Setting: My house
Contestants: Me, Dee, Lou, Husband and C-Man (My 8 year old nephew that's visiitng)
Prize: Sanity
Sunday, Episode One: Lous is diagnosed with an ear infection. He is being sweet, cuddly and needs some extra love from his mom. I am fine with it, and as he is my baby, perhaps I indulge it a little. Pain meds seems to be working.
Monday, Episode Two: Lou's fever is raging. Advil and Tylenol alternate as Advil alone isn't cutting it. Husband is sent to "Exile Office" where he spends the day. The boys and I lay low at home, and try to endure the heat. The heatwave is not helping my sick boy I'm sure. Lou begins his food strike. It's all I can do to get water into him. No solids of any kind pass his lips.
Tueday, Episode Three: Husband works from home, freeing me to pick up C-Man. Dee comes with me. The highway drive is a welcome change to being stuck in the house.We return all to soon. Lou continues to burn up and not eat. Advil and Tylenol continue there wonderful alliance of fever control. Husband gets called to "Excile Office" due to an equipment emergency, and doesn't return home until after midnight. While he's away the boys and I are rewarded with a trip to the Family Medical Centre . I am unconvinced that the current medication is having any effect on his ear. It doesn't seem right to me that there is no change in his condition. HOwever, I am told that not only does he no longer have an ear infection, it's probably just a virus, and "Hang in there...he should be fine by the week-end". I alternate between relief (he'll be just fine!) and fear (how many more days will I be stuck in the house????).
Wednesday, Episode Four: Husband leaves for the former "Exile Office", now known as "Lucky bastard gets to leave the house Office". Lou has a new game plan too - fever responds to Advil/Tylenol and lulls me in to thinking that recovery is starting - only to have the fever spike again unexpectedly, with renewed comments of a sore throat. Dee and C-Man play nicely, but loudly. I sense that an unholy alliance based on crazy playing is not far off. I look out my front window eager for adult interaction. Husband is late getting home from work, but my reward for not killing him is the chance to leave the house for awhile. Running errands has never been so pleasant.
Thursday, Episode Five: Lou wakes up with no fever, only to have one spike again. Lucky Bastard has long since left for pina colodas and pizza (or his office. At this point it's one and the same). I am at the end of my sanity. How many more days can this fever go?? Why is he not getting better?? Will I never get off this island??? I decide to screw it all - I WILL take him to the doctor one more time, but this time it's our family doctor. She looks in his ears. Plot Twist!!! The ear infection is still there!!! That other doctor was wrong! One new prescription and a sandwich eaten by Lou later, relief is in sight. Tomorrow I should be on my way to getting off this fucking island.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Boy Mania!
My great-nephew C is here visiting until the week-end. This is the first time he's come to our house, and to tell the truth, he really doesn't know us that well. This is mainly because he lives 6 hours south of us, and when the opportunity for one family to be at the half-way point (where other extended family lives) the other usually can't make it. I was a little nervous when I went to pick him up about how this would go.
Well so far, so good! He's 8 years old, which puts him right smack dab in the middle of my boys' ages. He's holding his own doing playstation Lou, and has already been at the piano with Dee (again, not his real name. The only man who could get away with being named "Dee" would be Dee Snyder of "Twisted Sister" fame. Hmmm, I feel like quotation marks should also be around the words man and fame in the preceeding sentence....but I digress). He has excellent manners, takes turns and talks to me (always a good thing. Kids who look scared, or worse yet, vacant when adults speak to them piss me off. Being able to converse is a necessity, deal with it).
I hope to give him a really nice vacation while he's here. So far plans include playgrounds, a local amusement park, and maybe some mini golf. He and I decided together what to have for meals while he's here (how can a child not like peanut butter??), and my boys are reaping the Froot Loop goodness of it all.
On Saturday we'll meet up with his dad at the halfway point between our homes. I already have the feeling that it's going to be hard to let him go...
Well so far, so good! He's 8 years old, which puts him right smack dab in the middle of my boys' ages. He's holding his own doing playstation Lou, and has already been at the piano with Dee (again, not his real name. The only man who could get away with being named "Dee" would be Dee Snyder of "Twisted Sister" fame. Hmmm, I feel like quotation marks should also be around the words man and fame in the preceeding sentence....but I digress). He has excellent manners, takes turns and talks to me (always a good thing. Kids who look scared, or worse yet, vacant when adults speak to them piss me off. Being able to converse is a necessity, deal with it).
I hope to give him a really nice vacation while he's here. So far plans include playgrounds, a local amusement park, and maybe some mini golf. He and I decided together what to have for meals while he's here (how can a child not like peanut butter??), and my boys are reaping the Froot Loop goodness of it all.
On Saturday we'll meet up with his dad at the halfway point between our homes. I already have the feeling that it's going to be hard to let him go...
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Ahhh Karma, how you mock me
I knew when I titled yeseterday's post that it could come back to bite me in the ass, and at the expense of my 7 year old, it did.
My poor little Lou (not his real name - really, who names their child Lou in the 21st century??) has an ear infection.I called them this morning to say hi and see how everyone was and his sad little voice says "Mom, my voice is all horse and my throat hurts". I asked him all sorts of questions trying to figure out if he was just tired, or if he was sick. When I spoke to Husband I suggested (strongly) that he take Lou in the medicentre just to rule out the EI that I was sure he had (so hard to diagnose from an hour away!). Husband called me back about an hour later, confirming that yes Lou has an EI and is running a fever. He felt pretty strongly though that with some tylenol Lou would feel better and that the plan to rodeo was still on.
Fast forward to an hour ago when I get the text message " We're on our way home. Lou threw up, feels better now, but I figure it's time to come home".
Yeah, I guess so! Poor kid. There is nothing that he (and I) hate more than upchucking. I would rather have rampant, explosive diarrhea for 3 weeks straight than throw up once. My only consolation is that he feels better since it happened.
Oh yeah, and that I didn't have to clean it up.
My poor little Lou (not his real name - really, who names their child Lou in the 21st century??) has an ear infection.I called them this morning to say hi and see how everyone was and his sad little voice says "Mom, my voice is all horse and my throat hurts". I asked him all sorts of questions trying to figure out if he was just tired, or if he was sick. When I spoke to Husband I suggested (strongly) that he take Lou in the medicentre just to rule out the EI that I was sure he had (so hard to diagnose from an hour away!). Husband called me back about an hour later, confirming that yes Lou has an EI and is running a fever. He felt pretty strongly though that with some tylenol Lou would feel better and that the plan to rodeo was still on.
Fast forward to an hour ago when I get the text message " We're on our way home. Lou threw up, feels better now, but I figure it's time to come home".
Yeah, I guess so! Poor kid. There is nothing that he (and I) hate more than upchucking. I would rather have rampant, explosive diarrhea for 3 weeks straight than throw up once. My only consolation is that he feels better since it happened.
Oh yeah, and that I didn't have to clean it up.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
I'm as happy as a little gurrl!
(10 pts of you know what I'm quoting)
Today at approximately 2pm Husband and the two boy children are leaving for overnight. For the third year running they'll go an hour away to a small town rodeo. The small town is where Husband's mother lives so I'll know that they will be fed, watered and have a place to sleep tonight. Also? This takes care of any "we really should go visit my mom" comments until Thanksgiving.
Every year Husband and the boys plan what they want to see and do. Tractor pull? Yup! Calf roping? You betcha! Demolition derby? Hell yes (and that actually doesn't start until 4pm on Sunday so I probably can't expect them home until about 8pm! That makes 30 hours of not having to be someone's mom or wife!)! There's even a small midway, so rides are defiantely on the agenda.
Little to they know that I have my own (silent, internal monolouge) itinerary....Tidy the house so I can enjoy cleanliness for more than 15 minutes? Yes! I wonder which one of my girlfriends is available to go out for supper? Jan is free? Yippee! I wonder where we'll go - definately some place non kid-friendly. I bet I could have a bath tonight that's 2 hours long and nobody is going to knock on the door. I'm looking forward to sleeping in. That's right Husband, no one is going to wake ME up! Mwahhahhahah!! I'll read the paper and drink a cup of coffee (or three) and then I'll go shopping! For shoes! And make-up!!
I love my husband and the life we have together. I love my boys - being their mom is the greatest gift. I also love having some quiet time for me and having it in my own house. This week-end is the only time during the year that this happens. I'll answer only to me, I'll act on a whim, I'll probably dance to really bad music (and the likelihood of it being naked dancing is there people!).
And, if I'm being honest with myself, I also know that by 8pm on Sunday night I'll be done. I'll be watching for them to pull up, and when they do I'll fly out the front door and hug them and kiss them and be so damn happy that they're back.
By 8am on Monday I'll be counting down the days until next year.
Today at approximately 2pm Husband and the two boy children are leaving for overnight. For the third year running they'll go an hour away to a small town rodeo. The small town is where Husband's mother lives so I'll know that they will be fed, watered and have a place to sleep tonight. Also? This takes care of any "we really should go visit my mom" comments until Thanksgiving.
Every year Husband and the boys plan what they want to see and do. Tractor pull? Yup! Calf roping? You betcha! Demolition derby? Hell yes (and that actually doesn't start until 4pm on Sunday so I probably can't expect them home until about 8pm! That makes 30 hours of not having to be someone's mom or wife!)! There's even a small midway, so rides are defiantely on the agenda.
Little to they know that I have my own (silent, internal monolouge) itinerary....Tidy the house so I can enjoy cleanliness for more than 15 minutes? Yes! I wonder which one of my girlfriends is available to go out for supper? Jan is free? Yippee! I wonder where we'll go - definately some place non kid-friendly. I bet I could have a bath tonight that's 2 hours long and nobody is going to knock on the door. I'm looking forward to sleeping in. That's right Husband, no one is going to wake ME up! Mwahhahhahah!! I'll read the paper and drink a cup of coffee (or three) and then I'll go shopping! For shoes! And make-up!!
I love my husband and the life we have together. I love my boys - being their mom is the greatest gift. I also love having some quiet time for me and having it in my own house. This week-end is the only time during the year that this happens. I'll answer only to me, I'll act on a whim, I'll probably dance to really bad music (and the likelihood of it being naked dancing is there people!).
And, if I'm being honest with myself, I also know that by 8pm on Sunday night I'll be done. I'll be watching for them to pull up, and when they do I'll fly out the front door and hug them and kiss them and be so damn happy that they're back.
By 8am on Monday I'll be counting down the days until next year.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Road Trip!!
Or....Home has never looked so good.
We've taken the kids away twice so far this summer. The first time was in early July, when we went to the cabin. It's a fairly rustic place (read: only cold running water), but we love it, and it's where I used to go "camping" when I was a kid.
More recently we took the kids on a 8-nights-in-hotel-rooms road trip. This is the first time we've ever undertaken such a journey. Sure, we've gone away before and traveled by car, but this, THIS, was no less than 4 hours in the car on any given day. We saw four states (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington) and one province (British Columbia). We saw "Old Faithful", beautiful mountains, Silverwood Themepark, outlet shopping malls and more restaurants and gas stations than I care to count (Husband would not let the tank go below half...I say live a little and let the fuel light come on!).
Things I learned while away:
* Portable DVD players are the not the sign of the apocolypse that I had assumed they were. I figured that I had to play with my sister, read and be ass-numbingly bored while on trips, why shouldn't my kids have the same experience? Answer: Because there is a lot less crying, whining and "how much longer?" coming from their mothe....the KIDS, and a lot more quiet for everyone.
* Sudden, explosive laughter from the backseat due to Shrek will cause the driver to jerk the wheel (not fun in mountains).
* An almost 7 year old who has mastered the art (???) of whistling will whistle everywhere - in the car, the hotel room, the tram ride, the merry-go-round, the restaurant, the pool...
* Having a hotel room that opens on to the pool (or to at least the courtyard that leads to the pool) is wonderful....as long as no one is swimming late at night.
* Hearing your children say "Well butter my biscuits! Dangnabbit!" will be funny only three times.
* Getting into a made bed, especially when YOU didn't have to do the making, doesn't get old.
* Eating in restaurants 24/7 does.
I"m sure there was more but somehow, for some reason, there are blessed holes in my memory.
We've taken the kids away twice so far this summer. The first time was in early July, when we went to the cabin. It's a fairly rustic place (read: only cold running water), but we love it, and it's where I used to go "camping" when I was a kid.
More recently we took the kids on a 8-nights-in-hotel-rooms road trip. This is the first time we've ever undertaken such a journey. Sure, we've gone away before and traveled by car, but this, THIS, was no less than 4 hours in the car on any given day. We saw four states (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington) and one province (British Columbia). We saw "Old Faithful", beautiful mountains, Silverwood Themepark, outlet shopping malls and more restaurants and gas stations than I care to count (Husband would not let the tank go below half...I say live a little and let the fuel light come on!).
Things I learned while away:
* Portable DVD players are the not the sign of the apocolypse that I had assumed they were. I figured that I had to play with my sister, read and be ass-numbingly bored while on trips, why shouldn't my kids have the same experience? Answer: Because there is a lot less crying, whining and "how much longer?" coming from their mothe....the KIDS, and a lot more quiet for everyone.
* Sudden, explosive laughter from the backseat due to Shrek will cause the driver to jerk the wheel (not fun in mountains).
* An almost 7 year old who has mastered the art (???) of whistling will whistle everywhere - in the car, the hotel room, the tram ride, the merry-go-round, the restaurant, the pool...
* Having a hotel room that opens on to the pool (or to at least the courtyard that leads to the pool) is wonderful....as long as no one is swimming late at night.
* Hearing your children say "Well butter my biscuits! Dangnabbit!" will be funny only three times.
* Getting into a made bed, especially when YOU didn't have to do the making, doesn't get old.
* Eating in restaurants 24/7 does.
I"m sure there was more but somehow, for some reason, there are blessed holes in my memory.
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