When the Cat is Away... All Hell Breaks Loose!

04/26/2015

     The pet store was having a special in fish, and I wanted some more fish for Ethan's tank.  When Collin and I returned, Tony was all kinds of irritated, and the house stunk to high heavens!

     I was thinking diaper explosion, but I was wrong. Tony said Ethan was sleeping on the couch with my down lap blanket when he started gagging. He threw up the entire contents of a blueberry Greek yogurt I had fed him. On the couch and my blanket. Blueberry!  You know, the little fruit that likes to permanently stain stuff?  Yep. That blueberry. 

     He ran to the garage for pet stain and odor remover and on the kitchen counter he found a bottle of the stain remover with a convenient spray bottle top. He sprayed like crazy, only to realize that it wasn't the stain remover bottle. It was the potty training  pheromone spray I had bought to train the dogs. My hose smells amazing :(

How do you remove such smell?  The stain remover spray that was almost gone in the first place. I mentioned I just came back from the pet store?

     A odor removing candle, the remainder of the stain spray, a load of heavily treated laundry, and lots of open doors and windows.  My house still smells, and it's making my congestion worse.

     Can these boys feel better already?  Worse than a sick child, is two sick children creating this amount of mess!

Trip to Indiana: Part One

04/23/2015

     To say we had an amazing visit to Fort Wayne is an understatement. it was fabulous!  The boys were well behaved, especially considering how much they missed Daddy and home, and all the new places and people everywhere.

     I last left off while we were on the plane to Chicago.  By the time we boarded the second plane, Collin was in love!  We started to taxi out, then had to wait for another plane to take off.  He was so upset!  "Go!  Up!  Go!  Up!"  For a child with a speech delay, he was talking so much, and putting two and three words together consistently, and using his manners with strangers.  I was a proud mama!

     Papa and Ethan were pals the whole second flight.  Which was nice, because my arm was killing me from holding his sleeping 20 pound self the previous million hours.

     Collin has discovered holding hands.  Not only discovered, but he initiated holding my hand on several occasions, especially during the flights.  Yes, love, you can hold my hand as long as your want, even if its smashed into your cheesy scrambled eggs on your lap :)

     Maybe more than he loved the airplane, he loved pulling my dad's carry on.  I was using it as a diaper bag of sorts for the trip, so it went everywhere with us.  Collin would get out of the car and go to the back and wait for us to pull it out, take the handle and pull it into the hotel, through the halls to the elevator.  Stand it up, and push the up button. and patiently wait for the elevator.  Doors opened, he'd grab the case, roll it onto the car, and wait for us to say which number button to push.  On the ride he's cock his head sideways and watch for the arrow on the inside ledge of the door to illuminate.  Then when the doors opened again, he'd grab the case and take off to our room.  Go to the door, ask for the key card, and let himself in.

     There's actually a video of this whole trip, but it's still in my dad's camera.

     We took several trips to the park while we were gone.  The boys were feeling quite cooped up and I couldn't take too much advantage of their good behavior.  We had eight days of family to get through, and they needed a break to run around and be loud and rambunctious.

     My grandma was doing her best to snuggle up to the boys, but it took a few days.  They were on overload of large groups of new faces wanting to snuggle and play with them.

     Collin has discovered that he can untie other people shoes, and that he generally gets an entertaining reaction from them as they try to hide their feet from him, or when they finally realize what happened.  This is him sneakily undoing my Uncle Larry's shoelaces.

     And since we were out and about and overstimulated, scheduled naps were not going to happen.  One minute, he was lying between my Uncle Ron's feet, and Ron was playing King of Collin.  The next, he was passed out on the floor exactly where he'd been 30 seconds earlier.

     We got the little boys all together at my cousin Jack and Betsy's house.  My Uncle Dave is holding Freddie, who is almost two.  He is such a sweet boy!  He was showing Ethan his toys, and didn't hesitate to share.  Although, Ethan thought it was much more fun to stand in the storage compartment, than to ride on the ride-on car.  Creativity or ingenuity, maybe?

     This is Jack's older son, Ira.  He is such a sweetheart, and so full of energy I have no idea how his mom, Betsy, manages to keep up with him and his little brother.  He and my dad were fast friends, and Ira thoroughly enjoyed playing Lego's with him.
     Dave's wife, Sue, Betsy and I let the big boys play with the little boys; and we girls took off to check out DeBrand's.  Do you like See's?  Ghirardelli?  I'm California loyal, but DeBrand's blows them out of the water!  We went to the chocolate shop, and I got a hot chocolate with a homemade marshmallow and a raspberry truffle.  Talk about chocolate heaven!  We were checking out when I saw a sign that said "Ask us about today's sample."  Well, if I must.  It was a chocolate orange something or other, and it didn't disappoint.  I even procured a dark chocolate bar for my dad (babysitting fee?) and some chocolate covered nuts for Tony since he's been missing them since Chocoholics went out of business.  That counts as a souvenir, right?

     The next day we met with Betsy and the boys for some lunch at Panera, and then toodled around Jefferson Point.  The boys loved this fountain!  We spent quite a bit of time here.  We found some pennies for the boys to toss into the fountain, and they had a great time!

     Ethan loved putting his face in the mist so much, his hair looked like he'd just gotten out of the bath tub.

     Akin to the carry on case, Collin was the self appointed stroller pusher.  Collin doing stuff is adorable, helpful, and super irritating.  He wants to do everything himself, but he can't keep the strolled going anywhere near straight, nearly runs into people, and is suuuuuper slow.  That's what bugs me the most, I'd rather spend the time where I want to be, not travelling.  I just repeated to myself, "Tire him out, tire him out" many times and that made it a little easier.  It really was quite adorable.

     Honestly, I had no concept of what day it was while we were there, and I cannot tell you what happened on what day or time.  I did manage, however, to keep the boys' nighttime sleep patterns on California time.  That actually worked quite well for visiting, since the boys slept until nine or ten, then we could visit until everyone else got tired around nine pm, head back to the hotel, baths and snuggles and settled down and asleep at ten or eleven.

     But still, the lack of nap time wore them down.  There was only one other time where my either of my boys have fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion outside of their bed since they were infants.  I thin k it was a daily occurence during this trip!

     After the tunnel we were trying to wake him up while I made dinner, and he fells asleep on my Uncle Dennis' wife, Kathleen.  Whether it's the mommy gene, the grandma gene, the nurse gene, or something else, she was amazing with them!  We had breakfast with her and Dennis most mornings while we were there.

     Another thing I really enjoyed was the lack of eating out.  We had quite a group with us:  Dennis and Kathleen, Carol and Larry, Dave and Sue, Ron, Grandma, Dad, my boys and myself.  Carol cooked a couple nights, I cooked a couple nights, Dennis and Kathleen cooked a nights; and we all got to be together without the rigmarole of restauranting.  I loved it!  However, the dietary restrictions made things interesting : no cheese, onions, garlic, beans, or fresh veggies.  Even then, we had some great dinners.

     On Saturday (I remembered a day!) my cousin Erin and her husband Jeremy invited the family over for a little BBQ gathering.  They have a house that makes me drool!  How is it that their house in Indiana winter has more light than my house in California?  Erin is a preschool/kindergarten teacher, and has a way with kids.  Ethan took to her immediately!  I was actually really surprised how much he stuck to her and didn't mind when I wasn't around.  They snuggled on her porch swing for a while, and I got a bit of a much needed break.  Towards the end of the evening, he was doing the tired snuggle into her shoulder, and she said "If he falls asleep in my arms, that would make my day."  For that, we need the magic monkey blanket from his GiGi Irene (my mom's mom).  We draped the blanket on her shoulder and he was out!  Is there anything better than a sweet, sleeping baby in your arms, when you're not too exhausted to enjoy it?  I can't think of anything.

     Sunday morning (another day... yay, me!)  we met with everybody at this really great park!  Jack and Betsy with their boys, Erin and Jeremy with their two, Olivia and Nigel, and Jack and Erin's parents Dave and Sue.  It was just a nice easy morning at the park with lots of equipment for the kids to play on, and enough kids to distract them and let the adults visit, too.

     Even the camera person needs to be in a photo, or two.

     Ethan couldn't resist Erin.  We had some great time on the swings, which Collin usually doesn't like.

     Ethan has been teething horribly, he's congested and he sleeps restlessly.  Molars!  H woke up a few mornings and I was hoping if I laid there a minute he would go back to sleep.  Instead, Papa got him out of the crib, changed his diaper and brought him to bed.  Ethan moves so much that he is always on top of the blankets and he gets cold.  And then Papa is his own personal furnace.  Match made in heaven!  Ethan slept another 3 hours three days in a row.

     The problem with keeping the boys on California time is that the hotel stopped serving breakfast at nine thirty.  After Dennis and Kathleen went home (we had been in the same hotel), there was no real need to push the waking up earlier.  IHOP it was!  Its nice to let the boys make their decisions without the hassle of dissimilar choices among the parties.  And Collin was ecstatic to get bacon AND eggs AND pancakes.  Your wish is my command, son.  Didn't hurt at all that our waitresses loved them and doted on them while we were there.

     Another passing out in the middle of Ron's living room, regardless of the voices and noise around him.  Dave and Sue maintain a kid heaven in their basement, and had sent over this wooden train set and some Lego's, knowing we would be spending time their.  The boys LOVED this train set.  It also didn't hurt to have people around to held them build the tracks.

     The accidental group photo... I didn't realize the mirror was there until after I shot this.  They were just having soooooo much fun on the luggage cart while we finished up our packing to go home.

     Our flight from Chicago to San Francisco was delayed two and a half hours, then they were still doing maintenance checks for a half hour after we boarded.  We took LOTS of walks around our little stretch of airport, had lots of snacks, and played with the awesome people next to us who had just spent the week with eight little kids.  Collin also tried to untie a gentleman's shoelaces, except he was wearing combat boots and they were double tied.  They thought it was quite funny.  There was also an awesome woman who commented on how well behaved the boys were, especially since we'd been waiting for 4.5 hours!  Boarding was called and everybody got in long lines, and I waited to board last knowing that I'd probably bang everybody down the 35 row plane with a bag of a child's foot, but that was better than trying to get to our seat with 150 impatient people behind me.  Woman to the rescue!  She was in the front of the HUGE line for our group and offered to let us go in front of her.  I looked down the line and saw now protesters, so we gladly accepted.  She also took one of our bags so Dad could carry Collin, who was getting tired and cranky.  Wherever you are, Laura; thank you!
     Collin fell asleep before take-off, cracked his eyes open as the engines revved, and promptly went back to sleep for the duration of the flight.  Ethan, too!  Two sleeping boys, and Free TV to compensate for the delay?  Yes, please!

     We finally got home about two in the morning, and Tony was at the door before I put the car in park.  We put the boys into bed and crashed!  Collin woke up decently early, had some breakfast, and then asked Daddy to snuggle with him on the couch.  Then minutes later, they were passed out for the count.  They love their snuggles!

     We enjoyed our trip, but are so glad to be home!  The boys missed their daddy and are soaking up snuggles and attention like sponges.  Tony called in sick, so we enjoyed a nice easy-going Wednesday to catch up.

      The content of this post is rather selective in order to maintain a positive, upbeat view.  For the rest of the shenanigans, another post is forthcoming.  Be warned.

Trip to Indiana: Part Two Not for the Squeamish!

     The iPhone has copy and paste,  but not undo.   Which means that after I accentally replaced this entire post with a URL, I gave up for a bit.

     So, the story of vacation starts the Thursday before vacation.   I dropped Collin off at school and Ethan and I went to the gym.  A half hour later I was paged to the care center, and my child was returned to me because He had been crying the entire time.   It's very hard to find the dedication to exercise, can't he cooperate?  So we went around the corner to the grocery store, but he'd fallen asleep; so w drove around another corner to home.  Where he woke up.  So I drove that awake child back to the store.  While buckling him into the seat, my phone started ringing.  It was Collin's school.  They asked me to come get him because he had a 102 fever!  Feeling the need to vindicate myself for any assumption I has brought a sick kid to school, I put forth a convincing argument "but he was fine this morning!"  But he want fine somewhere between breakfast at school and circle time.

     He had the fever all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday afternoon, but Sunday orning he was a normal temp and his normal ornery self.  This kid is seriously well behaved when he's sick!  It's one of the ways I know he's feeling better, the temper and defiance come back.  Since he was better, and no other symptoms to point to a cause; we decided it was safe to head out of state to visit my dad's family.

     Wednesday night was the first big family gathering, and I was so excited.  I've never met most of my cousins.  As someone was showing up, I woke Collin from a power nap and took him to the bathroom.  He began a tantrum and wouldn't go.  I told him I had to go, too, and I wasn't waiting.  I moved him Bach a few inches, and as I sat down, he proceeded to begin peeing.  On purpose.  All over me.  I jumped back up and moved him to the toilet in a second, but by the he was already done!  Pants around the ankles meant I had pee literally all down my pants legs.  Plural.  (I won't look good in orange.  I won't look good in orange.  I won't look good in orange!). Hollering for my dad, and trying to mop myself up, he says "Hey, what about those pants we put in the diaper bag in case one of the boys got sick on you?"  SAVED!  And the toddler continued screaming.  Soon enough he wa distracted by the magic train set and Ita and Freddie and decided the temper wasn't worth the effort.

     The following Saturday he woke up a little cranky.  Papa was rubbing his back; and as Collin cranking told him to stop, he threw up all over our bed!  And again a few hours later.  I sent dad and Ethan away to play and hoped they wouldn't catch whatever this was.

     Monday morning there was a brown stain in the bed to which I attributed too little food and too much apple juice.  I was wrong.  I was serving the boys some lunch when I realized Collin had gotten sick all over the floor.  I was surprised his clothes were still so clean, and as I walked closer I realized that this was not vomit at all.

     Here's the rundown:  my dad, Ethan, Collin and I are at my bachelor uncle's house.  Awesome thou he is, never having d your own children solidifies the opinion that poop is revolting and should be avoided.  And I was mortified!  I grabbed Collin and carried him to the garage, and yelled for my dad to come help me.  I scrounged some newspapers for Collin to stand on, and dad tossed me some baby wipes and a grocery bag for clothes and cleaned the kitchen.  Emergency bath!  Followed by an emergency cleaning of anything Collin even looked at.  Since we were leaving the next day, Jack and Betsy came over with their boys to say goodbye.  In the middle of ice cream, I smelled a smell.  Grabbed Collin under his arms and ran back to the garage.  Emergency cleaning #2.  At this point, Collin is wearing a diaper from Betsy, because it was bigger than any of Ethan's, and his pajamas since he already exploded through his spare pants.time to go back to the hotel; I can't take this anymore.

     I got the boys settled and asleep, and briefly wondered about the consequences of putting a recently trained child, who likes to have "on purposes",back in diapers.  No other option.  I also considered throwing away his clothes, but that seemed too wasteful to toss two pairs of pants and two underwear.  But I was not going to put them in my suitcase the way they were.  Unfortunately, I'm not tacky enough to put them through the hotel washer, so I turned on the fan in the hotel room's bathrooms and did unspeakable things not the toilet, without gloves, and only a bar of hand soap for sanitation!  Then I took a decently long shower without feeling guilty.  Benefits of plentiful water in the Midwest.

      This is the end?  I'm not that lucky.

     Tuesday morning we slept a tad late, and went to IHOP for breakfast.  While taking Collin tot eh bathroom, I discovered his entire torso was covered in a bright red blotchy rash.  What the crap is this?  Then I thought, his eyes have been weepy since last night.  I've heard him cough.  The boys always feel warm to me, what if I didn't notice a fever.  Full on panic as I decide my three year old might have measles!!!!  Rational thought process didn't care that he'd had the MMR shot already.  I run back to the table for the keys and tell dad that we are leaving.  Now! The poor waitresses were freaked out (this was our third morning in a row, we had a rapport going).  The short end of this story is that he had a double ear infection that had triggered Scarlett Fever, and some unknown cause of the diarrhea.  Mess and numbing drop for the ears, and we were cleared to go home.

     At this point, there were no more additional shenanigans from Collin, but that explosive diarrhea last a full week!  No exaggeration!  And just as he was getting better, Ethan got it, too!  My next vacation had better be amazing, and it wouldn't hurt Collin's longevity if the tantrums and "on purposes" stopped.

Airport Shenanigans

04/12/2015

My Dad and I thought it would be a nice to go back to Indiana where he's from. My grandmother is 94 and has been inviting me and my family out for years, and we jumped at the opportunity to finally make it out!

The only decent flight left at 12:30 a.m. at an airport 1.5 hours from home. I packed all day today, and we headed out at 07:30, 30 mutes before bed time. The boys were awake the entire drive, on the shuttle, and the long wait at the airport. Ethan finally passed out in my arms just before we boarded, and slept through take-off. It is currently 1:30 in the morning, and Collin and I are wide awake with nothing to do in a darkened, cramped airplane.... and we're hungry!  That being said: my boys have been amazing!  I could have asked for better, but couldn't have gotten it. They were such troopers!

More updates to follow. We have a quick plane switch in Chicago with only 55 minutes to get between gates!  Should be interesting.