.  Every minute was, "Is it time to leave yet?"  After school was always, "But I wanted to stay at school longer."  And she hated weekends or any other day there was no school.  She would even complain she didn't get homework like R did.  When she did start getting "homework", she was always so excited, telling everyone, "I was so good at school today my teacher gave me homework."

But apparently that all changed during Christmas break.  Since starting back at the beginning of the month, every school day starts the same..."I don't want to go to school today, I want to stay home."  This is every single day from the time she wakes up until she gets to school!  She's even told me, "If you were a good mommy, you would let me stay home."  So apparently I am a bad mommy because I make her go to school, lol.

My Unlikely Duo

I have been meaning to get this pictures up for a while now, and just never got around to it.  These are two of our dogs.  Actually, these are MY dogs (the other 4 dogs in the house belong to other household members).  This is Blanca and Cleo (short for Cleopatra).  I call them my unlikely duo.  They do everything together.  And I do mean everything...eat, sleep, play.  What makes them so cute together is their size difference.

This one is from September, but Cleo (the little one) hasn't grown much.  Even though you can only see Blanca's head in this, you can still see the size difference between the two.  But they are the best of friends.

Here's Cleo (on the right) stretched out next to Blanca.  Here you can see the size difference.  And they don't do anything apart.  Cleo think Blanca is her mother (even though her real doggy mommy also lives in the house).  These two seriously do not do anything without the other along. 

B & His Lead Poisoning PART 3

Anyone that follows me on twitter saw a few days ago how I was ranting about the lead coordinator of this county.  Thankfully, I have calmed down some since then.

This lady finally called me back the morning of the 21st, after I had left I don't know how many messages for her since October!  Whatever happened to people returning calls in a timely manner?  Anyway, she was claiming the only results she had were from the last county we lived in.  That she didn't have any results from getting B tested in this county.  Whatever.  The hospital lab has it in their records that they were all faxed to her.  Heck they had even faxed December's results to her AGAIN the day before she called me, yet she claimed she didn't have those either.  I told her exactly what his levels were (and called the hospital to have them faxed to her yet again).

During the call, she also informed me I needed to make an appointment for the guy from the Lead Abatement Program to come back out to retest the house, and that I needed to take B back in now for another lead level check.  I told her that unlike her, I kept up with what I was supposed to do, and that the house had already been retested.  I also told her it was not time for B to get another level check seeing that he is supposed to get it checked at this point every 8 weeks and not every 4 weeks, and it had only been 4 weeks since his last check. 

She calls me back about half an hour later to tell me, "His levels were what you said they were.  The guy retested the house, just like you said he did, on the date you said he did.  And you were right, he is supposed to get checked every 8 weeks just like you said."  I felt so much like being childish and telling her, "I told you so."  But some of the things I did tell her not appropriate to post here.  This is one of my children we are talking about here.  I don't know what kinds of other parents she deals with, but I for one keep up with any medical tests and/or care my children need...especially something as serious as lead poisoning! 

Kids' Clothing Sizes

I don't know about anyone else, but I think clothing for kids should also come in half sizes.  My kids don't really have anything that fits them just because all 3 seem to be stuck in between sizes.  A size 8 is too small for R, but size 10 is too big on him.  B is too big to wear 3T, but 4T's are too big on him.  With C, 5's are too small, but 6's are too big.

And the length of things.  Just as adults can be classified as petite, regular, and tall, kids can too.  With R I need tall, and with the other two I need petities. 

Maybe I just need to finally break down and learn to use this sewing machine sitting in the next room .  That way I can make their clothes myself to fit. 

B & His Lead Poisoning PART 2

Before I pick up where I left off in my last post, I just want to mention that when B gets his lead testing done, the hospital lab is required to send the results to the county lead coordinator.  It is then the lead coordinator's responsibility to get the results to me in a timely manner.  I am also just going to write about the last 3 times B has had his lead levels checked.

I took B in August to have his blood drawn for his lead level check.  I waited for the results to come to me in the mail.  Finally I called the lead coordinator.  She claims the lab never sent her the results.  So I call the lab.  They have it in their computer that they DID fax her the results already, but they fax them to her again while I am on the phone with them (the lab).  This was morning time.  I get a call from the lead coordinator the next afternoon.  She didn't even tell me the levels (which I knew from calling the lab), she just told me, "B's lead levels are high, and he has lead poisoning."  Yeah, lady, I think we've already been through this...I ALREADY KNOW THAT!  She still never told me his levels, and never sent me a copy of the report she got (like she is supposed to do). 

He was due for another lead check in October.  Again, after I took him in, I waited for her to give me the results.  Again, I didn't get anything.  I tried calling her, leaving messages on her voicemail.  Never got a call back from her.  I call the hospital lab again to get the results (it is really against their policy to give out results over the phone, but they are great and give them to me anyway).  They have it in their computer that they have faxed the results to her not once, but TWICE.  And they fax them to her a 3rd time. 

By the time December rolled around, and it was time for yet another lead check for B, I STILL had not heard a word from the lead coordinator on his results from October!  She is the one that is supposed to get the results to me.  That is supposed to be her responsibility and hers alone.  B went the Monday before Christmas to get his lead check.  I had the results just before the New Year because I again called the lab and they gave me the results. 

It is now almost the end of January.  It has been over a month since B's last lead check.  If I hadn't called the hospital lab, I still would not have the results of that lead check!  I still haven't heard a word from the lead coordinator.  When I called the lab last month, they again had it in their computer they had faxed the results to her.  Wednesday (Jan. 20) afternoon, I decided to try to call her.  Of course she was out of the office.  So I asked to speak to her supervisor.  I let her supervisor know that since moving to this county, I have had to call every single time to get his results because she isn't giving them to me.  I let the supervisor know that I have left several messages for the lead coordinator, and have not gotten a call back since September!

B & His Lead Poisoning PART 1

I started out making this one post, but it started to turn into a book.  Therefore I am breaking it into different posts.
My youngest son, B, who is 3, was diagnosed with lead poisoning last year.  The normal levels in children should be less than 10, and at the time, his levels were 27!  We had someone come out and test the home we were living in at the time to discover the source.  It was the mini blinds the landlords had in there when we moved in.  Out of the 12 sets of mini blinds in the house, only 1 did not test high for lead!  We got those taken out, and his levels started dropping slowly. 

Every time B had to get a blood draw to test his levels, his results were sent to the "lead coordinator" in the county and it was her job to send the results to me.  This lady was great about getting the results to me.  As soon as she got them, she would call me to let me know.  She would then send a copy of the results to me, and let me know if he needed to be retested.  It was her responsibility to get the results to me, and she made sure she did it.   

A few months later, we moved to another county.  I called the lead coordinator in this county, just to make sure the case had been transferred over here.  To start with, I called her office about twice a week for almost 3 weeks.  Each time she was either not in the office, or was on the phone so I was given her voicemail.  I never got a call back from her.  So finally one day while out and about, I popped into her office.  I finally got to talk to her.  I tell her my son has lead poisoning, that we had just moved from another county, and I just wanted to make sure that his case had been transferred to this county.  She looked up his case to make sure she had it.  Then she told me, "Your son has lead poisoning."  Um, yeah, didn't I just say he had lead poisoning! 

My next post will go into detail of my dealings with this woman since then.  Or should I say lack of dealings.

My Little B

My little B can be such a sweetheart at times.  I have been sick since Christmas Day.  I just couldn't seem to shake what I thought was just a cold.  After running a fever for 4 days in a row, I decided this past Monday I needed to go to the doctor.  B had to go with me since I had no one to watch him.  The whole time at the doctor's office, B was patting me, telling me, "It okay, Mommy, the doctor make you better."  Well, the doctor did help to make me feel better, giving me prescriptions for my pneumonia.  It was so sweet of B to help "comfort" me during the doctor's visit though.

Then yesterday B was running around in circles, and gave me a game, telling me to push the "banana" buttons (the yellow ones).  He said it would turn him off.  So I pushed them.  He told me I did a good job turning him off and also told me, "You so brave, Mommy." 

This kid just cracks me up

This Holiday Season...

...has sucked big time.  It started Tuesday night with C getting sick.  She was better by Christmas Eve, thankfully.  Christmas morning found me sick, and by afternoon B wasn't feeling too good.  B and I are still sick.

Of course, even though I was sick, I was still expected to cook Christmas dinner.  Had two people that were supposed to come over for that dinner.  One decided to come around 5 hours early, the other around 4 hours early.  And neither one of them wanted to help out in the kitchen, nor help with any of the clean up.  Okay, yes, they were guests.  But as a guest, you do not show up that early to a dinner you have been invited to unless you are going to help do something!  And if you are 4-5 hours early, and you see the hostess is not only sick, but taking care of a sick child, then offer to do something!

R & C both said it was their best Christmas ever, so they at least enjoyed it.  B enjoyed all his gifts after he took a nap.  If you ask R & C what their fave gift was, they will both say, "My DS."  B's fave gift seems to be his tools 

Me, Venting

Some people seem to think that just because I don't have a "job," that I sit at home on my butt all day long, therefore making me free to help with out with whatever, whenever.  Sorry, not the way it works. 

While I may not have a 9 to 5 type job, I DO have a job.  My job is one of the most important in the world, IMO.  It is called being a parent!  My kids don't get themselves up and ready for school in the mornings on their own.  My kids don't drive themselves to school or home from school, nor do they drive themselves to doctor appointments and such.  The house doesn't clean itself, and the groceries don't magically appear in my kitchen.

Just because I don't work outside of my home, doesn't mean I am free to help you out at the drop of a dime.  I do make plans, I do things outside of my home.  I will NOT drop everything to help you out, unless it is an emergency!  No, I will NOT pick my child up late/early from school when you need a ride to work just so you get there on time.  You want a ride from me, YOU will either get there early or late.  If your work is approx. 26 miles away from my child's schoo, use a brain...there is no way I can have you there on time and still pick up my child on time 15 minutes later!  NO, I will not miss my child's class party that I committed to a couple weeks ago just because you decide to call me the night before wanting my help at the same time as the party.


   

Christmas Memories

Last year, DH lost his job not too long before Christmas time, so money was really tight.  The kids weren't going to get much for Christmas, but I was determined that it was still going to be a great Christmas for them.  One thing I always have in the house is ingredients for baking.  So I set everything out, then the kids and I got to work.  We made several different kinds of homemade cookies, homemade caramels, homemade hard candy, homemade truffles, etc.  We even got my youngest involoved, and he was 2.5 at the time.  We spent the whole week before Christmas baking.  Sure, it made a mess, but we had some great fun.  And what was even better was seeing the joy on the kids faces when they would pass out their goodies to other family members while telling them about making them.  And you know what?  Here we are a year later, and my kids don't remember a single gift they did get for Christmas last year.  But they sure remember making all those goodies.

So this Christmas, make some memories with your kids.  Get in the kitchen and bake some cookies together.  Or do holiday crafts, go caroling, or whatever.  It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you do it together.  You can even invite other family members over to join in on the fun (we had my brother come help last year).   

Report Card

R got his first report card for the year today. He got 2 A's, 3 B's, and a D. The D was in Spelling, but we are working on that more, and using games to help him learn them. So hopefully that D will be brought up before the next report card.

Another "Boo-boo"

B sure keeps me on my toes...the poor boy. Just as a quick history lesson:

• At a year and a half old, on a Christmas Eve, B busted his head open on the dining room table. Spent forever in the ER on that one
• At 2 years old, he was jumping on the bed, fell off, and had a heck of a black eye from it. Didn't phase him one bit though, he went right back to jumping on the bed 2 seconds later.
• The dog bite (which can I wrote about here and put pics up here) happened when he was 3. Also was the incident a couple weeks ago where he kept hitting his eye on everything at the family reunion, which I wrote about here.

So that brings me to now. The other day he was in his room watching TV, when he started crying. Hubby went to his room to see what was wrong, and came carrying him down. B was bleeding from his chin. I got the bleeding to stop right away. And once I got him cleaned up, it was just a little worse than a scratch. I asked him what happened. He told me, "I was jumping on my bed and fell." Just a couple hours later, I caught him jumping on the bed again!

So I have come to the conclusion that the only way I can keep him from getting hurt is to wrap him in bubble wrap, lol

I've been bad

I admit it, I've been horrible at actually working on my blog. I've wanted to. I really have. It's just that I don't think anything in my life is interesting enough to share. Now that I've said that, here's what's been going on here.

C turned 5 a few weeks ago. Although she thinks she is older. Her b-day was after the cut-off to start Kindergarten this year though, so she is in an all-day Pre-K. She LOVES it. She is doing good in school, loves doing her homework (yes, homework in Pre-K!), and loves all of her new friends. The only things she hates is the fact that there is no school on the weekends, and that she has to wake up early. She never has been an early bird.

R just got his first progress report for the year. He's getting 1 A, 3 B's (one of which the teacher said if it was the actual report card, she would have put an A), a C, and a D+ (which the teacher and I are going to work with him on bringing up). I will have to do a whole other post on what getting him to do his homework is like :x.

B is used to having C home all day long, so he isn't liking when she is at school all day. A week ago, at a family reunion, he was playing on a merry-go-round. He decided to let go while it was moving, and hit his eye on one of the metal bars. Then he decided to start pushing a solid wooden swing. It swung back and hit him right in the same eye. Poor little man. He had a little bit of a black eye for a few days, but it really wasn't all that bad.