A Week Ago

Since I'm online so scarcely, I forget funny things that happen during my week. One of those funny events happened a week ago.

Last week we had QUITE the snowstorm. And no, the school district did not cancel school. Even though we only live down the street from Cameron's school, because of his special ed class, he gets to ride the bus....for which I'm SO grateful!!

Anyway, where our apartment is located there is a cross-street that comes into our road and leads directly to the school....it's actually kind of annoying, but whatever. Usually the bus driver turns onto the road that comes into our street...which on a good day (when there's no snow on the road) it's a close call turning the corner. But with snow?? It's quite a feat. Especially when the tires can't get traction in the snow.

So back to last week. The bus driver probably figured that he could make the corner and began his turn. His tires pulled to the right....sliding the bus toward our apartment building. The driver tried again, and as I watched through my kitchen window I saw the bus slide and then suddenly stop. The bus slid into a parked car. (Thankfully NOT mine, but my *cough* "wonderful" neighbor's....)

The bus driver got out and looked, then I saw him get back in and call the district office.

I just KNEW Cam would be freaking out, I mean, he freaks out whenever we even REMOTELY get stuck....but he wasn't. He was laughing and goofing off with one of his friends. I looked out the door and window quite often and they would wave and *hide* from me.

In the end, the bus stayed stuck for about 40 minutes, and a truck came to pull it out of the snow.

Since then, Cam informs me that his bus driver goes the long way....and is more careful! :D

My Child?

Lately we've been having behavior issues with Cameron again. His teacher asked us a few days whether he'd taken his meds, and he had. (I haven't let him NOT take them since the one day over Christmas break....he SO needs them!) Because of the issues, I'd called our doctor and got his prescription raised. It was kind of an awkward time, because I had JUST refilled the prescription. Seriously, my timing COULD have been better!

Anyway, he's been on this medication for over a month now, and I JUST barely checked out the side effects online. Guess what one of the side effects is? Irritability. UGH! Tell me NOW!

Yesterday the boy was ON one. He yelled at me, whined, cried and stormed to his bedroom, slamming his bedroom door and REFUSING to go to school. All this BEFORE his bus even arrived to pick him up. I was at my wits end. (I have to say that I'm SO glad I don't home school the boy....I would go nuts!)

When I picked him up from school yesterday, his teacher asked him to tell me how his day went. I was prepared for the worst. He said it was a good day and she agreed with him. *SHOCK* After the morning I went through, I was amazed. Then when he was at therapy, he was great!

When I was growing up, I also had HUGE tantrums that I only had at home. When I relayed this story of Cameron's bad day to my mom, she just laughed. LAUGHED!! I did these kinds of things to her ALL the time. I guess my curse is manifesting itself...

I am GLAD he saves his blow up moments for me at home, but at the same time I wish he NEVER had those blow up moments. *sigh* I have to remind myself I DID ask for this!

PANTS!!

(Oddly, "pants" is my brother's favorite exclamations....don't ask why, because I couldn't tell you!)

The other night, while goofing off with Jake, Steve put Jake's sweatpants on his head, causing his forehead to look more like a Neanderthal's than my baby's. His little concerned look that the pants caused was not in harmony with the funny little smile he'd send our way. I couldn't stop laughing. Sometimes it's just nice to have those little moments when you can just laugh!

To share, here's the pictures of my cro-magnanman!

Ooga booga!

Hug Your Kids

AND never let them go!!

The only other comment I have is that I'm so impressed with how at peace and calm Steve and Mindy were. I admire them and their family VERY much!

What I've Heard...

How small the world seems sometimes....

One of my other online friends is the aunt to the little boy I mentioned in my last post. Here's what she said happened.

He was having breathing issues on Sunday, and his parents took him to the hospital. I guess every time he fell asleep he stopped breathing. They were in the process of putting the little boy in a coma to transport him to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake when he died. It was very unexpected and sudden.

I've just had such a broken heart over this all week long. I can't even imagine what it would be like to lose one of my kids. (I'm glad I can't imagine it....) Every time I even think about my friends I stop and pray for their comfort and strength.

I'm still heartbroken, but I will try to help them any way I can. The funeral is tomorrow.

Sad....SO Sad...

I just found out a friend of mine lost one of her twin sons yesterday. I don't know the details yet, but I'm devastated!! He was 3 and would have turned 4 in March.

My heart goes out to my friends. :(

(Anyone who knows Mindy or Steve Hansen....it was Joshua.)

New President

Cameron said to me, "Mom, do you know who the new president is?"

Me: "Yes...."

Cameron: "President Monson! I watched it on tv at school today...."

I quickly corrected him, telling him that the new president of the country is President Obama, NOT President Monson. *giggle* I'm sure he was confused for a few minutes!

I do have to say, even though I'm COMPLETELY anti-political ANYTHING, I have been glued to the inauguration coverage today. I hope that the new president can help fix the problems that currently plague our country, I will be praying for his success. And as a note to former President Bush....I appreciate the way he turned over power to his successor. He was friendly and helpful, and even if you don't think his political decisions were very smart or correct, you can't help but admire the way he worked with President Obama in the transfer of power. I truly appreciate the fact that beyond ALL political lines, the man can do the right thing.

Now on to the future.....may it be MUCH better, MUCH sooner! *crossing fingers and praying for success*

Totally Random

Some bits of my life are more random than others....

• Last night I woke up from a nightmare! I dreamed that someone told me that they were going to kill me by lethal injection today at 1:00 pm. I woke up thinking it was an omen, so I had to calm myself down before falling back to sleep. When I told Steve about it, he said, "I'm sorry," then he left for work. Thanks for caring, honey! :P
• My grandpa is now moving back here. He's been living with my Uncle Ben since July. He's not been happy (but he won't be happy unless he's living in his house WITH my grandma alive again....) He's staying with my aunt right now, and when my mom and aunt took him to a local assisted facility he asked if he could move in RIGHT then. They've started doing the paperwork that he needs done so that he can live there. I'm actually really excited for this. Personally, I think he should have been living in an assisted facility since Grandma died.
• Cameron has become quite the ornery night guy. We've been waking him up so that he can potty at night and last night he threw a HUGE tantrum. He flopped on the floor in front of the bathroom and REFUSED to go. He kept whining about how tired he was. Even if HE requests the wake-up-call, he still whines!
• Jake is crawling more and more. Instead of a wounded soldier, it's more of a push-up type crawl. It's almost like he's an inch-worm. He still gets frustrated though. If he wants one of us to pick him up, he'll throw his arms and legs up and cry out. He's also picked up a piggy oinking from Cameron. ONE time, Cameron shows him and he's picked it up! Seriously, Jake is going to excel vocally!!
• Steve hasn't seen all of the fun boy pictures we took the other day. He was working and since we don't have a computer at home to view the pictures, he still hasn't seen them all. I asked him if he wanted to go with me to Walmart to pick out a picture to turn into the newspaper for "Born in 2008" but he said he trusted my judgement. After I printed off the picture and turned it in the lady at the front desk at the newspaper kept saying, "Oh, what a cute picture...." I think she said it like 3 or 4 times! I definitely picked the right picture! When I got home, Steve asked if I'd printed off more pictures for him to take to work. I hadn't, but said I could make more copies today. I took them to him at work today and he seemed pleased. I can't wait until he sees them all though!
• My high score on this game is 574.9! :)

I've Got Cute Boys

And I've got proof!! :)

(And if you're wondering, YES, we went to my favorite store again!)

Well.....

Sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut!

Last night my little Jake was miserable. He wouldn't eat for very long, he'd sit straight up in my lap....and if you've read my nipple post, you know that isn't real conducive for nursing. I got fed up with him starting and then stopping so I just pumped....which is SO annoying, but I guess necessary sometimes.

All night long the boy was yanking something fierce on his ears, by the time I noticed his misery, the doctor's office was closed. I was pretty bummed. So I just gave the kid some pain relievers and hoped he'd be okay until morning.

He was up quite a bit last night just sobbing. I tried to cuddle him, but he just didn't want anything to do with me.

So early this morning (well, once the doctor's office opened) I called and got him an appointment. They ushered us back quickly in case the kid was contagious, and then we waited and waited. I was actually pretty excited to learn that I got my regular doctor (he's got 8 or 9 other doctors that he's in the office with, so you KNOW that's lucky!) We weighed the boy (he's now officially 20 pounds.) and waited for Dr. O to see us.

The doctor did his regular suspects, asking questions along the way and discovered that the boy didn't have an ear infection (*whew*) but a "moderate sore throat." He told me that *normally* they don't test infants under 1 for strep UNLESS they have older siblings. Guess who had to go to the lab for a strep swab? UGH!

Anyway, the fun part (if there is a *fun* part) was that I got to see a family friend and visit with her for while we waited for the results. The nurses even joked around with us.

After the wait we were relieved to find that we were negative for strep. It's just a typical sore throat. (Um, yay!?)

So the doctor urged me to push liquids on the kid in the form of juices, Popsicles, sherbet, and cold pudding. He's worried that since he's not eating normally, that he'll dehydrate...I'm worried I'll lose my milk.

Anyway, he's not completely healed, but we're on our way....I hope! *crossing fingers*

YAY!

Jake's fever left us YESTERDAY! It was an EARLY morning for us, but we're doing MUCH better. (Jake woke up at 2:30 Monday morning, he was fevered and just feeling miserable!)

I'm pretty sure his fevery-ness came from getting 3 teeth at once. I know that doctors swear that kids don't get fevered when they teethe, but I beg to differ. At least one of the teeth has come out and he seems to be happier.

He is, however, using his misery to be whinier and crankier than usual. I realize I've been blessed with two really good kids. But the whining is something I really could do without.

I'll put Jake on the floor to play, and if he sees either me or Steve, he'll whine until we pick him up. We encourage him to crawl to us, but he throws his arms and legs in the air and cries. Maybe I shouldn't give into his whines so quickly....

Otherwise, we're all happy! AND fever free!!

Fever? Just A Little One

Yesterday Little Jake woke up feeling a bit warmer than he usually does. I grabbed my trusty thermometer and took his temperature. (Now, I HATE checking him rectally, and I'm not about to try it orally, so I take temperatures in the kids armpits....yeah, not REAL accurate, but it works!) The thermometer told me that his temperature was PERFECT. 98.6

A few hours later, the kid was acting like he wanted to sleep and started feeling warm again. I checked and this time he was at 100.9. I began to worry. The first person I called was my mom. (She's the one I usually go to for advice anyway....) She told me that a temperature of 100 was okay, but if it got to 104 to take him to the doctor. She also made the disclaimer that it had been a while since she had kids and to double-check with the pediatrician's office.

As soon as I hung up with her I did check with Jake's doctor's office....just in case. They confirmed what my mom had said and added that if he had a fever for 3 days they should check him out as well.

All day I kept the kid undressed (just wearing a onsie) and gnawing on a cold washcloth. At one point he got SO cold that I had to do some of the opposite to get him warm.

Eventually, I had medicated the boy and thought all was well.

Today he woke up super warm. Last night I'd worried about covering him up with blankets, so I just put him to sleep in his blanket sleeper and on TOP of his blankets. His temperature was again 100.9. I took the boy, stripped him down and gave him a cool bath. After giving him a dose of Tylenol, I took his temperature again. This time it went down to 99.1.

I let him play in his onsie all morning, and eventually began to go stir crazy. (My crazy neighbors were blasting mariachi music and leaving their car running IN the garage....filling my apartment with exhaust. Um....I love my neighbors....I love my neighbors.....I love my neighbors....) So I dressed the boy, had Cam get ready and we left.

Now I sit at my parents' house, Jake is still wanting to just sleep his icky-ness away (a trait that comes from my side of the family) and is getting warm again.

*sigh*

I hope this ends soon! Poor boy.

I guess I'm really lucky though, he hasn't really fussed too much. Mainly, he wants to be held and snuggled (not really typical of him) and wants to sleep. He doesn't cry, just moans every once in a while.

Feeling the Love

I should whine more often! ;) (Either that, or tell more embarrassing stories about myself!)

Within the last few days things have gotten pretty crazy around our house. Jake has discovered that if he is on his belly, he can maneuver around. He's still not "crawling," but he's SO close. He's doing the wounded-army-man-crawl, (which is the ONLY way Cam crawled until after he was 1 year old.) and we're sure he'll start crawling the correct way soon. (He's tried it a *few* times, and is SO close!)

With this new discovery, he's also found that he can yank things off of shelves, tables and open cupboards. Yes, he's a FUN boy! I really should child-proof my house! :P

He also has 7 teeth and is working on 10. His surprise seventh tooth came out on Christmas day. SHOCK of SHOCKS!! The kid didn't fuss at ALL. I am SO lucky that I have such a mellow, well-behaved baby!

Over Christmas break we even worked on getting the boy to fall asleep by himself in his crib. No more getting him to sleep, and then putting him to bed...he will soothe himself to sleep in the crib. We had a few crazy nights, Cameron BEGGED me to take Jake away, but I kept with it, and now he will really and truly sleep ON HIS OWN!! YAY!

On top of these excitements, he's also a very verbal child. I will wake up with him calling out (not really loudly, but enough) "mom...mom....mom...." Our little talker. I have a feeling once he learns how to talk completely, we won't get the kid to shut up.

Cameron is also doing SUPER well. I am SO happy that we've got him on ADHD meds. I tried one day during the Christmas break not giving the boy his meds to see if I noticed a difference....it was HUGE! I played Sorry with him and kept repeating the directions over and over and over and over....he just didn't get it. The very next day, med taken, he played and REMEMBERED the directions. He still has some issues, but they're minor compared to the huge leaps he's made. He will sit still long enough to color a coloring book page. He NEVER colored before the meds, he always scribbled, I think it was so he could be done faster and do something else. But now, he will color page after page in coloring books...and it looks SO nice! I'm so happy with his progress!! SO happy!!

Like I mentioned earlier this week, things aren't easy, but they're moving along and we're doing well! YAY!! :)

Echo......Anyone there?

So I realize that I'm a horrible blog-reader/blog-commenter. This is not news to me. (I didn't always have this problem...it's a fairly recent thing....you know, since we had our computer die on us.)

But I have very little comments, and I'm feeling a little sad. :(

Maybe if I tell a funny anecdote then I will get the comments I crave.

Yesterday, I was in church with Steve and the boys. This IS news, usually Steve is working, or sleeping from working all night. It's actually really nice to have the man WITH me at church.

ANYWAY...

I had my first post-partum visit from my aunt. Yes, THAT aunt. Anyway, I really really wanted to wear my cute khaki skirt to church, and even thought for a MINUTE that it probably would be best for me to wait until next week, but I quickly dismissed this thought, thinking I had some protection, I was covered....

Well...

Just as sacrament meeting was ending, a kind friend, (you know who you are....THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!) leaned over and told me that I had a red spot on my skirt. I was MORTIFIED. I knew it was a possibility, but I didn't think it would happen.

Here's WHY I didn't think this would happen: I happen to subscribe to the bigger the better when it comes to protecting myself. I happen to wear (on a normal day) the Super Deluxe Over Night Maximum Extra protection. It is so long, that it covers EVERYTHING....well, I *thought* it did.

Apparently there was ONE spot...ONE....that wasn't quite covered.

I quickly handed off Jake to Steve and made a mad dash for home. Thankfully we only live around the corner from our church building, and we DROVE that day. I ran into the house and quickly changed into the navy skirt I SHOULD have worn to begin with.

*Note to Self: Don't wear light colored clothing if you KNOW your Auntie is visiting!*

Happy New Year!

The last year wasn't a bad one for us, but here's hoping that 2009 will bring all the happiness everyone who reads this deserves!! :)