*cough, cough* Can I Have a Sick Day, Please? No? I didn't think so.

So, I haven't been sick since March of 2006. Now, 8 days after I cancel my health insurance, I get sick. Duh.

Luckily, this time, I don't have a fever. Just a severe sore throat, nausea, and a runny nose with drainage down my throat. I started feeling bad yesterday morning and it just got worse throughout the day. By bedtime, my throat hurt so bad I couldn't even swallow liquids.

I couldn't sleep last night, plus I had to get up at 4:45 am to feed my son. Then, at 6:15 am, I felt an unnerving presence, like someone was staring at me as I laid in bed trying to sleep. I slowly opened my eyes and saw my 2 yr old standing next to my side of the bed, staring at me. 6:15? Really? He couldn't sleep for just a little bit longer?

I asked my husband to get up with him since I am sick and he did. However, he promptly fell asleep on the den couch, which sent my 2 yr old son right back into our bedroom to get me up. Then, my newborn started crying in his room, so at 7:30 am, I just got out of bed. So much for sleep.

I began to make my son's breakfast and my husband's lunch, then realized that my husband forgot to go to the grocery store last night. So, at 8:30 am, I took my baggy, bloodshot eyes and unbrushed teeth to the store so I could come home and make a dessert and an appetizer for my girl's night out Christmas party tonight, which I wouldn't miss even if my leg got cut off - I'm not missing my once a month opportunity to be kid-free - and then make bbq chicken for my husband for dinner since he won't eat anything but cereal if I don't make the food for him.

Now, it is 10:24 am. I feel terrible, I am nauseated, and it seems like it is about 8 pm already. As grateful as I am for my blessed life, I sure would like some quiet time and sleep so my body can heal itself.

Can I have a sick day today, please? No? Okay. I didn't think so. Yes, I will make you some chocolate milk. And yes, I will pack your lunch. Please don't pull my hair. Yes, I will sit here and play Star Wars with you. And yes, we can turn on iCarly. And yes, I will clean off the dining room table. And yes, I will wash some of your boxers. Yes, I will change your diaper. And yours too. And yes, I will hold you. And yes, ...

The Showdown

So, oh my goodness.

Yesterday. Oh, yesterday.

I didn't think I was going to make it through.

Make it through what?

I'll tell you what.

THE SHOWDOWN.

That's what.

Here is what happened. And this post might be long, so in case you can't make it all the way through, here is how it ends: I didn't run off and join a clan of traveling gypsies in order to escape motherhood.

So, yesterday was chaotic. My son, Max, had his speech therapy evaluation in the morning and just before we were about to leave, he and our bull terrier were chasing each other around the Christmas tree and my son fell and hit his forehead on the windowsill. We were already running late. After comforting him, drying his tears, and watching a red welp and purple bruise form on his head, we jumped into the car and I realized I had left my mug of green tea inside the house. Oh well, no time to get it.

I zoomed down our street and as I am turning left onto the main road, I see something fly off the hood of my car and smash all over the road. It was my ceramic mug of green tea. I HAD remembered to grab it, I just didn't remember that I had grabbed it and put it on the hood of my car. So, then I had to stop and clean up shattered ceramic off the street. Geez.

Later that afternooon, the day just got worse. My son was super grumpy, he was trying to knock over the Christmas tree, knock over the Christmas decorations, he was running around like a maniac, my newborn wouldn't stop crying unless I held him, I was trying to do everything with one free hand, there was no way I was getting dinner cooked, and then our bull terrier knocked an electric Christmas candle off the windowsill and the bulb broke all over the wood floor. And my son was in his bare feet.

I put my newborn, Harry, in his pack n play and put my 2 yr old son in his crib so I could clean up the broken glass. And as I am cleaning up the glass, I hear a THUD and then the pitter patter of little feet running across the kitchen floor. What the?

A little face peeked around the kitchen door.

Oh, crap. My son finally figured out how to crawl out of his crib. I had been dreading this day.

Finally, my husband came home at 6:30 pm and I was so tired, I crawled into Harry's crib with him and we both fell asleep for an hour and a half!

I woke up at 8 pm with Max trying to climb into Harry's crib and sit on top of us.

After teeth brushing and Star Wars playtime, we tried to put Max down at 8:30 pm.

And THE SHOWDOWN began.

First, Max started by crying and begging to be taken out of his crib. Now, usually, Max is easy to put down. Not sure why he chose last night to bust out the smackdown.

After he cried for a few minutes, he remembered, "Hey! I can crawl out of this little mini prison."

So let the games begin.

For the next 45 minutes, my husband and I took turns returning our son to his crib in Supernanny style. And Max thought it was hilarious. What a fun game!, he thought. You could see the pride on his face. He had outsmarted mommy and daddy!

My husband then decided to turn Max's crib around so that the low front was pushed up against the wall and the high back was facing the room. We thought there was no way Max could crawl over the high back.

And we were right. He couldn't. So, instead, he decided to try and squeeze his body between the wall and the low front of the crib and get out that way.

Suddenly we heard him screaming. My husband ran into his room to find him dangling between the wall and the crib by his neck because his head was too big to fit in between. What if we hadn't heard him screaming? It scared us to death!

So, at 9:30 pm, we decided we had no choice but to transition him and his crib into the toddler bed. My husband took off the front of the crib and we put up the mesh barricade to keep him from rolling onto the floor in his sleep. At first, Max thought it was so exciting that he could get in and out of his bed all by himself. But, that thrill didn't last long.

Once we turned out the light and closed the door, I think he realized that we had taken all the fun out of his new favorite game and he started screaming like I have never heard him scream before. It started out as just screaming out of anger. Then it transitioned into screaming and crying. Then, he just lost it. He yelled and screamed and cried like we were physically torturing him. And even though he could get out of bed by himself, he didn't. It wasn't fun for him anymore. He just sat there in his bed and flailed around screaming.

I checked on him a couple of times, my husband checked on him once, and nothing we did could calm him down.

Finally, at 10:30 pm, I snuck into the hallway outside of his door to listen and see if I should go in again. Suddenly, the green tea I was drinking went down the wrong pipe and I started coughing and choking and making an awful racket. I guess I would flunk out of ninja school.

But, my choking turned out to be a positive happening because my son stopped crying long enough to listen to me outside his door. All the coughing distracted him long enough to calm him down and he fell asleep!

And he slept through the night. Aaahhhhh...

Nap time today should be interesting.

Turkey Leftovers & a KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer Giveaway from 3 Kids and Us!

So, 3 Kids and Us and KitchenAid want to make your holiday wish come true and offer you the chance to win a brand new KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer , in your choice of over 20 colors, valued at $349.99!


Enter the KitchenAid Stand Mixer Giveaway and check out the Homemade Holiday Feast recipes that show all the ways the KitchenAid Stand Mixer and attachments can be used to create unique family dishes and save you counter space with one appliance that can be converted to meet your every need.

And no offense, but if you enter this giveaway...I hope I win.

All Pooped Out

So, today I have changed 4 poopy diapers, cleaned up 3 piles of dog diarrhea off the floor, and now our other dog has escaped out of our backyard, taken the poopy diapers out of the trashcan, and shredded those 4 poopy diapers all over our front porch.

I have a permanent poop smell in my nostrils and the fudge left over from Thanksgiving isn't looking all that appetizing right now.

However...on the other hand...it is chocolate fudge after all...I think I might need the chocolate dose for my nasty mood more than the sight of it grosses me out after my all day poop fest.

So, okay, I'll eat the fudge. But I'm gonna have to close my eyes.

A Bad Day

So, today has been a bad day. Plain and simple. One of those days that just slowly breaks you down. I'm sure it doesn't help that I haven't had any sleep in over 2 months (Harry, please start to sleep through the night).

Anyway, I thought I would write about it and hope that the act of writing it out makes me feel better because I've got to feel better before my 2 yr old son wakes up from his nap so I can be a good mommy and not a broken down, sad mommy with no patience.

Everything was fine until I went to pick him up from preschool and one of his teachers met me outside the door. That's never good. She told me how much she still thinks he needs occupational and speech therapy. He is getting worse with his hitting and biting at school and his speech hasn't improved. He can't communicate well, he hardly eats, and he is getting frustrated more and more all the time. I have been able to tell at home, too, that he is getting more and more upset as time goes on. I had to fight back the tears as she was telling me all of this and tried to keep from crying in front of Max in the car.

I know he is a difficult child and I know he needs some type of therapy. I am not blind to that fact. I take care of him seven days a week and some days are so difficult that the day ends in my tears and chest pains. What I don't know is how we will pay for it. Therapies of these types can cost up to $75,000 a year without insurance and Max doesn't have insurance. He has government coverage.

I emailed a girl I know this afternoon who owns a children's therapy clinic and asked her for any information she has on government assistance programs for therapy. We will see.

Today broke my heart.

Then, the cable guy came to hook up our Tivo and I found out that my husband was given some misinformation about the Tivo system when he bought it. So, the cable guy leaves, I call my husband to tell him about the misinformation, he goes into a rage about the Best Buy people, which is where we bought it, and he decides to return the Tivo. Well, then, after the cable guy leaves, our Tivo says it can't receive a cable signal anyway. So, I call the cable company and they can't get anyone out here until tomorrow to fix it. So, no TV.

I promised my son he could watch Dino Dan after his nap because I wouldn't let him watch it before his nap, and now, I have to break that promise because of the stupid Best Buy and Cox Communications people.

And now my husband is freaking out about how we will pay for Max's therapy, how he is going to get revenge on the Best Buy salesman, and how he can get a glass of wine to make it through the rest of the day. Oh wait, I'm the one wondering about how I can get a glass of wine to make it through the rest of the day. Where is that corkscrew?

Some Wins!

So, as some of you know, I love to enter giveaways! And I've won some pretty great things in the past, too. Last year, I won a pair of lavendar pearl earrings! Here are a couple of my recent wins and the websites from which I won!

First, I won a board book in October called, "My Purple Toes" from Familylicious! I am going to give this to my son for Christmas! Thanks Familylicious!

Then, I found out this morning I won a $25 gift card to My Baby Clothes Boutique from Sugar Pop Ribbons! I love the My Baby Clothes Boutique website. I have entered giveaways for this site before, but I haven't won one until today! Thank you Sugar Pop Ribbons!

I have posted the buttons for these blogs below. Visit both of these giveaway blogs for some great giveaways this holiday season!!

So, November's half over and I'm just now posting some Halloween pictures. Oh, and our TV blew up.

So, I am way behind in posting pictures. I have discovered that with two kids, my house stays a mess, I am always sleep-deprived, I don't have time to read blogs, and I forget to take pictures because I am so distracted by my two little distractions. However, I did take a few on Halloween, although not as many as I did last year when I was the mommy of a mere one child.

Here is Harry at the Halloween carnival we attended. He slept through it. Party pooper.

Here, Max, or ahem, I mean Spiderman, is fishing for candy at the carnival

We aren't sure what came over Spiderman here, but he decided to forgo his usual hunger strike and is actually sitting still and eating a hot dog. Must be all that crime fighting.


Toot toot! All aboard the train!

Now that we are at home in this picture, Harry is awake.

After the carnival, we all went trick or treating with some kids from the neighborhood. Max caught on quickly and started asking for more candy at people's houses. We taught him well.

On another note, my husband blew up our television last night trying to pry the two DVDS out that our toddler shoved inside. One minute he was fixing it, the next minute, a small explosion and sparks, the next minute, no working tv. So, if anyone in our area has a TV you aren't using and don't mind letting us borrow it, we would love to until we can afford to buy another one. I promise to keep my husband away from it. I need a TV in our living room/dining room for my sanity. I mean, holy gravy, we don't want to have to actually talk to each other while eating dinner. Geez.