Mamma said there would be days like this.....

So, as I am sure everyone in SE Indiana is aware, the weather is having more mood swings lately than a menopausal woman.

And with that- there is no shortage of congestion, sinus pressure, ear aches, coughs and sore throats.

Our home is no exception with four of the five of us (funnily our only male is the only one who hasn't had troubles....hummmmmm) have some side effects of allergy/sinus troubles.

Last night it was poor Alaina who was coughing her head off.  I didn't notice it before she went to sleep, but as I listened to her sleeping, I knew it was not going to be a super restful night.  Since she ALWAYS wakes up at some point, I figured instead of waking her for cough medication I would give her some when she woke up.  I probably should have communicated that with Gary, since I apparently slept through her nightly roaming session- therefore NOT giving her any cough/decongestant medication. (lesson learned)

This morning all of them were not ready to get out of bed- particularly Princess Alaina- who advised me:

"I have decided today is not a school day"

I gave her time to crawl out of bed.

I snuggled with her.

Let's face it... I bribed her. "You can have a popsicle for breakfast if you just get out of bed and go to the table."

2 Popsicles and a bowl of cereal later the negotiations are on.  "Mom, you said get out of bed not go to school. I am staying home I will snuggle quietly all day long"

Ummm... no.  Not gonna happen kiddo.

I carry her back to her room and pull clothes out.

"I am NOT wearing that"

"Yes you are"

"You can't make me!!!"

(Guess what?!  I could :))

After, physically threading her legs into pants, pushing feet into socks and shoes and weaving her little arms through her sweater sleeves for her and then physically pulling her out of the bottom bunk, she decided she was a big girl and brush her own teeth and hair.

Fast forward to time to leave: "No!"
 "Go. Get. In. The. VAN!!!"
 (hear the low growling tone as I am literally nose to nose with my beloved youngest.)

At the school we face the need to physically remove her from the back most seat of the van and carry her to the door.

The entire time I walk, I am seriously wondering if I should MAYBE take pitty on her teachers and just keep her home.  She can be 'slightly' stubborn when she makes up her mind.

As I am attempting give her a pep talk and trying valiantly to hug the others while my little monkey has her arms and legs clamped around my torso (so that I can't POSSIBLY force her into the building) the science teacher, Mrs. Dunfee, who Alaina has adored at morning drop off for years now, says "Good morning, Miss Alaina!"

My tormented five year old drops the the ground....

SMILING!

RUNNING TO THE TEACHER FOR A HUG!!!!

And says, "Hi! I'm ready for school!!"

And then walks calmly into the building without another thought.

Sigh......

Glad she was able to work out all of her frustrations on Mamma this morning.

Hoping she feels much better and has a wonderful day full of fun and learning :)

This is why I love motherhood... never the same day, reaction or action twice.

"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get" -Forest Gump

Kryptonite

I love food.

I may have been a chef or food critic in another life.... seriously. LOVE. FOOD.

Sweets are a particular weakness.  I don't have a sweet tooth- I have 22 sweet teeth.

So we had a gathering at my parent's last night to celebrate the fourth.  I now have cheesy potato soup, homemade mac-n-cheese, steak, burgers, dogs and chops, homemade sweet pickles (YUM!), and TWO cakes in my kitchen..... I am sure I am forgetting something.

None of those are particularly stressing me out, though.

It is the Kryptonite sitting to the right of my stove that has me breaking out in a cold sweat.

Potato chips are my kryptonite.  I love, Love, LOVE them!!  

They are salty.
You can eat them with fat infused, ranch flavored dips.
They CRUNCH! as you eat them.

And there is no better excuse to lick your fingers clean than a tater chip-face stuffing fest.

What's not to love about potato chips?!?!

So my parents just came over to drop off more leftovers "for the kids."

There are now SIX bags of chips on my kitchen counter....

I can feel my derrière expanding just writing about them....

Now... if you will excuse me I have some chips to gorge myself on before the minions beat me to it :)

CRUNCH!

But how do you get it all done? It's simple really....

I am a singe mom to four children- four children within a five year age span (10, 7 (and a half!), just turned 6 and not quite 5).

I work full time as a registered nurse in the local Emergency Department.

I also go to school full time.

I constantly hear people say to me: But how do you get it all done?

It is simple really...... I DON'T.

It just isn't possible.  

I survive.  

I love my children, they love me.  

          We are a family unit... 

we fight fiercely

 and we love even more fiercely.

I would never survive without a few things: My parents and my boyfriend.  They constantly love, encourage and support me. They babysit endlessly, sweep floors, put away laundry (ok that is all pretty much my mom there- she is totally my hero), fix leaky commodes, drippy faucets, fans that won't turn, haul furniture, and help plant gardens.  They also help me get kids to where they need to go, listen to them read and do flash cards and snuggle babies when Mommy just can't do it. They help me celebrate life's wonders and joys.  They comfort me when I need to rage or cry. And they aren't afraid to call me on it when I need taken to task.

But a vast majority of the time it is me and my kiddies.  We get through each day the best we can.  There is a lot of yelling, screaming and tears.  A lot more hugs, jokes and giggles fly around here, too.  I have learned to be ok with dirty dishes.. they will be there in the morning.  The kids help.  Laundry may not be where I want it, plates may be stacked on top of a pot.. but we work together and roll with it :)  It seems to work.  I have only gone to work wearing two different shoes once.... that I remember.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY 2014

Wow...  this was Mother's Day #10 for me.

I feel old.  Well, old-ISH.

As in I feel like I need a cane-- but not a wheelchair.  

YET.

And I was actually off work for about the first time in as many years to celebrate :)

These goof balls make my world complete!

They also know how to make me feel super special.

I found flowers on my porch

We had an awesome road trip dance party

I was given priceless jewelry (including a handmade rubber-band bracelet)

Beautiful pieces of art

Notes from the heart that made me grin, pictures and poems.

Hugs and Kisses.

We even had quality time... purchasing flowers, making gifts for Grandma, seeing Shrek the Musical (compliments of the high school music department) and making boats for the Cub Scouts Rain Gutter Regatta.

And then--- the icing on the cake....

They PLANTED the annuals in my front flower bed for me :)

I can't wait to see them spread and bloom!!

After this... well, the honeymoon was over.  We returned to the normal bathing, hitting, screaming, crying, I'm overtired and don't wanna go to bed routine.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I hope all you other fabulous Mamas had a super special day as well :)

I think I am going to sit here and contemplate how blessed I am to have four such vibrant, healthy, happy blessings in my life.

Thanks for breakfast Danny....

I know this statement will surprise a lot of the people who know me best.....

I HATE MORNINGS!!!!

It seriously takes me an hour and some caffeine before I can walk, talk or see straight.  I set two alarms 15 minutes apart and hit snooze on them both multiple times before I am even conscious.

I'm amazed my boyfriend hasn't thrown me out the window at 5 AM yet :) He is a saint some days....

My kids have even been known to approach me with this question: "Mommy, is it safe to talk to you yet???"  Although my youngest thinks it is HILARIOUS to blow raspberries on my belly when I won't wake up.  Little imp.

The only other thing that I pretty much always dislike as much as waking up in the morning is eating breakfast.

Growing up my parents could NEVER convince me to eat at home in the mornings... never fear though.  I would go to school and buy two fresh out of the oven cookies and some chocolate milk :) (humm... wonder where the kids get their sweet tooth from.....)

I don't mind COOKING breakfast per say.. I just don't like to eat it, and I don't like to wake up.. therefore my poor kids are relegated to pop tarts and cereal in the morning. (yes, I am aware that I am contributing to their obesity and being an all round horrid mother by serving pop tarts)

So I promised to make them biscuits, bacon and eggs this morning.

They were STOKED!!!

They started asking for it at 6AM.

Grrrrr....  

I'm going back to bed.  LOL.

Anyway about 9 AM, after they have all already had apple sauce and bananas, I start to function and to the stove I go.... because I actually LOVE to cook- even if it does have to be breakfast.

SO.. two cans of biscuits baked in the oven (yes I cheated there), two pounds of bacon and a little more than a dozen eggs later I am actually feeling the urge to eat a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit for myself... YUM!

And my sweet little Emma helper set a beautiful table, complete with mood lighting ....

As the kids start to chow down they exclaim, "This is the best bacon ever, Mom! Where did you get it?"

"Its bacon from one of Danny's hogs."

"Danny Geisler?"

"yes"

"DANNY, makes the best bacon in the world!!!!"

WHAT!?!?  I get none of the credit????  sigh.....

So, Danny, thanks for breakfast--- 

2014 is Starting out on the UPswing!

Soooo... it has been awhile since I last blogged.  We have been super duper busy around here.

I finished my statistics course.... Note to self: online, basically self taught classes are all fine and dandy, but never again with Stats.  EEeekk!!!

Christmas shopping was completed (thank you Amazon dot com) and a small mountain of gifts were wrapped (thank you to an awesome boyfriend who happily watched television on multiple 'date nights' while I sat on the floor wrapping).

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with family...and I even got in eight hours at work on Christmas Evening (such is the life of a nurse).

Tristen turned seven (just doesn't seem possible) and we had a great time at Chuck-e-Cheese playing games and eating pizza.

And we conducted Kylie's science experiment in the garage (ie: torture to parents).

 

Then the real fun began.  Kylie started coughing during the night (of course while spending the night with a friend) and the next morning had a low grade fever. No big deal, right?  Tylenol, Motrin deal with it Mommy- you are a NURSE and you can HANDLE ANYTHING!!  :)

Then that evening the fever got seriously high and Kylie, who is normally just content to lounge around when not feeling well, started to complain.  Dizzy, severe headache, TEARS (double eeekkkk)- saying that she was sure she would not make it through another night.  And the cough got so deep and raspy my heart went out to her (seriously-- do you know how hard it is to get sympathy from a mom/ER nurse???)

No big deal- I will call the doctor's office ASAP when they open in the morning.  7:30AM--- busy signal.  7:40 busy again... 50 again.... 7:55 THE RECEPTIONIST ANSWERS!!!  "I'm sorry honey, we don't have anything other than the walk in clinic this evening"  Shoot.  She is MISERABLE and I just can't see another 10+ hours of making her miserable.  To the ER we go (yes, with all four grumpy children---)

The doctor says that he is going to test her for influenza... WAIT! We got our flu shot- I'm an advid believer (and if you are not that is fine, I can respect that, but let us not discuss that- K?)  He gives me the look.  "Now, Anne. You know that the shot does not protect against EVERY strain.. just the 5 or so thought to be most prevalent..."  Sigh-- swab her.

Positive for INFLUENZA A.  Ick... double and TRIPLE ICK!  I don't want to think about the ramifications of this.

No TamiFlu at my regular pharmacy (which because of my insurance is much more pocket book friendly) so I pay $116 for liquid TamiFlu and home we go.

Then I break it to the kids... that New Year's Eve get-together they were soooo excited about hosting....NOT GONNA HAPPEN.

THEN THEY START DROPPING LIKE FLIES.   (Mind you I have to work NYE day shift-- luckily I have an AWESOME sitter who took phenomenal care of my babies)  Emma's fever got up to almost 104, Alaina is coughing her little head off.

So I call my wonderful Family Physician who promptly put all three younger kids on TamiFlu (my FSA card is now properly depleted for the year --- see the positive side of this???)



So for NYE I dosed everyone with TamiFlu, Motrin and Tylenol.  Ordered Papa John's, made cheesy nacho dip, opened a two liter of soda and had two great movies delivered by my awesome boyfriend (who I insisted go to the NYE get-together that friend's of ours were good enough to host at the last minute)

                              

Such a nice and relaxing evening.. the kiddies and I really enjoyed snuggling on the couch.  You have not lived until you have creatively found a way to snuggle with four not-feeling-so-hot-so-they-gotta-all-be-next-to-mamma kids at once.

 Gary came in around ten and shared in the movie and couch time.  It was seriously nice.

Kids didn't make it to midnight- but they came fairly close.  And they all went to bed without any tears or histrionics.  SCORE!!!

I did get a New Year's Eve kiss right at midnight- for the first time EVER! (yes- even after being married for 10 years I had never gotten kissed right at midnight.. it had almost become a joke)

Now we are here on January 1, 2014.  Kids all woke up happy and fever free.  Still a little coughing and some serious lounging on the couch time.   But I am choosing to celebrate.

They are all feeling good enough to play some.


They all woke up with smiles on their faces.

We have a roof over our heads, a warm home, plenty of food in our bellies, and five warms beds to sleep in at night (even though they insist on grouping up and sleeping in a pile of limbs).

The flu is on it's way out the door.

And we are gonna ROCK 2014!!!!  

Happy New Year everyone!!

Some of Life's Lessons are Self Taught- AND Hilarious

I walk my older three kids to the end of the street and wait with them until the bus arrives.  It is a back yard and a house away.

During warmer weather my four year old comes with us... in all sorts of creative and crazy attires.  (My personal favorite was when she sat on the curb with a pair of undies on her head- and screamed that's my sister as her 9 year old sister got on the bus....CLASSIC) However, since it has gotten colder, we have fallen into the habit of her curling up on the couch for her "one cartoon" while I walk them.  It works well, we turn it on just as I walk out of the door, and then Mommy has time to finish getting ready before we turn it off again.

This morning I happened to catch her peeking sneakily out the door- I assume to see if I was coming yet.  Her error was in only checking the driveway and not the road.  I had a clear view of her the entire time.

Keep in mind she is wearing only a short-ish thigh length shirt and undies the entire time....

After peeking out the door, she scooted the ottoman in front of the couch, stood on it and struck a pose- if only my phone camera had a better zoom.

She then proceeded to dramatically strike poses and dance- I assume the Fresh Beat Band was grooving.

She then gracefully leapt onto the couch- after again quickly peeking over her shoulder, ensuring I was nowhere near.  (TOTALLY not allowed, by the way)

Followed by a not so graceful leap back to the ottoman- almost.  CRASH!

I then observed her look over her shoulder at her bottom, rub it and twist her face up in consternation.

Again looking quizzically towards the door- I can hear the gears turning... "Do I tell Mom, and risk a scolding? Do I get over it and save my hide?"

Rubbing her bottom she picks up the blanket, curls up on the couch and angelically poses, as if she has been there for hours.

As I walk in the door...Me "What you up to, Alaina?" Alaina "Just being a wittle bit wazey and waying on da couch this mornin'"

Love it... some of life's lessons are self taught :)