Last post

This will most likely be my last post before I torture you all with beach pictures in a few days. The cold has hit me pretty good and I'm struggling to get things ready in time. Anyone who knows me well, knows I don't like to be doing everything last minute. I have not gotten nearly enough done yet and tomorrow will be busy with errands. I did get some packing done, and should only have to grab shoes, last minute bathroom stuff, and my herbs. I need to move the extra car seats out of my car, get it ready for keeping Kristopher occupied on our road trip, and then I think we are set. Too much to do.....

Sick

Right in time for vacation, I get a wonderful cold. My head feels like it's about to blow up, sinus's are draining non stop, and I just feel absolutely disgusting. I've been drinking a ton of water today in hopes that I can flush it all out and be back to normal by Saturday. I have too much to do to be sick right now!!!!

Random Tuesday

We leave in 4 more days. I have nothing at all ready.

Potty training is hard when the child can not talk yet. She is 19 months old, and is clearly showing signs and readiness. If I ask her, she will nod her head very fast and yesterday as long as I asked every hr to hr and half, she was great and not a single accident. It was easy with Kristopher because he was very vocal at an early age. So that's our latest adventure.

Little girl stuff is killing me. I'm the only one that is allowed to put her hair up and make her all cute and girly. Her mom tries and she will not sit for it. Me, she comes running if she sees a comb or brush. That includes the dog brush....haha She is also obsessed with my toenails being painted. I was given permission to do hers "if I feel brave" and one of these days I might try.
I got my niece's b-day stuff this weekend and little girly clothes are too cute. I got her a cute skirt and tank top outfit, and some bows since her hair is longer now. Won't be long and she will be using those too.

No change here and I'm not sure if I'll order more herbs or not. I guess it will depend on how the rest of the week goes.
But like I said...only 4 days to go. That's the biggest thing on my mind right now....

My request for the week

Rainy starts to the week is always a bad sign. I have a lot to accomplish before Saturday afternoon so.....

Please make it be Saturday VERY quickly. Thanks.

Quiet Saturday

Not much going on around here for a change. It's rather disgusting outside with rain about to start any minute. My husband was working and now off with some friends and who knows how long he will be.
My parents are off to my niece's 1st birthday party. I have decided to be the terrible aunt and not go. Partially because Kristopher is acting out a lot, and it's at a place that truly won't be any fun for him. He would have been the only kid other than her anyway. The other reason I'm avoiding it is we never see her anyway. Her mother hates me, we never see them, and the kid doesn't even know me. No matter what I would get or do, it's not appreciated. So, we sit at home instead. Me=Terrible Aunt.
We have a week till we leave. I'm hoping that the vacation helps with some of the craziness with K, and gets us a chance to relax as a family. Part of me is truly dreading it though. 10 hr drive, wild behavior lately, tired husband...Anxiety on my behalf. And, no clue what is going on cycle wise. Nothing has started, no signs of anything either way. As long as things stay boring till after the trip I'll be ok.
Sorry for the downer mood. Just one of those days.

More randomness

It seems that's what I'm good at lately. So here we go.

Today Zoey turned 9. She made it to 9 and that makes me really happy because earlier this year we thought it was not going to make it. She is doing much better and recovered very quickly once we got the meds started this time. She is taking 10mg of steroids every other day and sleeping upstairs again. Less limping, less skin issues, and more energy. May have found something good with this.

Kristopher's been acting out majorly lately. Yesterday was a really bad day, ending with him fooling around with his fish tank and causing it to lose 3-4 inches of water, which ended up all over his very nice dresser. And the floor. And in all 3 GIANT drawers. Soaking almost all of his clothes with stinky fish tank water. And I had just gotten his room organized and laundry totally caught up and put away. When I asked him what he did, he lied. We had to be at different parts of the house while I took care of that because I was so upset. Punishment is he has lost his privilege to have that in his room, and it's not working out in the living room. So tomorrow, fishy gets a new home somewhere else. It is not the first time he has messed with the tank, and he was warned the last time that one more issue with it, it was gone. I'm following through even though it makes me mad because it wasn't cheap, plus it's a cute tank. But, it's getting done and he will be helping to deliver it to the new home.

Today I planted part of our garden. Peas, sugar snap peas, green beans, and carrots so far. Inside I've had lots of flowers started, romaine lettuce and some herbs for the bunny. Oh and tomatoes. Those are ready to go in bigger pots so tomorrow or Friday that will be done.

We got a new insurance starting on May 1st. Brand new plan, with a new 50% coverage for infertility. After vacation, I'm going to schedule an appt and see what is next. I thought I responded again this month, but so far I have yet to experience any of the progesterone increase symptoms. I guess that is ok seeing as vacation is coming up, but I clearly had signs of ovulation so it makes me mad. Oh and the new plan does not require a referral so that is very cool. Years of paying $30 just for a referral is over and I may never see the PCP again. The only reason I've gone over the past few years is for that reason.

I'm off to bed now. My mind is officially clear and exhaustion has it. We're now leaving on May 1st instead of the 2nd so vacation is a day closer. Yay! 9 more days!

Kindergarten and other ramblings

Well he is registered. It went easier than I thought it would, with minimal tears. From me obviously. My kid can not wait till it starts and asked if we can start a count down on his calendar. Ha.
He did above and beyond what he needed to do, and the only concerns was he doesn't write is first AND last name when he writes his name, which in his defense, he has a 10 letter name which takes up the whole line to start with. But we're practicing that already. And when they asked what his name was, he said Kristopher. So they said "what is your whole name?" and he said it in full then. He also was a smart ass and pointed at his name tag when they asked how to spell his name. "See, it's right here!" My boy is not shy....
And they said he needs to practice on holding a pencil properly because at first he did not, but for the rest of the exam he did fine. And same goes for scissors. Which I find incredibly ironic because last Friday he was using them just fine for cutting his beloved simba's (stuffed animal that goes EVERYWHERE) mane and tail hair, and then turned and cut a giant chunk out of his own. With safety scissors. And now he is sporting a nice buzz cut because I could not handle looking at his choppy hair anymore.
So anyway, those were the only things he needs practice with. I talked to them about his boredom and how he acts out when he's bored, and they basically said to bring it up with his teacher at orientation. Ok...
So after registration, we had a special afternoon out with just the 2 of us. I took him to dairy queen because the commercials have been driving us both nuts lately, and he chose a chocolate strawberry blizzard. BIG MISTAKE. Why? Because they use strawberry syrup in it as well and he went into a major red dye attack. We stopped at a few stores to look for some summer clothes for both of us and he was spinning out of control, loud and hyper, all shaky and out of it. Nothing would calm him and we finally just gave up and came home. The crazy fit continued till bed time and he did not go to bed easily. It took till evening for me to realize exactly what had just happened because we haven't had one of those attacks in a while. So back to monitoring the red dye content again. And if anyone ever wants to tell me I'm full of crap on that and try to make me feel bad for not allowing him to have something with it in, I'm going to load him up on it and let them keep him for 24 hrs.
And with our count down he wants to start, I told him only one countdown at a time. And right now we have 11 days till vacation. After vacation I'm going to find another thing to count down for and avoid the kindergarten count down till August. School starts August 25. My husband has already submitted for the day off to be with me and my mental self and the kids will be going with someone else that day so I don't freak them out.

Scary

Tomorrow is Kindergarten registration day. I finally sat down and finished the paperwork. Just scary to think about it. I'm not ready for this stage yet. Dennis and I were talking about it tonight on the way home and it just seems that we have come to this point too fast. We know he's ready so from this point, we just go forward. I hope I don't cry in front of all the excited parents.....

Vet update

Yesterday was a crazy day. Tuesday night into Wednesday, Zoey was out every 20-40 mins. ALL NIGHT LONG. Well...we slept from about 3:30 till 6:30 so she had that 3 hr break. At 6:30 she started again with the every 20-30 mins. Sometimes less. By that point, she has having blood mixed in. So, at 8am I called the vet. They filled her meds and told me to come down whenever. Not to worry about the blood because it was just because of her straining and the force and frequency that she was going. So anyway, I get her meds, she had an accident on the floor while I was gone. Luckily, the kids were in good moods so I was able to clean up after zoey, take her on the porch and clean her up and trim her hair...Shampoo the carpet good, clean the cleaner and get pills shoved down her throat.
The vet called and we had a long chat about things. Since all her tests have determined there is nothing wrong, our diagnosis is basically doggy IBS. The only way to determine that 100% would be to put her through exploratory surgery, which is going to costs thousands of dollars, and who knows how she would do with a surgery at this point. The outcome will still lead to the fact that she would need on the steroids. So, our treatment is, for me to always have her antibiotics on hand. When she has a flare up, I can use them right away. I'm also going to start putting 1tbsp of plain yogurt into her food once per day. Good bacteria and all that happy stuff....AND, she will now be on a very low dose of the steroids. 10mgs once per day, every other day.
I had talked about quality of life and all that dramatic sad stuff. I said I was concerned because this is happening about every month now, and for 2 weeks of that month she is sick or strongly medicated on the antibiotics. I'm also worried about her becoming immune to those and then we're screwed on what to use when she really truly needs it. Because of how often it happens, her skin is a total mess. She's very flakey and itchy. I'm assuming it's because she doesn't get the nutrients she needs when this hits. She is on California Naturals dog food now, which is suppose to be the best for dogs with allergies and digestive issues and she no longer gets any form of treats. My other option if this continues to happen will be to go as far as making her food. I hope to avoid that though because I can see that being a bigger pain in the butt than all this other stuff.....
So, she is on her steroids now, and still getting the prebiotic stuff added, and on an expensive special food....Something has to work to keep her healthy and with us for a few more years!
And in the middle of all of this poop drama, she was pretty happy. She was rolling around on her back across the livingroom floor, sneezing and doing her doggy smiles, being hyper and begging for food. And first thing in the morning she was chasing birds when she would go out. So she is acting like she's still full of life. It's just weird.

Night on the couch

I've got a sick dog again. She made it almost a month and half this time. And of course it hits out of nowhere. I'm not sure what else to do and I think it's soon time for a real talk with the vet about this. They stay steroids but everything I hear about that is so bad......
Thanks to this blog, I can keep track of this easier. So it's mostly for my records....
back to the door....going to be a long night.

Waiting....and waiting....and waiting....

I am pretty sure that something happened cycle wise this weekend, so tomorrow I'll be starting my 2 week wait. We covered our bases the best we could, and if it's meant to be, it will be. If not, I just hope that the bleeding is over before vacation.
But the herbs have definitely started working. The pains and signs, I'm finally seeing what "normal" is all about.
I'm exhausted and have a headache so I'm off to bed. My new bed, btw. We upgraded to a king this weekend. More on that later though.

Friday again

Ok, so the week went faster than I thought it would. Kristopher is totally back to normal. I bribed him into going to bed easier by saying he could come downstairs when I get up and come down. My kid doesn't sleep a lot. Or rest for that matter. The old rule was if you get up before 8am, you can play quietly in your room, and at 8am come downstairs. This gave him some quiet time to play and rest, and gave me quiet time to prepare for the hyperness that hits as soon as his feet hit the floor. But with the recent bedtime drama, we made a deal. And to him, deals are cool. So the deal is, if he can go to bed nicely, without needing us to keep coming in and telling him good night and answering a million questions, when he is up at the same time as me, he can come down early. No more waiting till 8am. It means I no longer get a quiet break in the morning. But, bedtime is going great again. So we will stick with our deal.
He started t-ball this week. Last year they split the kids into 2 teams, but we had the smallest groups compared to the other towns. So, this year it's just one big team. Practice took forever. So many of the kids were just sitting playing in the dirt. Mine was one of those kids. He almost got smacked in the head with a ball because he wasn't paying attention. Then he got upset that they told him to stand up and stop playing in the sand. They "ruined his hill!" and he was moody. My husband is helping to coach this year, so that helps keep him from messing around too much. Definitely much better start than what we had last year. Last year was very dramatic.
I'm mid cycle and having some twinges and signs that something is going on. We will see what happens with that. For some reason, I'm not overly excited about the pains. It's getting old. I just need it to work.
I scored some good deals on clothes for K this week. My mom's work has something sort of like craigslist for in office listings, and 2 people listed boys clothes. I never luck out and find used deals for him anymore, and big boys clothes are so freaking expensive. And it always makes me mad to go and spend full price because he still outgrows things so damn fast. His shorts from last year, were bought right before vacation. So it was mid August. He jumped from a size 5 to a size 7 this year. All of last years stuff is too small. Majorly too small. So anyway, I got 3 pair of shorts and 4 shirts for him. All name brand and like new condition. For only $20. I was happy. A few more deals like that and he's set for the summer.....

Sleep

It's missing from my life. Kristopher is feeling better, was totally normal all day yesterday. But for some reason, decided to stay awake pretty much all night with a total whine/complain/fret nonsense craziness. I am exhausted and totally blown away by the fact that my 5 and half year old still has nights that remind me of having an infant. Except he is way too big to carry around till he falls asleep. I'm tired, and extremely moody today. He isn't much better. He maybe slept 5 hrs total, and a lot of that was restless tossing and turning. He woke up in the worst freaking mood and is demanding and emotional.
He has a dentist appt at 2:30, and I'm sure that will be a disaster, and there is the first t-ball practice tonight. Again, I'm sensing disaster. My kid doesn't sleep a lot to start with, and will not nap ever. And if he gets less than 10 hrs at night, it's always guaranteed to be a horrible day.
Oh and we are having record breaking hot temps this week. It's suppose to hit 90 today. Save me.

Easter

Easter was a little messed up in our house this year. Kristopher woke up with diarrhea drama, in which he didn't realize was happening.....So, he wasn't allowed to attack the candy. By lunch he acted normal so he ate the meal and we ventured to the inlaws for round 2. About 15 mins of playing with his cousins, he comes running in screaming that he had wet underwear again, and luckily made it to the toilet for more episodes. Poor kid. Then he was very pale and felt feverish and was requesting to leave. So, the past 24 hrs he has been pretty laid back and lazy. Not a toy was picked up, no asking for candy, or any food for that matter. He's finally feeling a little better and was hungry for supper. I hope it is over.
So, due to all of that, the only picture I have to share is one of miss Nala bunny. I decided to torture her with an easter basket. She wasn't too impressed.

I hope everyone else had a good Easter! I'm going to call it a night and try to catch up on some missed sleep.

Bike rides!

I got a very early start to the day today, so I figured I'll take advantage of a break, and share some pics from yesterday. It was finally nice for wild man to ride his bike. He LOVED it. Now....pics:

We also went to the park and hiked yesterday evening, and I suffered my first head wound. After telling Kristopher how we have to be careful and ducking under a tree that fell across the trail, he shrieks "MOMMY!" at a squirrel or chipmunk or something. I jump because it was one of those terror type shrieks, and of course wasn't totally under the tree. I hit it so hard I fell on my butt, then got up and touched the spot it hit and it was wet. Instant panic went through my mind because we were at least a mile up the trail. So, I took a picture of my head to see what it looked like. Mostly just brush burn/small scrap with not crazy bleeding, so we continued on our way. A little up the trail we stopped for a break at the bench, and he noticed my head bleeding and had a mini panic attack. He is terrified of blood, if I haven't mentioned that before. So, we turned around and headed back the bottom trail, stopped at the bathroom to wash out the cut, and went onto another. The most it bothered me at the time was just the fact it hurt. But coming home and washing my hair last night brought the pain and bleeding back. I guess because I have pretty long hair, the water made it bulk down and pull what had started to heal, back open again. I'm very talented I guess. We had a nice little chat on the way home about not yelling MOMMY like that unless it truly is an emergency. If it's not something serious, we talk in a much quieter, calm voice. Ha....