Random (and boring?)

1. This is the stack of homework my 9 year old son had to do to make up the work he missed when he was sick all last week with the swine flu. (Can you read that note from his teacher? Super adorable!) Oh and yes my twins are in the same classroom and no I do not want to hear why that is wrong. It is right for my family and my kids and that is what I know.

I felt like I was being punished with all that homework! I was stressed out and cranky because in addition to taking care of sick kids (my 9 year old daughter stayed home one day because of an awful headache and my 5 year old son didn't go back to school until Wednesday) I had to make him do all that homework. Of course since he hadn't learned how to do any of it because he hadn't been at school I had to teach him the lessons first without any kind of guide as to how they would teach it at school. I was so thankful when we were done yesterday! I would not make a good homeschooler because the thought of all I need to get done stresses me out. As a perfect example, I am homeschooling my kids in religion (with the church curriculum) and since we have the entire years worth of work at the beginning, I make my kids work on it so much to get through it that we finish about half way through the year. I hate to have things hanging over my head and I always finish all my chores before I will let myself relax. That also pertains to school type stuff if I have the ability to work ahead.

2. I made a few sales at my shop which was a very nice way to cheer me up.

3. We packed up some boxes for soldiers.

4. I went to the grocery store and have a story about that but I don't want to share it because I feel like it makes me sound like I am patting myself on the back for something nice I did that I feel is no big deal or is something everyone would/should have done. I want to know what other people would have done in the same situation since people went sort of crazy about how generous I was for doing something I really don't think was that generous, but I don't want to post a "I'm such an awesome person" post which is how it comes off sounding. My husband would have done the same thing I did, but his reason for doing it is so different it seems like it means something totally different about him and then I wonder what other people would have done and why. I did love that it happened in front of my 11 year old daughter because I think it is way easier to teach kids to be good people by example than with words.

5. I "crocheted" this bag. In quotes because I actually don't know how to crochet for real. I mean now I do, but when my 11 year old daughter asked me to teach her I had no idea. I took the leftover square scraps from when I was trying to learn and put them together to make this bag. No idea what I will do with it, but I LOVE it. It isn't "right" but who cares.





6. We also went to the circus over the weekend. My mom bought us the tickets for my husband's birthday. I have mixed feelings about the circus but we did have a good time. The funniest part was that when we got there, my 5 year old started crying and said he didn't want to go. I finally figured out that he had no idea what to expect and he really hates that (as do I). We got a little program booklet and looked through it and he said he still didn't want to be there. After it was over he said "I didn't want to be here, but I did like it". He is so funny and doesn't even mean to be. I was so nervous for the performers the entire time that I sort of didn't enjoy it. Is this a mom thing? Because I never remember being so worried about them before!

7. I feel very boring lately. I have all these stories and then as soon as I sit down to write them out, I completely forget what I was going to tell you. So instead of what I want to write since I can't remember, you get these lame updates today. Everyone is back at school today and everyone (but me) is healthy so hopefully soon I will be feeling back to normal and be able to remember things.

8. I have some weird cold that is giving me low fevers. I dislike this for two reasons. Reason number one is that (obviously) having a cold constantly kind of sucks. Number two (ha...number two) is that right before my thyroid cancer was diagnosed I had all these colds that ran into each other (just like this) and was stuffy, lost my voice and had a low fever for a long time. This is exactly what it was like and now that I have had a cold for almost a month I am getting a little tiny bit worried. I am sure it is nothing, I really am, but it is just so similar to what happened before that I worry. Call me paranoid, which I hope I am, but it just doesn't feel right. Obviously if it doesn't get better soon I will call my doctor. I just hate to be a hypochondriac so I am waiting.

One last thing. I was talking to someone recently who said something about how cancer is something a person makes or causes themselves because they have something to work out (or something like that). I just want to say for the record that I think that is bullshit. And as much as I believe in karma, I do not believe that people get cancer because of something bad they have done. That would just be stupid. Even if I did something horrible to deserve this what could my kids have done to deserve having to deal with that? I just don't believe it is true. (And also for the record I can't think of anything awful I have done anyway).

At Least I Don't Have to Find the Swine Flu Vaccine Now

So, as the title implies, my two boys have the swine flu. My 5 year old had the rapid test last Thursday which was negative but it was a false negative because the longer test showed it to be positive. My 9 year old son went to the doctor today and had the rapid test, which was positive. My thoughts? Well, I knew they were really sick so at least I am happy that I now do not have to try and find that swine flu vaccine. I'm sure my girls will either get it soon or I won't worry about getting them the vaccine anyway because they are so close with their brothers that if they don't catch it from them, I can't imagine them catching it from anyone else. There isn't anything to do for the flu besides rest and tylenol/motrin. It feels sort of yucky to be the mom watching your kids be so sick and know there is nothing you can do to make them better. Fevers of 104.8 are scary, even when I know the boys take after me and tend towards high fevers in general.

Because my youngest couldn't go trick or treating over the weekend (I sent my 9 year old because he wasn't yet sick and I didn't know he would get sick. He was probably the most contagious kid but I had no idea) the older kids did something special for him. I planted the idea by saying "wouldn't it be awesome to trick or treat inside the house? You wouldn't have to get cold and you would get all the candy you liked and none of the yucky stuff". My older kids went to work decorating their bedroom doors with doorbells and windows.




I was really proud of my kids for making this so much fun for him. They went all crazy giving him treats, pretending they were neighbors who made a big deal about how cute he was in his costume, and generally made the day so fun I think next year he might request to go indoor trick or treating instead.


Maya is worried about the boys. She has been taking turns sitting by each boy while they sleep on each couch. She sits with one boy for a while then moves to the other. When one of them cough, she looks at me like she's mad and barks. I imagined she was yelling at me for not doing anything to make them better. My 11 year old isn't quite as nice with her thoughts as I am and thinks it is because she was annoyed that they were waking her up. Either way, she is a very sweet loving dog to "take care" of them.

Neurotic But Not Quite

Watching the daycare kids is going awesome. Except for when one of them comes down with the flu (actual diagnosed flu) and the baby has explosive diarrhea and then my son has a high fever, probably flu too. Today we cancelled them coming because all of those situations occurred yesterday.

Right now I have a sleepy little man who is super pissed off that he is missing his Halloween party at school. It was going to be his first year in the school parade (lame, but to him it looks like the most amazing thing ever and he has been waiting to be in it for 5 whole years). I am trying to explain to him that kids with temperatures of 103.4 after taking Tylenol can not attend the parade but since he is sort of unreasonable with the fever and all, he was stomping around and mad. He fell asleep just now so hopefully he won't remember any of that when he wakes up. He doesn't know yet but I don't think he will be trick or treating tomorrow either. Possibly one house if he stays way back and away from everyone, but I feel like that might make me a horrible mom. If someone else said they were going to do that I would think they were crazy and maybe sort of rude to expose people needlessly just so their kid could be less mad about missing trick or treating.

When I took my son to the doctor yesterday I was actually hoping it was the flu. His test came out negative but the doctor is pretty sure he has the flu anyway. He said the test is not completely accurate and has a chance of false negatives. I was hoping it was the flu because he is sick anyway and hasn't had a flu shot. If he has the flu, he wouldn't need one and I could stop trying to find a place that has his dosage. Plus, since the daycare boy definitely has the flu he was definitely exposed. I can't imagine him getting the flu on top of whatever he has right now if he doesn't have the flu.

The one bright side to this (tons of negatives: he is sick, I missed my kids' performance at school yesterday because my husband is out of town and you can't really find someone to watch a very sick kid while you go see your kids in a play, today I am missing the Halloween parade, etc.) is that he was home when I got the mail yesterday and in the mail was a letter to the parents of him from his school. We opened it up together. It was an invitation to the special Hard Work Award Ceremony because he got an award for "showing individuality". I am so not surprised about that. He is such a cool person, and so different from most kids that it is the perfect award for him.

You know what is funny? When I get a letter like that from school addressed to "The parents Of..." one of my kids I always panic for a second. My heart beats faster and I wonder if they got in trouble for something. That is ridiculous because every teacher they have had has said that each of my kids is the best behaved kid they have and that they would love an entire classroom of each of them. My kids are good kids at school. (Mostly at home too, but not nearly as perfect as they are at school). I guess I always sort of expect something awful whenever any letters come home. I don't know why since it has never happened before and most likely won't in the future. Plus I highly doubt the school would send a horrible letter home without me having some kind of knowledge about whatever bad thing it could be before the letter came. I'm pretty sure the teacher would call or email me and tell me what was going on before a letter was sent home.


(That last paragraph is completely neurotic and is exactly how my brain works. I can turn anything, no matter how unlikely, into something that could happen and then create entire scenarios about what would happen if... I think I may have some kind of problem with living in an imaginary world inside my head or something. I can separate reality from my craziness so I think I am good for now, no help required)

Moral of the story:Sick kids are no fun and also that I am crazy.

P.S. I actually just looked up the word "neurosis" before hitting publish to make absolutely sure that is what I meant. It isn't quite exactly describing the word I mean but close enough that I won't change it. That is definitely another sign of it right there, isn't it?

Stickers Are Cool

We are getting an island in our kitchen. I hesitate to post that because people are always all crazy when it comes to stuff like that. But it's true, we are getting an island and I can not wait to make cookies with my kids where there is enough counter space for all of us to be working together.

The only problem I had when the guys were here working was the same as I always have when people are working on anything at my house. What are you supposed to do while they are working? I didn't want to go too far away because they kept asking me questions, but I didn't want to hover because when I am doing something I hate when someone is just sitting and watching. It makes me nervous and more likely to mess up whatever it is I am doing. So I sort of paced around the house. I wanted to sit and watch them install the island, but thought that might be rude so I didn't because I didn't want to bug them.

Today the guy came to measure for the counter (don't even get me started on why they couldn't have ordered the counter and then installed it all together instead of this backwards crazy way we are doing it. I still have no idea why they couldn't just order the counter at the same time but I tried to convince them and there was just no way to do it. So for several weeks we will have a useless island in our way. I put the chairs by it so now my kids think it is hilarious to sit there and "order food". If they act like that for real when the counter is in and they can sit there to eat I will kill them. It's funny when they are pretending but if they were being for real it would be totally rude).

While he was measuring I made bloody eyeballs with my son for my other son's class party later this week. Maybe I just need to find a project each time someone comes to work on something so I can be in the room but not feel like I am hovering? Maybe I should just stop obsessing about this and just do whatever the hell I feel like doing since it is my house? I suppose I don't need to bend over backwards making the installer people feel comfortable since I am paying them to do these things. Plus also they call me Ma'am, which first makes me think of Webster, and then makes me think these hot college looking guys think I am old.

I also helped in my twins' classroom the other day. It was so much fun. I just love being in there and helping. I used to be a Kindergarten teacher, so I guess it makes sense that I love it, but helping certain kids read and do other things they struggle with is just so rewarding. I don't actually get to spend any time with my own kids, but it is just nice to be in there. I do sneak a kiss and hug in several times while I am there. Would you believe that my 9 year old son doesn't mind if I kiss him in front of his friends? I actually asked him before the first time I went in because I wasn't sure. I knew my daughter wouldn't care but I thought he might. He didn't and actually came over to give me a hug when I got there.

My son and I (and the daycare kids) started a "Seasons Book" for each of them. Every Wednesday we will go outside and take a picture of the front yard and the backyard so we can see how the trees/grass/everything changes with the seasons. It is hard to notice things when they happen gradually, but when you flip through the books they will make it is easy to see when things happen, how the seasons are different, and that they actually do change even though from day to day they look about the same to you. I did this with my son a few years ago and he loves to look through the book so I thought the daycare kids might enjoy it too. Plus, we will decorate each page with stickers. Who doesn't love stickers? This year it is super cool that my son can write the dates under the pictures himself. 2 years ago I wrote them and while it is nice to have the dates written, it will be even nicer to have them in his own handwriting.

I feel like there are a million more things I have been doing but I keep forgetting everything in real life so I guess it should be the same here too. What have I forgotten? Well, this afternoon we were waiting for the bus for my son to go to Kindergarten. He only has gym and needs to wear gym shoes one day a week. Today is that day. You are probably thinking "well, anyone could forget". Except the reason I made the Season Book picture taking day on Wednesday is so that his gym shoes would be right by the door when it was time to go so we wouldn't forget. We actually walked right by them, went to a completely different room and got him his other shoes. Just before the bus came I remembered and ran in the house to grab them.

Punkmins

When one of my kids was very little, instead of saying "pumpkin", they said "punkmin". The only person who remembers is me, and for some reason I say it every time I talk about pumpkins which then gets an eye roll and a "mom how long will that be funny to you?" from my kids. Anyway, over the weekend I was busy. I'll just list some of the things I did:

Saturday I had fun with Kim and Diane. Kim showed me a new restaurant (new to me, not new) and I am dying to go back again.

I bought a $2 necklace and it broke before I could wear it a second time. (I am wearing the $2 necklace in the picture. Also a shirt that after I wore it the entire day I realized it is a maternity shirt. I really need to buy some new clothes...my youngest "baby" is almost 6).


My sister in law came over and brought pizza. I felt bloated and huge the entire next day. I couldn't figure out why since I didn't think I ate too much. My husband said when he went to put his shoes on that morning, they were tight. I guess the pizza was kind of salty.


I knit these mittens for my daughter's teacher. They were supposed to be for Christmas but I couldn't wait and sent them today as a thank you for all the help she has been giving us with my daughter's learning difficulties.

I knit a sock that almost killed me. I am going to wait before beginning the second sock to let my brain rest a bit and maybe forget just how difficult I found it so I will be willing to repeat it and make the second one.


My 9 year old daughter went to a sleepover Friday night and was exhausted the rest of the weekend. When she asked if I wanted to know how late they stayed up, I said no. She told me anyway. They went to bed at 5 am and got up at 8.

My 11 year old went to a Halloween party at a friends house. It was a friend I didn't know. When I dropped her off, I saw no parents. The girl said they were busy and couldn't come to the door. There was a car in the garage and she swore her mom was home. I was feeling not great about it, but I dropped her off anyway. She was fine. It was just a few streets over and I may or may not have texted my daughter a few times while she was there to be sure everything was fine.

We carved punkmins.My youngest drew on the pumpkin where he wanted me to carve. He named his punkmin "Count Pumpkin" because of the pointy teeth.


My 11 year old daughter carved her own with a real knife and everything. It made me nervous so I had to look away while she used that knife. She's fine but it is hard for me to remember she really is old enough to be using a big sharp knife.


My 9 year old daughter is obsessed with all things Harry Potter. When she asked if I could help her figure out how to make her pumpkin into Harry Potter, I was stumped at first. Then I thought of this. She LOVES it.


This is Frankenstein, my 9 year old son's pumpkin. You can't see it, but he has stitches in his head. It is super cool. I think all my kids had great ideas for punkmins. I told them I will continue saying "punkmins" instead of "pumpkins" as long as I am the only one who is willing to scoop out the pumpkin guts.

That Kind of Mom

A few days ago I had two women over for breakfast. I hadn't met one of them before and the other one was someone I barely knew. A few weeks before that, I happened to be taking Maya for a walk when I ran into the woman I barely know. I stopped and talked a bit (because that is the kind of neighborhood we live in) and somehow it came up that her daughter has a learning disability. We stood there and talked for at least 30 minutes about that and then decided we should meet at a house or coffee shop or something so we could not be just standing at the edge of the driveway trying to learn from each other. I suggested she come over for breakfast one day and she asked if she should invite another woman who has a son with a learning disability so we could all talk about it together and see what the school is doing for each of them and compare notes.

We set up the date for several weeks later (which was this week...I think I am telling this story in the most confusing way I could possibly do it) and I sort of forgot about it. When I saw that it was coming up, I started thinking that this was going to be the most boring morning ever. Seriously, who wants to sit around and talk about their kids' learning disability. I would never have believed someone if they said that I would be doing this. I love my kids, I really do, but sitting around talking about them and dissecting their behaviours is not something I want to do if I don't have to. I'm not the kind of mom who could sit around and talk about my kids poop or what they were eating or whatever and worry about it, and this doesn't seem like something I would do either. I am just not "that kind of mom".

Well, as it turns out I guess I am "that kind of mom" because the discussion with the women was very interesting. We talked about the IEP's that their children had in place and talked about what else they thought would help their kids that the school refused. That afternoon was my IEP meeting for my daughter, so I was paying close attention and even taking notes. It was just so nice to talk to people who understood the frustration of having a kid who is working their butt off in school and just not getting anywhere.

Later that afternoon when I went to the IEP meeting, things were very similar to what the other moms had described. There is just so much information thrown at you that it is sort of confusing. I was happy that her teacher (who I love) and the Occupational Therapist she has been seeing (who I also love) were there. Everyone else was so intimidating and grown-up like! I have a hard time processing information when there is so much given to me in such a high pressure situation. (Actually, that is one of the issues my daughter has at school that it takes her extra time to retrieve and process information, which made me think of my inability to answer a question, any question, if put on the spot.)

I think the IEP is a good start, I think it will help but who knows? It is more help than she was getting and she is actually going to be in the learning disability program for some of it so I think it should be what she needs. It is just super frustrating when you know your daughter needs more than what she is getting but you have no idea what that more should be.

Besides all of that going on I have been sick with a monster cold that I know exactly how I got. My kids have been sick on and off since they started school. I was just congratulating myself for avoiding it completely the whole time they have been sick. And then one day when my son was getting on the bus, he kissed me goodbye like he always does. EXCEPT this time we both turned our heads the wrong way and he ended up kissing me right on the mouth. And then he coughed. A few days later I was sick.

The daycare stuff is going well. My kids are having a blast. My daughters are all over the littlest one and I think I wouldn't even need to be here and he would be very well taken care of. I can't judge how it is going completely yet because I have had the cold. It has been fun but I have been exhausted. I think that is from the cold, but I won't know for sure until the cold is gone and I see how I feel. The kids I watch are afraid of Maya so she stays in her room most of the day. I do let her out when they are napping but I feel terrible for her because it is so different from how it used to be. I feel like I should pay Maya because it is so hard on her (but what would a dog do with money?) I have been taking her for extra long walks when they leave each night and she seems fine. I have a special talent for feeling guilt over unnecessary things.

And one last thing. Our neighborhood is super safe. When we go to the park we don't lock the door. Or at least we didn't used to. A few days ago my husband was home when we left to go to the park. As we walked out he was the last one out. He asked if I had keys so he could lock the door. I yelled across the driveway that "we don't do that" and then noticed that there were tons of worker type people right in ear shot. Then I yelled out to him "I also usually don't announce that the door is unlocked either" and went and got my keys. Since then I have been locking the stupid door, which makes me crazy because then I can't have the kids run back alone to go to the bathroom.

Magical Phones

Going on a field trip to a pumpkin patch is not much fun when it is pouring rain and 40 degrees out. I did have fun, but the actual field trip itself was kind of miserable. We went on a hayride in the pouring rain, listened to a story about how corn grows and all kinds of information about the farm, picked pumpkins and then waited and hoped the bus would hurry up and get back to take us back to school.

However, even though the conditions were not ideal, it was awesome to see my son and his friends and how he acts at school. He is such a big kid, which is incredibly hard for me. He used to like to sit and snuggle me all day. Now he is very busy playing with his friends or his siblings. I am torn because I am sad that I am not his complete world anymore, but obviously if he always thought that, he would be kind of a weird little kid. He has so many friends at school, everyone is always telling him something and trying to get his attention. He is funny at school too. I mean he's funny at home, but not in a way kids would get.

One example of how he cracked everyone up on the field trip? Well, the farm guy was trying to pull one of the fuzzy cows over towards the kids. He stopped and the cow pooped right in front of the kids. The farm guy said "Look at that, I scared the crap out of him". My son immediately said "yeah, literally" and then laughed. All the teachers and parents cracked up and the other farm guy kept repeating my son and laughing about it. There were many more instances like this but that one is the one that stands out the most.

One of the little boys in my group was so sweet. When we got on the bus together, the first thing he said was that he loved my mittens. When I told him I made them, he was very impressed and kept asking me how I made them. He just kept saying over and over how much he loved them. Then a little later he said he thought our dog was cute. I asked him how he knew our dog was cute. He said "well I see him every day when you are at the bus stop". Apparently the kid is on the bus before my son is and watches the puppy ever day. I had no idea! The little boy was super adorable.

When we got home from the field trip I was freezing. It took 3 cups of coffee to warm me up. When the kids all got home from school I had to take my daughter to pick up her glasses. It was a long drive so she did her homework in the car. I envy her ability to do that because if I tried to read or do homework in the car I would puke. We got her glasses and then headed home. On the way home I realized I was starving. I hadn't eaten lunch because I normally eat after my son gets on the bus and since I went on the field trip I wasn't home at that time. We stopped for dinner, just the two of us. I absolutely love being alone with my daughter. She talks non stop about everything and it is wonderful. I don't often get to spend alone time with each kid so it was awesome to have some time with her.

Other things I did over the weekend:

got my hair cut and found out that the reason the salon I used to go to shut down was that they didn't pay any taxes in the 4 years they were open.

went shopping with my 9 year old son for a rug for my 5 year old son's room.

went out to dinner alone with my 9 year old son, which was pretty awesome.

while out to dinner with that son, he asked me something that I didn't know the answer to. He told me to look it up on my phone. When I told him my phone doesn't do that, he looked at me like he couldn't believe it. My husband is constantly on his phone so I am sure my son just thought every phone is "magical" like that.

made cookies and a huge dinner that we will be eating leftover for weeks. It was great, but I seem to forget sometimes that I am not cooking for an army.

took a walk with Maya so long that my daughter who went with was really really tired when we got home and actually went to bed.

woke up this morning to a sick 9 year old boy who is staying home today.


This week is super busy for me so I may not post much...or maybe I will since it is sure to be filled with blog-able moments.