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How did that table leg get there?!

Posted on January 29, 2008 11:00 am by TheAngelForever

First thanks to everyone for the comments on my Blogoversary giveaway. I am floored that there are over 200 comments already and it has only been live for a little over 24 hours! Keep them coming . . . who knows I may add something else for another person or two!

*sigh* Now it is time for me to vent.

Over the last few days my body is falling apart. Man, it is not like I am that old or anything. I just turned 31 last month and things are going downhill quickly.

Last Thursday I noticed that a bump in my left eye was still there and seemed to be getting larger. I tried to keep myself calm and went to look at it in the mirror. Prior to this I knew it was there, but it was not visible from the outside. Now it is. . . so I freaked! I showed my mother and JL and we agreed it would be a good plan to have a doctor check it out. I am going there Thursday morning.

I guess it is a good thing since I now have a ~~bitch~~ laundry list of things. Man I make it seem really bad. It is currently only three items long, but keeps growing by the day.

Friday afternoon I was doing something with the boys and I heard a pop in my shoulder and felt burning pain. By the evening I was barely able to rotate my arm/shoulder at all. Falling apart I tell you!

Saturday night I went out for a "Girls Night Out" with my friend H. She treated me to an amazing Italian dinner for a belated birthday gift (Thank you again H and J too for hanging out with the boys). We had a great time and by that point in time the surging/burning pain was mostly gone. I was even starting to be able to move my shoulder without screaming or thinking about it.

Sunday things were calm. JL took the boys out in the morning for a secret mission (I think related to Valentines Day). He told me to use the time to take a shower and not have to worry about them. So I shaved my legs. Who knew doing something like that could make a person feel so much better. A mommy living in cold weather does not do this grooming thing as often in the winter in order to maintain some warmth. My friend and I were talking pedicure and gynecologist appointments are items that will force the issue. Our husbands just learn to tolerate it.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon. Things were going well. I was having fun e-mailing people to thank them for comments on my giveaway (~~anal retentive~~ ~~over achiever~~ crazy me – I kept up with this for over 70 comments and then this happened). The boys were playing. JSL was started to get whiny and saying "Mama Mmmmmm" . . . which means Mommy Milk.

So I got up to head to him take him for a diaper change. Suddenly the table leg was rammed into my poor little toe on my left foot. I was ~~swearing~~ screaming and crying. JSL was looking at me like I was nuts and NHL just sat on the couch and continued to watch Max & Ruby. I felt so loved. Instantly my toe was turning colors and swelling. So in agony I managed to hobble to JSL to take him for a diaper change. Then I called JL to ~~whine/moan/yell~~ that I was hurt and I may need him home early.

Luckily the baby settled down for a nap quickly and slept for a little over two hours until JL was home. I allowed NHL to watch television more than usual because it allowed me to put my throbbing foot up to help keep the swelling down. Forget ice since my foot already felt like it was a frozen block. JL helped out with the boys last night a lot so I could keep it elevated and luckily it seems better today. If it is not doing well by Thursday it will be the third item on the list for the doctor.

Now I just need to get some sleep tonight. JSL was up for what seems like an every evening thing now. At 11:00 he wasthrew up all over his crib. I think it was excess saliva and bad nose congestion that started that. He went into our bed and could not settle since he was so stuffed up. I got out my pump to have some milk to use in his nose. Voila – all better. Within 30 minutes (at close to 12:40) he was sleeping in our bed. With him in bed and my toe throbbing there was not a lot of sleep accomplished.

Man it is rough getting older – whether it is from falling apart or teething!

Categories:
contests doctor friends losing my mind me moments pain sarcasm sleep teething vent

Super Baby goes THUD

Posted on January 27, 2008 1:32 am by TheAngelForever

Friday night was rough. As previously mentioned the little guy is teething ~~constantly~~ again. JSL was fussing a lot during the night and I was in pain. I think I may have dislocated my shoulder. After getting up several time, JSL wound up in our bed. NHL woke up too early for us (his usual time though). I asked JL to take NHL to the other room to play or rest on the couch so I could nurse the baby and maybe he would go back to sleep.

The little guy was really miserable. He nursed a little and then wanted to settle. We were both in my queen sized bed and I forgot to move pillows on the other side since he was right next to me

Can you see where I am going here?

*sigh* (BAD Mommy)

I must have fallen asleep and a certain 8 month old clearly did not. Next thing I know I heard a horrible THUD.

I shot up out of bed and immediately freaked out. I saw the baby was NOT with me in bed. Then instantly I heard him screaming from the floor. I screamed for JL who was sleeping on the couch. He came flying to the room and we picked JSL up to assess him.

I think he was more scared than anything about what had happened – all of the fuss and what not. Within 10-15 minutes he was not crying. Nope, the little monkey was creeping all over the bed after our remote, chatting with Daddy and sitting up to play.

I felt so guilty and like a horrible mommy. I called my mother who is out visiting my brother and his family. I flipped her out to the point that she had to put my niece down and was in tears (sorry Mom). This was obviously not the intention of my call and made me feel worse.Thankfully JSL seemed fine the rest of the day. He wanted to play, try cruising on the side of the couch (and he fell again), and chat up a storm.

With all of the excitement this morning we took naps this afternoon (Mommy forced NHL into his bed and stayed with him until we both conked out). Meanwhile JL cleaned up some as JSL slept in his highchair. He started to fuss some so they went to the couch together. A while later NHL woke up and went to the couch to find the other boys asleep. This is what happened next:

For a little boy that was not tired he wanted to cuddle right back up with Daddy and JSL.

The following is the look I received after a few too many flashes of my camera.

Soon everyone was up and much happier than before.

Soon after this Mommy went out for a girls night with my friend H. Her husband J went with JL and the boys out. More on this later :) Now I must sleep since it is very late and no doubt one of the children will be up way too early.

Categories:
jl jsl my boys nhl ouchie pain photos sleep teething vent

A Duh Moment of the Teething Kind

Posted on January 25, 2008 12:25 pm by TheAngelForever

I feel horrible.

Why?

Well, for once it was not from the lack of sleep from two little ~~bed hogs~~ boys taking turns being up ALL night. No, it was not from all four of us in our queen sized bed for several ~~never ending~~ long hours in the early morning. Nor does it have to do with fighting off a cold and not being able to take anything thanks to nursing. Nope, not one of these items mentioned is the reason I am feeling horrible and guilty.

This is from being a "dink" and not reading the signs and helping poor innocent JSL. I was just nursing him and he was really miserable. Something caught my eye in his mouth, so I fought with him to look inside.

Staring me in the face, on the top next to the two front top chompers, were little points on both sides just poking through. The poor baby has had signs the last week, but I was in denial since he just cut the other ones. Every single classic teething symptom that some doctors deny were there (thank goodness our dentist is a believer in them). He had the telltale ~~gross~~ "fun" diapers, rear end rash, restless at night, stuffy nose, excess saliva, didn’t want to eat solids, and was super clingy to me.

I should have known and not been in denial. I could have given the poor kid something to help him sleep at night instead of trying simple and useless binky therapy. At least I know now and can help him out and snuggle him if that is what he wants. I need to learn to savor these moments more:

Categories:
jsl milestone sahm sleep teething

Visit to Bubbe & Grandpa – Day 3 & trip home

Posted on January 7, 2008 6:49 pm by TheAngelForever

Tuesday morning we were ~~told~~ ~~begged~~ asked to let Bubbe and Grandpa sleep in to at least 9. Both boys slept a little later than normal (so 7-ish or so). JSL nursed and then we all went to watch television and check e-mail and things on the computer in the room NHL was sleeping in.

JSL was really tired from being very restless all night (teething is evil I tell you). He and I went back to rest for a little while. When we got back up everyone was getting ready for breakfast. Bubbe was making pancakes for everyone. JSL was content at first just eating his Gerber Graduate Wagon Wheels and things:

This did not last. Soon after this JSL was very vocal about wanting more. JL and I decided trying pancake in small pieces could not hurt. He had a few bites of JL’s and LOVED it. He was quite upset when it was all gone. Bubbe was great and whipped up another batch so JSL could have his own. The little monkey ate the entire thing. Here is a study of JSL eating his first pancake:

After pancake time we all got dressed. Here is JSL learning how to be a boy with JL:

We were all pretty tired and decided to stay in during the day. JL working on my father-in-laws computer and the boys and I just played and rested. Lunch was left over Greek and Chinese – very fun combo.

Then at about 3:30 JL’s friend and his fiance came over to visit for a little while. G & L have been engaged for quite some time. Just before we left an envelope was in our mailbox from them. We had already received a holiday card, so I guessed maybe it was a wedding invitation. Sure enough it was. However, this was not just a wedding invitation, it was amazing. All 4 of us were invited to be their guests for a week long event around their wedding in SC late this year and it included transportation and accommodations!!!

We had to congratulate them, thank them and ask some questions. JL and I both wanted to make sure they were positive about the kids coming. They said they were. We found out from talking with them that there are only 30 or so people invited to this destination wedding. We were beyond honored. G later e-mailed JL and said he forgot to ask him a question. He wanted JL to be in the wedding party. G was JL’s best man in our wedding. There are a ton of things going on with the wedding. The actual ceremony is going to be early in the day on Halloween. We just have to figure out how many days we will be going for, but we are going to be there for G & L on their special day.

When G & L left it was time to think about dinner. JSL was attacking me for milk, so we went to nurse in another room. This is the result:

My mother-in-law was making her delicious chicken cutlets, lentil/tomato soup, potato kugel, and challah. Everything was delicious! Soon after this the boys went to sleep and we said goodbye and thank you to my father-in-law (he had to leave VERY early for work).

The next morning we woke up and I started to pack our things up. To complicate matters it was snowing outside, but nothing to even coat the ground. My thought was to get on the road at 10:00 to avoid rush hour traffic. This did not happen. We finally hit the road at 11:00. We made great time to the halfway point in our trip. Stopping to stretch and check out a store (Disney Store) at the outlets there was good, but man it was windy. Rather than eat lunch there, we went over to Pizza Uno nearby. BIG MISTAKE!! We were finally back on the road two hours after we stopped.

Driving was not bad, we made great time and pulled up to our house to see there was no way we could get into the driveway. After we were plowed out from the initial storm, another 4-5 inches of snow fell and the city had plowed us in. JL got out and helped to get a path to head in.

All-in-all it was a very nice visit with Bubbe and Grandpa. I never had an allergic reaction to their dog Lacey, which is a first. A few things were said that bothered me, but such is life. JSL never wanted to be held by them much thanks to being so grumpy from teething, plus he has only seen them 4 other times (when he was born, his bris, NHL’s B-day, and Great-grandma’s B-day).

Sorry this took so long to finish. I was busy trying out a new photo editing program. I used it to make the collages up above.

Categories:
allergies family food glorious food jsl milestone photos road trip sleep teething

Visit to Bubbe & Grandpa – Day 2

Posted on January 4, 2008 1:01 am by TheAngelForever

Monday morning we woke up and went to have breakfast. My father-in-law went to get bagels and made anyone eggs that wanted them. I had a lox in my eggs and it was very good. While waiting to eat I decided to call my father to find out how much snow we got at home. As I previously noted in part one, when we left we were only supposed to get 3-5 inches. My father answered the phone with the following:

We got at least 9 inches!

I thought he was kidding and did not believe him. UGH! Now what were we supposed to do? There was no way that our neighbors should shovel what we later found out was 11 inches of heavy, wet snow. I made a bunch of calls to neighbors, my father, and our friends to try to find someone to plow us out. JL then decided to call his boss. He owns several rental properties near us. He called us back as I was still in the process of calling people. He said he would plow us out. The nicest part – he said there was no charge! Thanks to him and our neighbor’s doing the walkway and sidewalk we were in good shape. The problem – storm two was heading their way AGAIN with 3-5 more inches the next day. YUCK!!!!

Once this was taken care of we all took turns showering and eventually made it out to lunch. JL and I insisted that we have lunch at the amazing Greek restaurant that is located there. We have no good Greek places here that are close enough with good parking, so this is very important to us. We had an amazing lunch and took leftovers back for the next day. After this we stopped back at the house quickly to put food away and head over to Radio Shack and Trader Joe’s again. Yes, we had to head there again. I wanted to get some gifts for people that were helping us out with the snow removal.

Next we decided to head back home for a little while before going to Chuck E Cheese (wanted to change diapers and nurse JSL). NHL wanted to take Bubbe and Grandpa there to play. We were not too sure about this since he has been very skittish there in the past (thanks to the costumes). Unfortunately, he did not do well this time. We used a coupon and had 100 tokens and barely used any. NHL was very upset that this Chuck E Cheese was not the same as the one at home. *sigh* He started to flip out quickly and we finally left. Here are some photos from the few things that we did while there.

After we got back from Chuck E Cheese JSL fell asleep from all of the fun and excitement. Not to worry it did not last long. Soon after this he was up and eating dinner with everyone else.

After the "fun" at Chuck E Cheese we went back home and ordered Chinese Food for New Years Eve. My in-law’s friend S came over and once the kids were in bed we started to watch a movie. JL and I were left at about 11:00 and we were not able to finish the movie. JSL kept waking up crying. The poor little guy just could not catch a break.

JL and I watched the ball drop and then we were up for a while after taking care of JSL and listening to illegal fireworks that were shaking the house.

Day 3 and the return trip home coming soon.