My sweet little patient

When I woke up Wednesday morning, I never expected we'd end up where we did! I guess it's never a good sign when you sit up in bed and your already-awake husband says "Don't panic when you see Audrey." So, of course, I panicked. And when I saw her with her left eye swollen shut, I knew we'd be at the pediatrician's office as soon as they'd get us in. I figured we'd get a shot or something to help with the swelling and we'd be home... not so much.

Apparently, the sinus infection she'd been having had crept into her eye--so we were hospital bound for an opthamology consult and CT scan and IV antibiotics. By far, the IV was the worst part--they'd get the line in and she's freak out so much she'd blow the vein and have to get stuck again. Four lines later, we finally got settled. Then she had to get stuck again for bloodwork... oh, the joy! The nurse just kept saying, "Wow, she's really strong" which is code for "she's making this ridiculously difficult by fighting like a Kung Fu warrior."

She's been a trooper, for the most part. After all the testing was done Wednesday, she had lots of visitors to keep her entertained. On Thursday morning, we found the play room on the floor and she made laps through the ward on ride-on toys and wagon. Plus, my mother-in-law (who so nicely took of work to keep the other girls) came up to visit, so that killed a lot of time too. But NOW we've hit the "I'm sick to death of being here" slumps, so the good news that we will hopefully be out of here by lunch time was VERY welcome!! Let's hope all the paperwork and transport and all the other junk you have to wait on are moving quickly this morning!

Little Mary Mixup Strikes Again!

How you know if your child has strep throat? Get fiberglass in her legs, I guess... or so it went with Audrey this week!

I think I've written in prior posts how Audrey is forever getting herself into messes and sticky situations. Well, not much has changed. If there is something to spill, she spills it. If there's dirt to be gotten into, she covers herself in it.

About a week ago, she was running to the car in the Chick Fil A parking lot with her sister. Amber made it to the car just fine. Audrey ran smack into the bumper of the car parked next to us. Thankfully, she didn't even cry. Later that evening while having an after-dinner snack, she fell right out of her chair and hit her head on the tile floor (yes, tears that time!). I knew I'd have to get that kid into bed before we ended up in the ER that day.

You'd think she had sight problems, but she's been checked and is fine. She's just accident-prone. I hope this is toddlerhood and not a lifelong affliction...

The topper is this, though. She'd been getting up earlier than usual the past few weeks (at 5 instead of 6) and had been night waking. I asked her if anything bothered her and she said no. She never ran fever or did anything else differently than the changed sleep patterns. I chalked it up to either getting two two-year molars she hadn't yet cut or part of this "I want to be a baby" thing she was going through.

Then we went to play outside on our lovely "winter" day in the 70s. She was climbing up on the box that covers all the electrical stuff outside. Had to be harmless, right? I mean, it's in the middle of half our neighbors' lawns! Then she hops down and begins SCREAMING about her legs and won't let anyone touch her. There's NOTHING to be seen, but that's it. She eventually stops and we forget about it--till I see the scratches and rash develop hours later. And then spread to her neck and chest. Poor kid wouldn't sit in the tub (though she tried) and spent the whole night trying to sleep standing up.

The next morning we went to the doc and he said it was likely fiberglass from that box. BUT the kicker is that if she hadn't gotten fiberglass in her legs, we wouldn't have gone to the doc, and we wouldn't have found out she had strep throat. She must have had it for weeks without us knowing!  I immediately started thinking about all the people we likely infected :(

Now she's on meds and sleeping better and the legs are better too--those just needed time to heal.

Only this kid... geez.

Our new baby?

That's right... we have a new baby over here. Well, not that new--it's baby Audrey.

And on a side note, our kitchen table always looks like this... sigh...
Recently Audrey decided that it would be fun to be a baby again and has been acting accordingly. She was already in diapers, so that's no different... wouldn't that have been fun if she was potty trained and started regressing??

But when you see her walking slowly and flapping her arms with her tongue sticking out, you know we're in baby mode (Apparently all babies toddle around looking like they're trying to take flight.) Then starts the "aaah--aaah" babble, which is so pleasant when you're trying to get her to answer you.

Me:  "Audrey, what you do you want for lunch"
Audrey: "Aagh, aagh, la la la"
Me: "How about some chicken nuggets?"
Audrey: ""Aargh, ah, nuggets, la, la agh"

 (We eat chicken nuggets pretty often around here, don't judge!)

Her favorite baby thing to do it eat in the high chair, which in some ways, has perks. She's contained. She has a big tray in front of her to keep the mess contained. She's happy. It's a win as far as that's concerned. But it gets a bit challenging when she's perched up there waiting for a snack and the REAL baby needs to eat. Thank goodness for bumbos with trays!

So long, Santa!

I love the holidays--the decorations, the lights, the music, the time with friends and family, food (ohhh... the food!). Usually by the time Christmas Day gets here, I'm ready for it to be over, but this year was different. I felt like we just didn't have the time to do all the "Christmassy" stuff we'd normally do, like going to see lights, doing crafts with the kids, and watching favorite Christmas movies together. I wasn't even sick of the music on the radio, which is really weird because the station here that plays it only has about 30 songs they repeat endlessly from pre-Thanksgiving through the 25th. Even THAT hadn't gotten on my nerves yet! I had all my gifts squared away, but I just wasn't ready for Christmas yet.

We did our first Christmas on the 24th at my in-laws. It was an all-day affair, but even by the end of the day, I was still excited that we got to do Christmas all over again the next morning. But by the end of the 25th, I had had ENOUGH. And apparently I wasn't the only one. The kids were making us crazy too--Audrey wouldn't open any more gifts, which drove her sister up the wall and she was repeatedly begging to open them for her. They were so grumpy and irritable that from that point on I was DONE. I could have packed up most everything that night and had everyone go back to their normal routines the next day.

I was sick of the cranky moods. I was sick of the mess. I was sick of eating like a disgusting pig and having to keep policing the sugar intake of the kids (which normally can be avoidd because I just don't bring that kind of junk in the house--mostly because I wind up eating it myself.) And I was tired of hearing my husband say to the girls, "Why are you so grumpy? Look at all these toys you just got to play with!" (I mean, seriously, they'd been living on a steady diet of crap with no sleep--you could have each gotten them their very own pony and they'd be pissy at this point!)

We had one more weekend of Christmas to go, though, in New Orleans. I think at this point we were ALL over it. My brother even mentioned that maybe next year we should do NOLA Christmas BEFORE actual Christmas, as the spirit was pretty much gone at this point, and I think he is right. It was hard to get too psyched up about it, and really, all I wanted to do was just get back to our normal, boring, every day routines! And now we have, and it's glorious! Funny how you can't wait for the holidays to get here but once you're into the thick of it, you can't wait for them to be over too!

Bye bye pacifier?

Amber was ridiculously old when she finally ditched the pacifier. Seriously... she was 3 and a half. I never meant for it to get so out of hand, but there was always a reason we didn't do it. First, it was that I was pregnant and she'd already have the "trauma" of a new sibling soon. Then it was dealing with being a big sis. Then it was trying to potty train and didn't want to overlap or interfere with that. Then it was starting school (and continued efforts to potty train.) Then we were having another baby and it was just getting ridiculous. I worried myself to death about it, and when the day came that the last one broke, she gave it up herself. No screams. No tears. Not even a mention of it after she said it was broken and gone. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Now I swore up and down I REALLY wasn't going to do that this time around with Audrey. And there was the whole "going to be a big sis" thing going so I let her keep it till she got used to that (And boy, was that a rough time!). We started collecting it up every morning and after every nap, saving it just for "deaux deaux time," with eventual plans for total elimination. Then she kept getting ear infections--and the tubes/adenoidectomy, which caused ANOTHER infection--so she started keeping that sucker around the clock. She was SOOOO crabby, and I just wanted her to have some kind of comfort... I was getting sucked down excuse alley again. I decided her New Year's resolution was to give that puppy up. There were two left, both full of holes, and when they were gone, that was it. Little did I know that they'd be MIA today! It was rough going getting Audrey to finally lay down--she essentially cried herself to sleep--but she did it. The only problem now is actually finding the two missing ones before she does! I know she'll pop those suckers back in her mouth, even if we are paci-free for a while. I KNOW at least one is in the house, so it's a race to find them first!!

It's been HOW long??

We were out of a "real" computer for several weeks, but NOW I have a beautiful new laptop on my kitchen table! Hopefully this will make it more likely that I update. And thanks to a nap and Dora the Explorer, I'm able to hop on here right now while I watch the "big girls" with half an eyeball...

I had promised an update after the next school party for Amber (which, sadly, was Halloweeen's party) unless things went tragically wrong. They did go wrong--with my computer. But all-in-all, she did pretty well. There was the class picture incident, though--it's where all the kids sat around the teacher on a blanket at the pumpkin patch. All the kids, that is, except Amber. She just stood on the side with her back to the camera. Yep, she's THAT kid. But I am fully confident that had I not been there, she'd be right up front and center cheesing it up for the camera.

I know this because when I "sneak" in and watch her at school functions, she is Little Miss Goody Two Shoes. I was late to her "Santa comes to school Christmas party" last week (due to a particularly nasty blowout diaper--Thanks, Stella!) She didn't see me walk in, and lo and behold, there she is sitting in her teacher's lap, beaming at Santa like she'd never done a thing wrong in her life.

Well, I suppose it's time for me to go... the hubs is home (and keeps talking) and the Dora is about to save the day again anyway. Here's hoping to be back soon!

Shall we hibernate?

Staying at home each day with the girls is not the world's most EXCITING job on a day-to-day basis, so I try to go out and do things. I have the girls in school half a day on Tuesday/Thursday. We belong to a Moms Club and try to have playdate with other SAHMs. However, every time I try to do something nice with other people and have some semblance of social life, I often wind up wishing I could just crawl into a cave and hibernate with my crew.

When I go somewhere with just me and the girls, their behavior is usually stellar. I mean, seriously... I'm usually so proud of how well-behaved they are and how they listen. But SOMETHING about going in public with other people--be it friends, family, school--makes Amber act like a she-beast. I suppose I should chalk it up to shyness--but it seriously ruins my day. I already have my hands full watching 3 girls, but when she starts up, I just DON"T know what to do. Sometimes it's refusing to walk and sitting down in the middle of the ground/road/store. Sometimes it's being ugly and mean to anyone who tries to approach her. It drives me CRAZY because she really and truly is a sweet girl. She is just do damn inflexible! Any break to the "norm" makes her start acting out.

For example, if I go to her school for a party or special day, she melts down. It's so WEIRD! She is GREAT when I'm not there--the teacher is forever telling me what a sweet girl she is, how well she listens to directions, what a big help she is, etc. And she's such a good girl for me at home, doing most anything I ask of her and being so kind to her sisters. But when "school world" mixes with "mom world," she flips out. She wants to be carried. She rolls on the floor. She won't participate in the class activities. She cries and screams. It's so damn embarrassing!!!

I know, I shouldn't let a tantrum ruin my day, but it just makes me feel terrible, as I know I come off looking like one of the following:

1. Push-over mom: If I cater to her tantrum, then I look like a wishy-washy mom who lets her kids walk all over her. Which in turn would likely cause MORE tantrums. She looks like a spoiled brat that does this all the time to get her way. WHICH SHE DOESN'T DO AT HOME. But who would believe me?

2. Crazy mama: I have to get mean. This could be picking her up and fussing at her, threatening to leave, walk off while she's rolling on the floor in hopes she'll get up and follow me, etc. I don't want to come off as a crazy, screaming mom, but I find myself growling at her or fussing at her for acting like such a fool.

So after the tantrum is over, she goes about on her merry way, not letting it bother her in the least. And I am left stewing about what a bunch of crazy fools we look like. I know it shouldn't matter to me what anyone thinks we look like, but I feel like a jackass. I just don't know what to do with this girl!

Well, tomorrow is her class Halloween party. She swears she will be "extra super happy" if I come, and I have told her she better doggone well not act like a hooligan when I get there. I could opt not to go, but I don't want her to be the only child whose mother doesn't make all these little preschool events. So here's hoping for the best... but I know the whole time I'll be geared up worrying she'll erupt at any given moment.

Tomorrow I'll have to update with the "results" of the class party. If not, then you'll know I went into hibernation with my crew.