Right as I was finishing up writing my last post from my computer room on the first floor, I heard someone coming down the stairs.  Naturally, I thought it was Shawn, because we put the kids to bed upstairs a while ago.

 

Nope!  It's Wesley!  I automatically got up to get him some milk (he likes to drink a little to help him fall asleep), it took me a minute to realize...

 

He's got some kind of cream all over his face... and his hands... and his clothes

 

*sigh*

 

Wes and I go back upstairs.  He is excited.  He can't wait to show me his work.  He has "painted" his two of his walls, his door (both sides), his carpet, toys, nightstand, changing table, etc etc etc with his prescription creams.

 

I'm not sure I blogged about that... remember when I was worried he had MRSA again?  He's definately got "something", a strep or staph infection.  We won't know till probably tomorrow if it actually the pencillian-resistant kind, but doctor said treatment's the same regardless (because of the antibiotic she prescribed).  He's got two creams that we alternate putting on his diaper region every diaper change, one antibiotic for the strep/staph infection, the other for a yeast infection (from the antibiotics, go figure!).  We got these Saturday night.  The antibiotic was maybe 1/3 used, the yeast infection cream was maybe 1/5 used (smaller area to apply it to).

 

Shawn's computer room is right there by Wesley's bedroom, but Wesley is stealthy, and Shawn didn't hear a thing.  We are going to send both Colleen and Wes to ninja school... with their light feet and super quiet ways of sneaking around, they are sure to go far in their studies of the silent warrior.

 

So Shawn and I are cleaning up.  Here is where our priorities are clearly illustrated.  I immediately start on the carpet, and Shawn goes straight for his face and hands.  LOL  His face has big red marks where the cream was.  CRAP.  AND he is telling us that the cream tastes Ew Yuck.  Great.  Just great.  Yet another call to Poison Control.  They assured me that he'll be fine, if he was allergic to it, we would have known already from using on his rump.  Plus, with the amount that covered EVERY SURFACE IN HIS ROOM, it is unlikely that he got more than a lick of it in his mouth.  Then they verified all of my contact information.

 

After we got off the phone and got Wesley back to bed (he's exhausted now after his night of fun), I came downstairs and started straightening up.  I'd like the place to look nice when Child Protective Services comes by tomorrow to find out why we have to call Poison Control so much for our son.

 

I'm getting gray hair, Shawn's getting gray hair... every time he does something like this we feel like a year's been taken off of our lives from the sheer stress of it.

 

Then he turns those huge blue eyes on us, those pinchable chubby cheeks, those kissable pouty lips... then he grabs us with his grubby little hands (they're always grubby, right after a bath they are grubby) and he hugs us tight, and kisses us, and tells us he loves us.  Then he'll pull back, look us straight in the face and, in all seriousness, he'll ask "You happy now?  I happy now, you happy now?"

 

I have a feeling he'll be doing this to us for the rest of our lives...

Good grief, I can't remember what.  It was good too.  Oh well!

 

You are going to have to settle for hearing about something funny that happened to me today.

 

Wes and I went grocery shopping today.  We had a good time, I got through the store before Wesley got bored with his two new cars (yes, I bribe him to be good and stay in the cart!).  We head to the check out just as Wes starts fidgeting.  I almost choose the lane where there was a pretty young lady working.  She didn't look very animated and I was afraid she would go too slow.  I pass her up in favor of an older lady (she ended up saying that her age was 65) and she seemed on the ball, speedy. 

 

Turns out, she is training a new hire.  It is painfully obvious that she is trying to impress the new hire with her speed and check out skill.  Evidently the check out clerks at this store are TIMED, it becomes part of their performance record!  She goes straight to putting items in plastic bags, which is fine (I forgot my new resusable ones, AGAIN!), but I asked her if she could pack one or two "loads" in paper sacks.  Next week is Grocery Week at the preschool and Coco's teachers requested paper bags, old coupons, store flyers, etc. for their make believe play.  The lady misunderstood me and starts packing EVERYTHING in paper bags.  She is acting more and more flustered and rushed, evidently the time it takes to reach down, grab a paper bag and open it is too much for a good check out time.  Who knew?  So then she shows the trainee how to "suspend" an order, giving herself time to open more paper bags without getting a "bad" time.  This seemed a little like cheating to me, but I kept my mouth shut.  Her hands were shaking and she seemed so upset that I ended up reassuring her that I was not in a hurry (Wes WAS behaving himself, amazingly).

 

Finally, everything is scanned and bagged, and loaded back in the cart.  The order is totalled and I swipe my debit card to pay.  It wasn't until she handed me the receipt that I realized... I was only charged $44.  I had WAY more than $44 of groceries in the cart.  I look up and tell the cashier that I was only charged $44.  She looks crestfallen.  She looks over the receipt, yes, obviously most of the order is not on it.  Hmmm, she says.  She pushes the little button that makes the light above her register blink.  She gives an apologetic look to the people waiting behind me.  A manager comes up, looks at the receipt, and agrees, yep a lot of these groceries aren't on this receipt. (Duh!) 

 

There is only one thing to do... We have to UNLOAD the cart, UNBAG the groceries, RESCAN it all, REBAG it, RELOAD it in the card, and then I pay again.  Wesley had run out of patience about half way through this.  I'm wishing I never opened my big mouth about the paper bags.  I'm hoping that Wes doesn't hit anyone with the cars he is throwing (terrible twos really ARE terrible!).  Thinking about Wes hitting someone with a car almost gets me giggling.  I start imagining what the people behind me are thinking, and how surprised they would be to all of a sudden get dinged upside the head with a car.  Would one of them catch it midair?  Would that poor man directly behind me with only 5 or 6 things get hit in the crotch?  Would he fall to his knees and make a high pitched squealing noise?  I KNOW that now is not the time to laugh (nothing good could come of it) so I concentrate on keeping a straight face and keeping Wes from throwing the cars and/or climbing out of the cart.  In the end, the manager was kind enough to give us $6.00 off the total for the inconvenience (which I was tempted not to take, but by that point it really did feel like an inconvenience)

 

And I didn't start laughing until I was safely out of the store!

I had it in my mind that it was Tuesday, is that right?

 

No, my computer says it's Wednesday.  Goodie!  Only a few more days till the weekend.  Sometimes I actually get a nap on the weekend.

 

The kids are not sleeping well.  So, I'm not sleeping well.  One or the other woke me up every single hour starting a little after 1am.  There was this study done where they found the actual, biological reason why people get cranky when they are tired.  Whopee!  Study how to make a four year old and a two year old stay in their bedrooms and sleep all night!!!

 

I don't know what changed, they were always such good sleepers.  Even in the apartment they slept well.  It wasn't until we moved here that they started having trouble.  I'm at my wits end.

 

My best friend lives in San Diego, the wild fires are an all consuming worry for me.  So far she is safe.  I hate wild fire season!!!

 

I'm also upset because Bombay Company filed bankruptcy and that was where Shawn and I wanted to get our bed from.  I've made a couple half hearted attempts to find one, but I'm losing interest.  We shouldn't be spending money on a bed when Christmas is coming up, and besides, I don't want to buy the bed and then not be able to get the matching night stands, bombe chest, etc.  Pfffft

 

I might have taken it in stride, except Pier 1 kids closed down recently as well.  I had picked out furniture for Colleen's room, Wesley's room, and the downstairs room which was going to be a play room but has kind of turned into my office/craft room.  Ppppffffttttt!

 

Better get what you want from Pottery Barn and Thomasville while you still can!  I picked out Pottery Barn furniture for the loft (we are going to use it as a library) and Thomasville furniture for the living room.  They're sure to close down or discontinue those lines of furniture next.  ARGGGG!

 

OK gotta go, Coco is calling for me.

 

Hugs, Jen

This year I have not been on my game when it comes to Halloween costumes.  I had the outside of the house decorated by the end of September, finished the inside of the house early this week, I have made Halloweeen goodie bags for Colleen's preschool class and our trick-or-treaters.  What I NEGLECTED to do is bother with the kid's costumes...

 

You see, my mom bought Colleen the Cinderella costume from the Disney store, complete with tiara, wand, and light up "glass" slippers.  So I didn't have to worry about what Colleen was going to be for Halloween.  And somehow, I never got around to worrying about what Wes was going to be for Halloween either.  When pressed about it, I decided to try his old costumes on him to see if any still fit (last year's Yoda does, but he objected to it!). 

 

That is when Mom-Guilt set in.  That is terrible of me to try to pawn off a old costume on poor Wes.  I have NEVER done that to Colleen.  In fact, I've always gone bananas over Colleen's costumes.  I guess this is what they mean when people talk about the second child not getting as much as the first (which I SWORE I wasn't going to do!). 

 

So I put a minimum of thought into it and came up with the idea of making him a scarecrow... just dress him in a plaid shirt and denim overalls, put a straw hat on him, use facepaint to draw little triangles on his face, and somehow attach cut up raffia to the cuffs of his sleeves and pants legs... Viola!  Instant scarecrow.  If I was feeling fancy, I could even pick him up one of those decorative crows from Michaels and he could carry that around.  Cute, right?  Actually, probably not.  He would probably not wear the hat, rub off the face paint, throw the crow, and who knows how the raffia would stay put?  Some costume!

 

Shawn prodded me into checking out the Disney store today.  We still call Wesley "Stitch" from the Disney movie "Lilo and Stitch".  He has been Stitch for Halloween before, but the baby costume looks a lot like Eeyore.  No one really made the connection that Wes was Stitch and Colleen was Lilo.  Turns out that the Disney store does have the "626" version of Stitch in a kids costume, AND it was on clearance (God, I love clearance!).  So we snapped it up.

 

Wes has an offical, new, actual Halloween costume.  Goodbye, Mom-Guilt, and good riddance!  :)

 

PS, Wesley possible-MRSA update: His legs are looking fine, no patches that I can see, but we can still tell he doesn't feel good.  I'll post after we take him to the doctor tomorrow with another update.

Today marks the tenth anniversary of Shawn and I beginning our romantic relationship.  I count it every year with nearly the same amount of pomp and circumstance as our wedding anniversary, which Shawn doesn't understand, but tolerates.  I have been Shawn's girl for 1/3 my life.  It's been a laid back day, we watched Transformers together as a family.  I was a little worried about violence, but Coco has seen it before (on a date with her daddy) and I needn't have worried about Wesley.  He was ENTHRALLED.  They are in there watching it again right now. 

 

I'm worried about Wes.  I strongly suspect he has MRSA again.  It would not bode well if he has it again so soon after getting it the first time (Late July/ Early August).  This time it is not just in one spot, either.  He has multiple boils in two large patches on one leg and multiple boils in one large patch on the other leg.  The patches are warm to the touch now, from experience I know that they will grow hard and hot to the touch within a few days.  His diaper region has a very bad rash, which I have been writing off because he had loose stools from the antibiotic he was on.  He and Colleen both had Impetigo (I may not have wrote about it, he had it the same time I had strep throat).  Impetigo looks like a pimply rash on the face and can be caused by either strep or staph infection; we assumed it was strep because I tested positive for strep.  His right eye also has a red patch under it, could be MRSA, could be from where he sprayed himself full on in the face yesterday with bug repellant (Lord only knows why he did this, best we can figure, he was trying to learn how the spray pump worked).

 

I'm worried.  I don't want to take him to the ER because I didn't like how they handled it last time, I always end up going to the doctor the next day anyway because I don't trust ER doctors.  Maybe they are too overworked, maybe they have to keep up with so many different types of illness that they can't go into detail on any of them, I don't know.  When we took Wes last time, when we thought it was a spider bite, the doctor correctly told us it was MRSA, but prescribed the wrong dosage of medicine for him.  AND he didn't even test it to be absolutely sure what strand we were dealing with.

 

I read online that alcohol kills the bacteria, I am going to rub the patches with rubbing alcohol (not the diaper rash though, or his eye.  Risk and/or pain outweighs benefits in those areas).  Maybe doing that will stunt the bacteria growth, or heck, even kill it.  At any rate, I am going to try to hold off until we can see his regular doctor on Monday instead of heading in to the ER.  I can count on his regular doctor to test it, treat it properly, and give us the information we need to keep him from being infected again.

 

I wonder if he is picking this up in physical therapy?  He goes every Thursday and I just noticed the patches today.  That doesn't explain the diaper rash, though.  MRSA can look like a diaper rash in young children.  And the CDC info said it sometimes presents after stopping a non-effective antibiotic, which he recently did.

 

OK I am going to sit tight and keep an eye on my baby.  I have had a little voice in my head telling me something wasn't quite right with him for a few days now.  I should have taken him to the doctor for that diaper rash like Shawn said to.  :(

 

UPDATE: The alcohol worked!  I can barely even find the patches now!  His diaper area is still not good and I really don't know what is going on with his eye, it looks better, then worse, then better, then worse, so he is going to the doctor anyways.  I am going to continue to use the alcohol on his legs, because it can't hurt and it actually helped!  Maybe it wasn't MRSA after all, I don't know.  But at this point I'm not messing around with it. 

 

Course of action: continue rubbing alcohol on legs, watch him like a hawk, take him to doctor first thing tomorrow.

Tuesday was a full day for me.

 

First thing in the morning I went to the hearing specialist to investigate my failed hearing test further.  I haven't been able to hear very well for a while now and missed a couple of tones on the hearing test performed in my regular doctor's office a month ago.  Today was an examination by a specialist and a test in a sound proof booth.  Well guess what?  I was "within normal limits" on this hearing test (although they did do more tests on the left ear (my bad ear) after the first round was over).

 

In my very short consult with the doctor after the test I asked what to do next, since everything came back fine.  I was asked briefly about the circumstaces in which I have difficulty hearing.  They are: talking on the phone, when there is background noise, like the dishwasher or the TV, or when I am reading or the person is in a different room, or I am not looking right at them.

 

The doctor informed me that I don't have a hearing problem, I have a PAYING ATTENTION problem.  That it is just a part of who I am and that I was probably born that way.  I meekly asked if there was anything I could do because I am getting to the point where I will avoid talking on the phone because of how frustrating it is.  In an offhand manner, as if he were far too busy to bother answering my question, the doctor replied, "Pay closer attention to the person you are listening to".

 

I left the office feeling conflicted: like I had wasted an hour and a half of my life, but happy that my hearing is fine and relieved that I don't need a hearing aid, but also embarassed and ashamed.  This is far from the first time I have been told that my problem is caused by a personal defect.  If I could just TRY HARDER, I could hear better, lose weight, and not need to take Wellbutrin.  My house would be clean, my affairs always organized in perfect order.  Every project completed and materials packed away immediately afterwards.  While I'm at it, lets throw in preparing all organic food for my family, attending the 6am yoga class, and excersizing daily.  Now that we are on a roll, how about taking my vitamins every day, going to bed on time (and getting out of bed on time) and making sure the kids' teeth are brushed twice a day.

 

I felt like a big fat loser, so I decided to go get my hair cut.  Seven inches and several "bouncy" layers later and I am feeling better.  I also went out this evening after the kids were in bed and Shawn was happily playing World of Warcraft; I had dessert at a popular chain restaurant and finished up a re-read of The Cat Who Came To Breakfast.  I just love Lilian Jackson Braun.

 

And now, in an attempt to make up for all of the complaining I just did, I leave you with a corny Halloween joke that I read the other day on cards (when I was picking out that great one for Steve):

 

Where do vampires learn to suck blood?

 

Law School!

 

Hugs, Jen

Steve, if you are reading this... STOP NOW!  RIGHT NOW!  That's right... go ahead and click off without reading any further.

 

Not that I think he reads... but just in case...

 

Anyways, for the rest of you: Shawn and I used to work with a great guy named Steve at Prizon... I mean Prizm.  :P

 

A while back he joined the Army because both of his sons were military and deployed to Iraq and he couldn't stand being here stateside with his boys risking life and limb across the world, so he joined back up to do his part.  I just found out yesterday that he is no longer safe and sound, training in Vermont, now he is also in Iraq. 

 

Steve would gladly put his life on the line to make someone else's a little safer, so the crazy muther f*cker is in the unit that drives along the roads at 5 mph looking for bombs, diffusing or detonating them depending on circumstances.  I've been a basket case since I found out he was over there.

 

I know of at least two other guys that I personally know that have been sent over, and I don't want anything bad to happen to either Donny or Doug, but for some reason, Steve's deployment has hit me hard.  I guess it is because he is the only one that I keep in contact with and the only one that I would consider a close friend.  He's also the only one who has sent me his address.

 

He emailed yesterday, saying that he was over there and what his mission was.  I immediately wrote back and in my response I asked if I could send him anything.  He was still online and immediately wrote back that he would love some homemade cookies.  He ought to know me better than that.  Homemade cookies, Bah!  This is right up my alley and there is no way I am sending some measily little box of cookies.  So he will be receiving a box full to the brim of all kinds of goodies (not listing out specifically on the off chance that he actually can read this from over there and ignored my order to stop reading.  Hi, Steve!) and 30 quart sized zip lock bags full of Halloween candy.  I hope that will be enough to go around.  I have no idea how many people he directly works with.  Oh well, I imagine I will just keep making and sending packages until he comes back. 

 

Anyways, the best part of the whole package (I mean it Steve, STOP READING NOW!) is a card I picked up at Target.  It's for Halloween, orange, with this skull and flowers and banner that reads "Gouls just wanna have fun".  It is one that starts playing a song when you open it up, and that song is (obviously) Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.  It is so LOUD.  I get the giggles every time I think of it.  Tough guy Steve, in his cammo uniform, gun at his side, opening up the card in the middle of mess hall.  GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN starts blasting away and all of the other tough guys in cammos with guns look over at him like "WTF, Dude?"  He slams the card shut and his ears are red from blushing, but if he wants to read what I wrote, he has to open it back up and endure the song... all 30-45 seconds of it!  And do you want to know what I wrote?  "Steve, Now that everyone is looking at you, wondering where that loud music is coming from, picture my evil little grin and think, 'With friends like Jen, who needs enemies!'"  I am astounded by my own cleverness.  I think I am hilarious.  hee hee hee

 

I just hope that he stays safe over there and comes back whole and healthy.  I'm going to worry like the mother hen that I am until I know he is back.

I haven't been able to write about this before now... every time I start to I get too emotional and have to stop.  I think I am at peace enough with it now to finally get it off my chest.

 

Several weeks ago we took Colleen to the doctor because she had a rash on her face and her eczema is out of control.  The doctor gave her a prescription for Zyrtec allergy medicine (doesn't do diddly for her) and a new non-steriodal cream for her skin, which burns to the point that she can't stand to put it on.  He also went ahead and did allergy testing on her, because nothing is helping the eczema, she is going to have permanent scarring and possibly permanent skin depigmentation (from the steriod creams). 

 

Well, we now know without a doubt what she is so allergic to... Shadow and Tiger.  She is "off the charts" allergic to cats.  She is highly allergic to dogs, moderately allergic to milk and has a low level allergy to egg whiites.  But the cats... she is 246 times more than the acceptable limit for being allergic to something.

 

Her skin is so bad that she has large patches all over her body that are cracked and bleeding.  Sometimes she just cries because it hurts and itches her so much.

 

The doctor said that he hates to remove family pets from the home, but that in this case we don't have a choice.  He said she is so allergic that she can't even go near the cat adoption cages at PetSmart, much less pet and snuggle with the animals.  Once our two cats have been relocated, we have to have the house sanitized (our pediatrician told us that the allergy specialist will tell us exactly what needs to be done), because the remaining dander will continue to cause reactions in her.

 

Obviously, Colleen's health and well being come before our two housecats.  But it is going to be very hard for me to give them away.  I get a sick feeling in my stomach when I think about it.

 

One of Shawn's friends said he might be interested in taking them, but he lives in Indiana and we can't take them up there until the 2nd week of November.  And he can't say for sure that he will take them, it depends on if his dog seems to tolerate them.  I'm going to see about taking them to PetSmart tomorrow and maybe the cat adoption people will take them (especially if I have Colleen with me and they see how bad her skin is).  I don't want them to be seperated, they have been together their whole lives.  I wish we didn't have to give them away.

 

I am trying to remember all of the annoying things they do, all of the responsibilities I have for their care, how much cleaner the laundry room floor will be with out cat litter scattered all around near their boxes.  The money we will save on cat food and litter.  But then one of them will jump up and rub against me and start purring.  Or I will remember how they both sleep on our bed every night, keeping my feel warm.  I'm going to miss them, very much.

 

But I am NOT going to miss Colleen's horrible eczema.  Or that gut wrenching sound she makes as she is scratching and it is hurting her so much.

 

In happy news, I have found Princess (the outside cat) a new home.  She is still with us for the time being, but the customer service / warranty guy is most likely going to take her soon.  Alls well that ends well, right?

 

Hugs, Jen

This one is for FoX and Spice...

 

We enrolled Colleen in a small preschool program in a Presbyterian church, that is where all the religious stuff comes from.  We did it on purpose, we specifically wanted a place that celebrated Christian holidays and most schools in America now will not celebrate Christian holidays, or if they do they rename it to something secular.  For example: Winter Celebration instead of Christmas, or Spring Break instead of Easter.  This school was perfect for us because even though they celebrate "Christmas" and "Easter", they also celebrate "Halloween" (as opposed to "Harvest Festival").  Plus, it is small (65 kids total), places a priority on physical play - outdoors and in a structured gym environment (TumbleBugs) and it is not terribly expensive.  Some of the "day schools" I looked at cost $12,000 a year.

 

Not all of the class rooms have religious themed names, the youngest group is called "Jungle Buddies".  But Colleen's Class is God's "Shining Stars" and Ben's class is "FROGS - Fully Reliant On God".  They have bible stories and songs once a month, and they say Grace before meal time, but other than that it is not too "in your face".

 

When she goes to public school next year for Kindergarten it will be a different story...  It is very "seperate" from religion. 

 

Gotta run for now, time to take Wesley to see his beloved Ms. Nikki for physical therapy.

 

HUGS, Jen

We can now fill in the blank after the line

 

"Colleen's first crush was..."

 

His name is Ben and he is about to turn 5 (ooh an OLDER man!).  He is the son of her preschool teacher, Ms. Heather.  Colleen is in the Shining Stars class and Ben is next door, in the FROGs (Fully Reliant On God) class.  They play together during recess and have extra time together on Thursdays because they have TumbleBugs class at the same time.

 

He is an adorable little boy, reminds me of Clark Kent with his mild manners and glasses.  He and Colleen love to hold hands and plan their wedding.  Colleen reports that he got in trouble by his mother yesterday because he would not say Hi to another little girl because he was busy playing with Colleen. 

 

Colleen talks about Ben all of the time now.  She still thinks of Megan (her best friend from our old neighborhood), but she now calls Ben her best friend.  She can't wait to get a Marry Dress and marry Ben.  And then they are going to hug each of'her and have snacks together.

 

She's got it all figured out.

I've not posted a blog entry in 2 days because I don't know where to start... what should I write about?

 

I haven't written anything before that because I was sick.  Turns out I had strep throat and a couple of antibiotic shots to the rump took care of that, but from Tuesday night on things were decidedly NOT GOOD for me.

 

I guess my procrastination after I felt well enough to blog again came from not knowing if I should talk about being sick, and if so, should it be factual?  funny?  dramatic?  pitiful?  sarcastic?

 

pffffftttttt

 

Oh well.  Onward and upward.  This afternoon is the annual giving campaign festival at Shawn's work.  It is the third one we have attended.  It  is weird to think that he is in his third year there (for the sake of clarity, he has completed two years of working there, he is in the third now).  Seems like just a few months ago he go the job...  I don't have a good grasp on time passing.

 

While I am in the moment, they each seem to take forever to pass, but when reviewed collectively they are mere flashes in time.