What a Week!

I swore up and down that I'd do better with this blog, but it truly has been Grade-A crazy around here. And I swear, it never fails that when I have a spare couple minutes and think to blog, this stupid laptop is having internet issues. I sure did miss this computer when it was in the shop for a few weeks, so it's better than nothing, but it never fails to screw up in the 5 minute period I'm looking to use it...

BUT ANYWAY...

Right now I'm getting a taste of "single parenting" while Jay is laid up. He had surgery on Wednesday and is not supposed to be doing any lifting or moving around, etc. So of course, he's been up and about quite a bit. Nothing compared to his usual by any means, but he definitely has not been laying down and resting as I think he should. So of course today he feels like poo. Uh huh. Why must some people (men) do everything the hard way??

On Wednesday we also had the Audrey severe reaction to ant bites fiasco. She broke out in hives and a rash and her little extremities were all swollen. So five prescriptions and a referral to the allergist later, she's doing much better.

Audrey has also decided to start using the potty. Maybe she'll be super duper easy?? That would be a pleasant change of pace! She doesn't use it consistently enough to take her out of diapers, but she's gone 4 or 5 times just today. It's getting a little aggravating with the constant trips back and forth to the potty, but if I don't have to go through what we did (and sometimes STILL do) with Amber, it'll be worth it. She looks like such a little peanut on the potty, though!

But the biggest achievement of the past week is that Amber is now paci-free. I know it's absolutely ridiculous that she still took it, but I kept finding reasons to postpone the "breakup"--Audrey was going to be born, Audrey was so reflux-y, trying to potty train, still trying to potty train, Stella to be born. There was always some reason to wait, and I dreaded the day they'd be gone forever. I started limiting her to bedtime only, and then I started eliminating them one by one. And when the last one broke, she just got rid of it herself. KNOCK ME OVER WITH A FEATHER!! And we've never heard another word about it... She was pretty crabby at bedtime because I think she didn't know what to do with herself in the bed without them, but never once did she ask for them.

It's been a tough week, but it's also been a great one! These little girls never cease to amaze me!

The Fallout

The first few days/weeks of me with the girls by myself was going so surprisingly easy. Apparently the honeymoon is over.

First, Stella started up with the same miserable reflux that Audrey had. This is my worst nightmare come true. (Well, maybe not the WORST nightmare I could conjure up, but the worst one that didn't concern major illness, death, etc.) That first year with Audrey was HORRIBLE, and I just don't know how I could do that again with two other little ones running around.

Also, the 'big girls' are now starting up with issues that I KNOW are directly related to the stress of the new baby.

The lesser of the two: Amber has decided to un-potty train herself. She was wetting the bed pretty consistently for a week there, which she NEVER did before, even when we were potty training. But now she basically keeps refusing to use the bathroom. I will catch her walking around like a T-Rex or something trying to hold in #2 (which seems to be the biggest issue). Then when she absolutely cannot hold it any longer, she cries that the poop is "hurting her cute butt." No fooling--she's probably major league stopped up that point! And she will refuse to do ANYTHING on the potty unless you hold something over her head--like watching a show, going somewhere fun, getting chocolate milk, whatever. It's getting REALLY REALLY old to keep scrubbing little poop spots out of underwear on a girl that has been potty trained for months.

BUT the MORE annoying issue is Audrey's refusal to nap. She was a 2-3 hour a day napper before. And OVERNIGHT she started refusing to sleep. AND SHE IS DOG TIRED. She wants me to stay in there with her and rub her back or whatever till she falls asleep but I CANNOT do that with the other 2 and I WILL NOT start that bad habit. Oftentimes I'm stuck having to lay with the girls when we're not at home in order to get them to go to sleep and it is a ROYAL pain in the butt. I don't know how or why people do this on a daily basis. I mean, you spend half your day trying to get kids in the bed, and they wake up half the time when you try to get up and leave ANYWAY.

I put her in the bed with the same routine every single day, and she just screams and screams and SCREAMS. For hours. I'll check on her periodically so she doesn't think I've abandoned her, but that's old too. And if by some miracle she does fall asleep, it's never for long. I think as soon as she gets into a lighter sleep cycle, and realizes she drifted off, she's up screaming again.

And all this boils down to--MOM NEVER GETS A NAP FOR MORE THAN 10 MINUTES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY. And I'm trying to cut back on the caffeine to see if it helps Stella any, so I can't even enjoy a coke or something to try to take the edge off the sleep deprivation. I seriously have not napped more than about 20 minutes during "naptime" since Stella was born because no one will freaking STAY ASLEEP and BE QUIET!!!

Yet, the worst part of the whole scenario is the ensuing moods. I have NO PATIENCE for a mood induced by someone not sleeping. Maybe it's because I haven't slept either... but I hate that I wasted my time doing the "before bed" song and dance for naught.

BUT, if we can get everyone in the bed for 8, perhaps there is a silver lining.

Bringing in the big guns

Two posts in one day--wow, I must have a lot of free time on my hands. HAHA!! It's just a rare moment of quiet here, though I can hear Stella squeaking so my time is nearly up...

Now I have someone lined up to help with the housework. This took a battle with my conscience, feeling as though I should be doing it all. But this weekend when the big girls were away, I spent the ENTIRETY of my "free time" cleaning. Seriously. Didn't even watch a TV show. And that's freakin' ridiculous because the house is STILL NOT CLEAN.

My tub has not seen the likes of a scrub brush since B.S. (Before Stella) and I just avoid taking a bath rather than actually clean it. There's so many other pressing issues--we need to have clean dishes, clean clothes, and food to eat, so there just doesn't seem to be time for "EXTRAS" like cleaning a big tub when you have a perfectly good shower right next to it.

So it's time to call in the reinforcements. I'm sure it will be awkward at first, having someone else doing the cleaning in your own house. I just can't take living n the mess anymore...

I've been taking the girls to do stuff OUTSIDE of the house every day because being stuck at home is more stressful--I am just surrounded by constant reminders of how short I fall from getting it all together. So if taking 3 kids under 4 out on the town daily is less stressful than being at home, then it is time to admit defeat!!! I just cannot do it all, and paying for these services is paying for a little shred of my sanity back.

Time to bring in the big guns...or big mops!

Sleep? What's that?

So Easy Street just took a turn onto Rip Your Hair Out Boulevard.

I really had been amazed how much easier managing 3 on my own had been than previously dreaded. Now granted, I knew the dynamic would change as Stella got more awake/alert/mobile, etc.

But seemingly overnight, my little sweetie started showing signs of the dreaded ACID REFLUX that we dealt with when Audrey was an infant. Audrey's first year is a complete haze to me, as I spent most of it in a sleep-deprived coma. Of course, I hadn't even HEARD of acid reflux in infants with her so I let it go on for weeks and weeks before calling the doctor out of desperation. I figured that all babies cried and all babies woke up during the night, and I would look like a nut calling in to the doc to complain about that. I just didn't realize that what was going on over here was BEYOND the norm until I had already not slept for about a month. And then you just never catch up...

So Stella started up with some of the SAME stuff last weekend, and we went to the doc RIGHT AWAY. Get the drugs in that baby, stat! Because dealing with 3 at once was doable with a little fatigue from getting up multiple times at night. But getting a few hours of sleep spread out over 100 little incriments is making managing "the crew" downright painful. I swear--I have NO patience when I'm this pooped and have been "crazy mama" all week. Poor girls--I try to keep The Rage on a leash, but internally I feel like I'm going to LOSE IT!

Now we have Zantac, so I pray to God that this cures what ails the child. She was SO RIDICULOUSLY EASY and then overnight became Needy Nelda--and seems to be in pain a lot--so please, PLEASE let this work.

Little Mary Mixup

Where trouble goes, Audrey follows...

My little Audrey Rose is the sweetest child. She is always giving kisses and hugs and often gives up what she is playing with to appease her less-flexible big sis. I swear, it floors me when Amber starts to screech because Audrey has a toy that she wants and Audrey HANDS IT OVER. In the midst of me telling Amber to wait her turn, Audrey just gives in to her. Hmm... maybe Audrey and I need to get on the same page when it comes to disciplining her big sis...

But my little Audrey Rose is also the queen of getting dirty and getting into things she shouldn't. I like to call her my little "Pigpen." I can be a mere two feet from the child and she gets into something RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES--something I didn't prevent because I NEVER THOUGHT SHE'D DO THAT!!

For example, while I was standing in the same room, she took a plastic chair and put it on the trampoline--and then proceeded to climb atop the whole mess. Never in my mind did I think she'd even COME UP with that, but that's Pigpen for you..

I have had to come up with a "BAN LIST" of things that Audrey is not allowed to have--a list that is constantly being updated. Of course, this doesn't include the OBVIOUS things she shouldn't have--like weapons and matches--but the "harmless" stuff she's made a colossal mess with.

THE AUDREY MICHOT BAN LIST:

1. Shredded cheese: Both girls adore cheese, and the shredded variety is probably the favorite. And if they sat and ate it at the table with a spoon, I wouldn't even mind that much. But Audrey likes to eat hers like she's taking a shot, and inevitably, half the cheese ends up all over the floor/table/dog/etc. When I had to scrape smashed cheese off the top of my sofa, this became the start of the ban list.

2. Fruity Pebbles (or similar cereals): Never again will I make the mistake of buying this cereal with its itsy bitsy pieces. She does to this what she does with shredded cheese. I hate walking across the kitchen and crunching.

3. Markers: I put these on the list a while ago, but became a softie and let her use them again recently. Then she totally took advantage and colored the entirety of her outer ears, face, scalp, and neck while I was feeding the baby on the sofa (and daddy was supposed to be supervising.) I don't know how she even got a marker that far into her ear, but it required several dampened Q-tips to get most of it out. Thank God we didn't have a doctor's appointment in the next couple of days.

4. Phones/iPod/remotes: Probably no explanation needed here. But she LOVES to take the batteries out of stuff and then attempt to put them back. And get mad when she can't. Not to mention I don't want the police showing up at my house for an inadvertent 911 call.

5. Non spill proof bubbles: I didn't realize the need for this one till this morning when she took a whole bottle of bubbles and dumped them out on the porch. And then walked through them and slipped and hit her head. Again this happened while feeding the baby and she was out of arm's reach. Then a few minutes later she got her sister's and dumped it on her legs, rubbing it in like massage oil.

I am sure there will be many updates to this list. Close contenders at this point are rocks and sand, which she continues to mouth and/or eat, but I hate to ban her from the sandbox. Just yet, anyway...

Mall Meltdown

Well, the inevitable happened--our first public meltdown. I knew this day would come, so now I know we'll all survive the next time and be able to look back and laugh. One day. Maybe.

I decided to take the girls to the play area at the mall--our first "fun" outing with me + 3. I had taken them all with me to Stella's weight check at the pediatrician's office... but figured this would be a "step up" in the bravery dept. I thought the mall play area would be good because it was somewhat confined, but I'd still have to manage the getting everyone to and from the car without being run over, abducted, or any of my other great fears I have.

They did great! The "Dynamic Duo" played together and with the other kids so sweetly that I decided it would be alright if we also took a ride on the mall train. Unfortunately, the "loading dock" is on the other side of the mall by the food court, but we had nothing but time. It took us quite a while to get there, as the Duo was on foot with baby in stroller, but train ride went swimmingly as well. Everyone was in such a good mood, I decided to ALSO brave getting lunch at Chick Fil A. At this point, we were pushing naptime, and in hindsight, we should have gotten food to go. But instead we ate there, and then I got a couple little cookies for them to eat on the way home.

And I got a big case of premature excitation. In my mind, we were home free! We did all those things with NO meltdowns and were heading back to the car. This was beautiful. Why was I so worried?

WELL... when we got about halfway back to the car, Audrey got tired and sat down. No problem--I just picked her up with one arm and pushed the stroller with the other. We were seriously about 50 ft from the door when Amber declares she is too tired to walk any further and wants to be carried as well. Hmm... perhaps if mom was an octopus, I could have honored that request, but I was fresh out of arms at this point.

And THAT is when the howling began. If you didn't see this child, you would think I was sawing off her limbs with a plastic knife. It was RIDICULOUS. I tried to reason with her, but quickly realized you can't reason with hysterical. So I just kept walking... and eventually she'd get off the floor and run to catch up. She'd plop down and I'd keep walking and the cycle went on and on until we hit the car. Meanwhile, Stella started to scream because it was feeding time, and Audrey started to scream because the other two were screaming. It was classic.

At this point, I was felt ready to leave her little butt in Sears, drive away, and never look back. OH, but then I'd regret it later, so I put the howler monkey in the car.

We all made it home in one piece, and they all went directly to bed. It had all gone so well except that last 10 minutes when we were already heading for the door... it hasn't ruined me completely on outings with the whole crew. But I'm really hoping we don't get a repeat performance next time.

Why oh why...

Amber reached a charming phase this past week--the "WHY" line of questioning. This is a fun little phase where every tiniest thing I say or do is met with a "Why you do that, Mama?"

This is particularly poorly timed, as my level of patience is directly proportional to the amount of sleep I've gotten. And after a rough night, like last night--where 1.5 hours in a row was my longest "stretch" of sleep--I'm particularly strapped to not get snippy with the endless questioning.

It doesn't matter if she already knows the answer, she's going to ask me why anyway. This morning I sat down to feed Stella and she wants to know "why you feeding her, mama?" I try to turn it around and ask her back "well, why do you think I need to feed the baby?"--but I am doubtful this technique is going to save me from additional questioning...

I suppose I should be grateful, though, that she didn't start getting so inquisitive BEFORE I had the baby. I was dreading any line of questioning regarding how the baby got from inside mama to outside mama... wasn't sure how to answer that one!