Surgery and Christmastime

Here's poor little Neptune before surgery. Poor kid had no idea what was coming to him! He got up and went to the hospital with me and was in a great mood. The nurses just totally fell in love with him. The weather was awful, but we made it and were even there a little early. It was nice having the first surgery of the day 'cuz everyone was on time for the most part. It was very quick and uneventful. The dr came to talk to us afterwards. The poor kids nasal passages were more than half blocked by adenoid tissue. He's going to be able to breathe so much better. I can't imagine dealing with asthma and that on top of it!

After surgery he was obviously not feeling as wonderful. In fact he's had a much much harder time getting over this than Mercury did. And that amazes me. I thought Neptune would be the tougher of the two. The dr finally today agreed to call in a narcotic for the poor kid. We've been alternating Tylenol/Motrin every three hours and that only does the trick for two out of those three hours. And nighttime...is a nightmare. He's up every two hours screaming his fool little head off. We'll probably only use the prescription stuff at night, and I sure hope it helps.

When we got home from the hospital I set him down so I could go to the bathroom. Well he decided he was
gonna get up and walk. Poor kid
was still so doped up he fell into a
dresser and bruised his head. The cut under is eye is something his brother helped him out with the day before. Nice, huh? Anyway, I was so looking forward to a nap with Neptune before Mercury got home from daycare. No such luck. Neptune waited until Mercury was home, then passed out on the living room floor. Thanks kid. How come I always get screwed?

As for Christmastime? I learned an important lesson this year. No matter how strange a present is that ends up on my kids list to Santa, I must listen. Mercury had put a telescope on his list to Santa. I kinda blew it off. Till yesterday. 'Santa' sent him a video email and mentioned that he was sure Mercury would get that special present he had asked for. When I asked Mercury what that present was I was informed it was the telescope. What 4-yr old asks for a telescope? I asked Mercury what would happen if he didn't get it from Santa. He looked at me with all seriousness and said, "I would cry".

Well guess what kid? Santa didn't get you a telescope! So I've had this huge internal battle all night. Do I hunt down a telescope on Dec. 23rd or let my 4-yr old be disappointed on Christmas. Am I spoiling him if I get one? I wrestled with this all night. And I was up basically all night 'cuz Neptune was screaming his head off. So this morning I start searching the Internet and calling around to stores. 'Cuz if I'm gonna do this I'm not getting a 4-yr old some $70-300.00 telescope. That's for darn sure. Well my SIL suggests calling Dicks Sporting Goods. I now owe my life not only to her, but to that store as well. This morning...that's right this morning they clearenced a bunch of telescopes down to $20.00. So I called Jupiter and he ran right over there. The thing comes in a case with a stand and a microscope. Mercury is going to be sooo excited come Christmas. Now I'm sure it's not some extremely powerful telescope, but it will be more than enough for a 4-yr old.

So what did I learn this year? PAY ATTENTION! lol

Ahhh winter. How I've missed you. NOT!

Neptune outside yesterday. It's the first time he's really gotten to ever play in the snow. He wasn't walking yet last winter and the mean mom I am, I wouldn't let him go crawl around in it.



Mercury in one of his rare (especially lately) moments of cooperation.

The only thing I do like about winter is the comfort food. I LOVE winter food. So here is what we are having this week.

Monday - leftover beef pot pie (home made of course)

Tues - hamburger helper with dinner rolls and veggies

Wed - leftover chocolate chip waffles and bacon

Thurs - (here's where it gets good) Four-Hour Stew

Fri - leftovers

Sat - chili made with sausage and venison

Sun - tacos

Halloween

My boys. One batman, one 'groupie'. For some reason Mercury thought Neptune needed to be a bat too.

BAT-DOG Nananananana BAT-DOG

vicious looking isn't he?

My boys with their great grandparents. We do one picture like this every year. Hopefully we get to add many more.

Yea I'm kinda late. So sue me.

And since I'm in that kinda mood, here's some more pictures. Not of Halloween, but they are still scary...

Yummy. Who doesn't love a spaghetti dinner?

Now, if you haven't already...please go vote.

You're Gonna Miss This

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG9XfJxMY8A

I woke up with this stuck in my head today. I'm having a really hard time with Jupiter lately. I just don't understand him. Maybe it's a man thing. I've basically had to club him, and drug him to get him to agree to help me take the boys Trick or Treating tonight. Mercury is in this horrible phase where he just takes off at any given moment and Neptune will not hold my hand. So no way can I take both boys myself this year. And Jupiter has not gone ONCE. He's fighting me the whole way. And I just don't understand. He hardly spends any time with the boys. Yes they can be annoying. They don't listen, they fight, they break things, they talk back, but they are kids. I don't understand how he can not miss these things he's not doing with them. Maybe it's because I'm female, I don't know. But as trying as the boys can be and as much as they annoy me to no end some days, I can not imagine missing out on their lives. This in my mind is the best part of my life. This is what I've always wanted to do. How can he not enjoy it? I don't get it. But I know one thing. I'm gonna miss it. I already miss they babyness. I miss it I miss it I MISS IT! But I will not miss out on these things that are so important to my kids. I will be there for them and at least I will have the memories.

Menu plan menu plan menu plan

Well to be quite honest I've run outta money and food. So the next few days are gonna be a throw together whatever the heck I can!



Friday - chicken helper (I *think* I have some of this...)



Saturday - uhhh a roast? or something I can throw in the crockpot



Sunday - pork chops and potatoes



Monday - Mercury and I are going to "VeggieTales Live" so...something on the road.



Tuesday - something with kielbasa



Wednesday - speghettios? (healthy, huh?)



Thursday - I CAN GO BUY SOME FOOD! Stir-fry beef and cabbage with crab rangoons and fried rice



Now after seeing how poor I am, would you rather see some more pictures?

Neptune on a hill. Exciting huh?

I like to pretend I can take good pictures. So humor me

Obviously the boys were playing in the woods

This is Mercury this morning on the way to daycare. I just can't get over how he can look so 'old' sometimes. Please ignore the trash in the back of the van.

Back To The Land Of The Living

I.AM.BACK!



I had pnemonia last week. Came outta nowhere and hit me like a ton of bricks. I've never had pnemonia, and I hope to never have it again.



I'm not quite sure how my kids survived except their wonderful daycare kept them late a few days and then brought them home. I think I would die without that woman!



Then Tuesday Mercury had his pumpkin patch field trip with the preschool. That was fun. So I'm trying furiously to catch up here at work. I was out a week, back for a day, gone a day, and now I am back. Ugh. Talk about a mess. But here are a few pics from the week/end for you to check out until I can get my head outta my butt and back on this planet.

This is Mercury and Neptune after decorating for Halloween.

This is the first time I let Neptune have cotton candy. He wasn't sure he liked it at first. Then...he became a huge sticky mess!

Here is the first day I was starting to feel better. I took the kids out and Mercury was having fun with some batting practice.

And this is Mercury and I at the pumpkin patch on Tuesday. Notice how we have the same stupid smile?

To Yell Less

That is what I hope to accomplish this week. I just let poor Mercury have it this morning. Both he and Neptune were hanging on my legs as I was trying to get through the baby gate and down the stairs. And they were of course making us late for school. I managed to seriously stub my toe and half fall down the stairs. I turned around and let them have it. Poor Mercury went and hid under the table. Now why he feels the need to do this, I have no idea. Yes, I yelled and was probabally a little scary since I was also crying and grabbing my throbbing toe. But hiding under the table? He sure does know the way to make a mother feel horrible. Yelling is my downfall. I yell. I don't want to yell. I just don't know how to stop. Someone, help me here. The only way my kids seem to hear me is if I'm yelling. And I don't want to do that anymore!



Anyway, now on to the pictures. We did make our pizza last night. And I discovered take out is by far better than home made. Atleast in my opinion.



But this was easy enough both kids got in on the action and had fun doing it.

and finally, Neptune's favorite...the dessert pizza...

Don't you just wanna eat him up?

Revelation

Well I feel like a totally new person due to the new meds I'm on, I believe. I'm supposta be on 400mg, but I've stopped at 200. I don't feel I need anymore and I don't want to try to go on more and end up in a medicine fog. That's what I believe I was in while on Lamictal. The withdrawal from that med was not nearly as bad as I had expected. The withdrawal when coming off of Zoloft was much worse for me. However I really did not like what I saw in myself while I was off the meds. But I'm so glad I can 'control' myself with only 200 mg of the Tegretol. I don't dread my kids anymore. In fact, I look forward to them. I'm trying very hard to not yell at them anymore, and I'm doing quite well with it. I also do not spank anymore. This may not sound like it's all that wonderful, but I'm very proud of myself for the progress I've made in such a short amount of time. Our house is CLEAN! This is an amazing feat. I no longer feel overwhelmed by the day to day. I just really feel like a whole new person and I love it. I was especially nervous this weekend. Mercury came down with the flu. He's never had the flu before and I was seriously dreading being stuck in the house with them all weekend. Especially since Jupiter is working horrible hours lately. But you know what? We did just fine being stuck in the house together. We actually had...are you ready for this? FUN! Here are some pictures of our 'fun'

Here is Mercury 'cooking' his soup. It's about all he ate all weekend.

We had a garage sale which I ended up ditching the whole thing on my SIL since Mercury was sick. Anyway, I brought the infant tub out to sell and you'd think the kids had found the coolest new toy in the world.

Yep, Neptune's asthma is flaring up again. Ugh. But the lady that takes care of Neptune during the day gave us this cool mask for him. He gets more medicine in and I no longer have to sit right there with him and hold him.

And the best part...the sleeping part. This is actually this morning. Neptune's slept with me the past two nights. He always does when he can't breathe. And Mercury crawled in bed with us about 10 minutes before my alarm went off.

A Little Insanity?

What made us think that two adults could handle two three year olds and a one year old, at the childrens museum? They KNEW they had us out numbered. I think they plotted the whole way there. It was a blast though. I was exhausted by the time we left. And we (the adults) were ready to leave way before the kids. Go figure.

Neptune could have splashed in the bubble table all day. Infact he tried


This is what happened when I tried to get him interested in something else


Here's one of Mercury


Maybe I should share one of Neptune having fun?


Now the question is, what wonderful thing can I think up for us to do, to torture myself with next weekend?

The begining

First there was Big Daddy, Jupiter. We will refer to my Dearest Husband as Jupiter. Then he met Venus (yes that would be me) and we had a beautiful little boy. We will call him Mercury because he is definitely my "morning star".

Then a few years later came my last (and I do sadly mean last) little monkey. We will call him Neptune for his beautiful blue eyes.

I don't know if anyone will ever actually read this, but I find it very therapeutic to write my thoughts out. Plus it keeps me from nagging and complaining and yelling at Jupiter too often. So I'm sure he appreciates my efforts also.

Jupiter is 31 as of January this year

Me, I am forever 23. But in August I will be 28

Mercury will be 4 in July

And Neptune turned one in January.

Some things you should know about my little planets. Mercury is fire. That boy has more energy than any one person should. But he's so compassionate. I wouldn't change him for the world. Neptune, he's my cuddle bug. He's got such a laid back demeanor about him. Everyone loves him to pieces. But, do not make him mad! The temper on that child is amazing! Neptune has been very sick. He was a few weeks early and apparently (according to his new Ped, the old one was an idiot) I should have been given steroids for his lungs. So I'm not sure if any of it is connected, but we start with the test tomorrow. We have to get to the bottom of his illnesses. He is 14 mo old. He'd had 8-9 ear infections and had tubes put in before he was even one. The ear infections continue as do his breathing problems. It breaks my heart. He's such a wonderful child, he should not have these problems. Luckily we have the most amazing daycare in the world. She understands his problems and takes him as sick as he gets. Which is unbelievably sick at times. I'm so amazed and glad we have her. As the main bread winner of the family, I'd have lost any normal job by now with the time I'd be taking off with him.

So that's some background on our little family. I can't wait to see how this journey turns out.