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Heidi Chronicles

Life (In London), Medicated

Rain, rain go away.

Filed under: BackBlogging, Elena, Exercise, Family, Food, Liam, Mommyhood, Travel — Heidi at 10:08 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2007

We were stuck inside most of the day due to the weather. It was just one of those days that drags on and on. By 3.00 everyone was getting a little stir-crazy.

Heath had taken L with her this morning to take Em to school and to run to the store, but that’s all anyone had been out of the house. (I got some QT with Ethan while they were gone. He and I have probably never spent that much time together. It was nice…he’s such a sweetheart - even if he does wake up Elena from her nap by walking into the closet to chat her up.)

Since the kids had spent most of the day staring at the TV babysitter, we decided that we’d go on a walk since it had finally quit raining. I had taken E took a couple of naps and we kept the kids busy most of the day with videos. Lots and lots of videos.

I think I’ve officially given up on the minimal TV viewing rule that we have at our house. Heather’s kids are smart and well adjusted and they watch some TV every day…why shouldn’t L watch video after video if it keeps him quiet?

It was just one of those days that drags on and on. I had taken Em, Ethan, and Elena into the bathroom with me while I got ready to give Heath a break,. but it just wasn’t enough. By the time I was finally dressed, Heath was lamenting the fact that it would be at least two hours before her backup arrived sowe decided that we’d go for a walk.

It was a little chilly, but it felt WONDERFUL to be out of the house. I think that the kids enjoyed it as well…even if they weren’t able to play because it was so wet. And I am POSITIVE that L enjoyed himself; he had a potty emergency and got to pee outside. (I think I was more excited than he was.)
We headed home and Heath fixed the tired kiddos perfect plates

and we sat them picnic stylee in front of Talking Words Factory.

As soon as we got everyone in bed, Heath and I hit the swill - amaretto sours - and we chatted like adults until about 9.30 when Heath and B’s dog, Ellen started crying.  There seemed to be something wrong with her leg and her head.  I think we were all thinking that this might be the end of Ellen’s long, happy life, but no one was saying anything of the sort.  We talked about taking her to urgent care and as they were getting ready to pack up and head out, Heather realized that her toenail was stuck in her hair, which was causing her head to pull to the side and some serious pain in her leg.  Once remedied, Ellen trotted off to bed and all was well.

After all of the excitement, Heath and B headed to bed.  I stayed up late and messed around.

It was nice to have some peace and quiet.

Emalee’s Names For the Frog/Toads

Filed under: BackBlogging, Blah Blah Blah, Family, Travel — Heidi at 3:37 pm on Thursday, May 24, 2007
  • Hidey
  • Funny
  • Funnel
  • Bill
  • Billy
  • Silly

We’re missing one that we can’t remember, but we’re pretty sure it also ended in “illy.”

Idea # 1302 in Activities To Tire Out the Children: The Zoo.

Filed under: BackBlogging, Elena, Family, Food, Friends, Liam, Mommyhood, Travel — Heidi at 10:44 pm on Wednesday, May 23, 2007

We were up right at 6, but so was Ethan so it didn’t really matter. I should have known this was a telltale sign that Heath and Bri didn’t have a good night.

I feel awful because we have the bedroom suite. E is sleeping in the closet and L and I are sharing the bed.

Em had school, so Heath took her and L went along. I took E and E on a walk. It was AWESOME to be outside exercising…not to mention that I’ve been eating like a black bear. (They eat 20,000 calories a day when preparing for hibernation.)

And I know this how???

We went to the zoo.

It went rather well. There are some cute pics in the album.

Highlights:

kids freaked out by the “big wizard”

From 2007.05.23 Vi…

A short snooze

On top of the lion

The hot new look for summer

Ethan screaming because he didn’t want to get back in the stroller after playing on the lions. Heath is trying to remove a thorn from her shoe and he is pissed.

There were many loud end-of-year school field trippers, but Heath did a fantastic job of steering clear of them. The kids got to see a bunch of animals and Heath and I got in a good walk. All in all it was an excellent trip. We left around 2.30 and took everyone home to get some rest.

Post resting time, the big kids played outside and it eventually turned into water play.

It was a great day, but MAN it was exhausting.

Filed under: Aaron, BackBlogging, Elena, Family, Liam, Mommyhood — Heidi at 10:33 pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2007

L was up from 4-5 this morning. He was wet (in a pull-up) so I changed him and got him back in bed, but he wouldn’t go to sleep. Why do these things happen on busy days?

I had to sleep with him for part of the time, but then I finally gave up. By the time I got back to bed, AJ was up. E didn’t sleep much later anyway, so I was up for the day around 6.

I somehow managed to get all of us and our crap rounded up and loaded by 9. I was trying to leave by 9, but that didn’t happen. We pulled out at 9.33.

We stopped at 10.30 to go to the bathroom and kind of got some ice cream at McD’s. L and I took turns. He was having a difficult time with letting me take as many bites as he did each turn.

The drive went surprisingly well. L didn’t sleep, but he did a great job keeping himself occupied. E slept some, but not as much as I would have liked. She spent most of the trip craning her neck around her rear-facing car seat to watch L. She cried for a bit, but only when it was time to stop to nurse her.

When I did stop, I had to get gas, so we went into the gas station to use bathrooms because it was closer than the visitors center with the McD’s inside. Every time we go in a new restroom, L asks me with trepidation, “is it a ‘matic fwush, mama?” And I reassure him that it probably isn’t

At our first stop it wasn’t and I didn’t think that the Circle K would be a) that sanitary, or b) that technologically advanced.

Before we even walked into the bathroom to check it out, he bolted to the front of the store crying. Of course the whole time I’m carrying him into the bathroom (with E slowly sliding down the other hip) he was SCREAMING. And when we finally got into a stall…the toilet made me a liar.

He fuh-reeeeked out. He sat on the floor and screamed, stood up and screamed, screamed while I peed, just stood there and screamed: “No, I DON’T WAAAAAANT TO!!!” over and over. I am not exaggerating when I say that this went on for five minutes as people were coming in and out of the bathroom.

I finally managed to get him calmed down by showing him the manual flush button. I held my hand over the infrared sensor, he pushed the button, and immediately went to stand by the nearest escape route, but once he was in charge of Mr. Flushy, everything was totally cool. So, I did the same thing when he went and he did great again.

Thank goodness we’ve figured something out. The kid was scared shitless of a toilet. I’m actually surprised he didn’t pee his pants in all of the commotion. And I’m REALLY grateful that E is so chill. She was halfway down my leg at one point when I was trying to help L on the toilet. I hiked her back up and away we went. I think she was fascinated by all of the screaming.

As we were washing our hands I was explaining how “da watah comes on by itsef!” and a woman who clearly hadn’t heard the screaming incident walked in. She spoke to the kids and overheard me explaining how the faucets and toilets work as we walked out. We were standing by a cooler trying to decide if there was a sandwich L would eat, (I know…gross. I always think about the Futurama episode where Frye eats one.) and she walked out as I was explaining that to him and giving him some choices.

Somehow she knew just what I needed to hear at that exact moment. She said, as though she knew me, “I bet you’re an excellent mom.”

For some reason that meant SO much to me coming from a complete stranger. I guess it was because in that small interaction she saw me handle things the way that I should have. I was calm and collected. I used the proper tone of voice and I addressed his fear vs. getting mad at him.

Good god, is this parenting thing really coming more naturally to me?

We got some pretzels for a job well done and L took the money up to the cashier. It was cute. He was so proud of himself as he butted in front of a girl buying three Laffy Taffys.

I nursed E in the car and we were on our way. Two hours later (six total), we all arrived in one piece.

The kids played, the adults talked, and after the kids went to bed, Brian, Heather, and I went on a bug scavenger hunt.

Explanation?

Heath picked up some teeny tiny frogs (I actually think they’re toads.) yesterday from a pond near their church, and hooked them up with their own pad.

But the little guys were starving.

We went through a number of bug options before settling on ants. It was quite comical.

From 2007.05.23 Vi…

And no, my sis does not have bugs in the house as a general rule, but Bri had just let the dogs in and a few strays made their way to their demise.

Once we figured out that they devour ants, Heath and I were outside with a flashlight at 10 p.m. trying to shove ants into a bowl.

I held the flashlight.

It was nothing like when we were kids. *Ahem.*

Elena: Nine Months…and a Lot Of Other Stuff

Filed under: BackBlogging, Blah Blah Blah, Elena, Family, Food, Health, Liam, Medicated, Mommyhood — Heidi at 10:30 pm on Monday, May 21, 2007

AJ kept the kids this morning so that I could go to Sears bright and early; I was there at 7.20. It took them about an hour and a half to get the tires off and back on again, but driving home I felt so much safer. I’m sure it was all in my head.

E had a Dr. appt at 10, so I got home, got everyone ready to go and headed out to that. Naturally, our doc had to admit a kid to the children’s hospital during our appt. time, so we waited almost an hour and a half. But you know what? I wasn’t pissed because I’m taking enough Zoloft that it doesn’t matter I’d want someone to do the same for me. L kept us entertained anyway.

I left the door to the room open and we watched everyone walk in the hallway. (I was so glad I had the double stroller with me. It’s an unwieldy thing, but it certainly is helpful in keeping everyone contained.) Every time a nurse walked by L would say, “he’s not da doctor,” because I had just explained the difference between the doctor’s job and the nurse’s job. Incidentally, our nurses AND our doctor are female - as L would say, “dey have a vuwva.” He also kept asking for our usual doc, who’s on maternity leave. I was impressed that he remembered who she was.

Anyway, we saw the doc for about 10 minutes. E is right on her growth curve, even though she’s a little bit smaller than average.

Stats: Measurement %
Height 27 1/4 in. 44
Weight 18 lb, 2.5 oz. 38
Head 43.8 cm 45

And evidently it’s now common practice to check blood lead levels. It did seem a little odd that I had to answer at least eight questions about lead exposure early in the appt., but I answered “no” to all of them.

I think it’s a great precaution, and anyone who answers “yes” to any of the questions should have their child tested. But I do think it’s a little over the top to send every. single. person. And if they weren’t already doing a blood draw for anemia I wouldn’t do it. Unfortunately, they are. With my luck her lead level will come back sky high and they’ll think I lied when they ask me if E eats paint chips off of the windowsill.

We got home and I tried to give the kids lunch, but E was tired and L wanted to take a nap at 12.30. Holy CRAP! Two kids sleeping at once? I certainly wasn’t going to stand in his way.

He slept great. E, not so much. She took a couple of short naps, but she was fussy. I think that the shot was bothering her. Her leg was a little swollen, but who knows with that kid…she’s not a sleeper anyway.

Buuuuut, L took a GREAT nap. And while he slept, Elena crawled back and forth between the living room and the family room as I moved furniture around and *gasp* moved all of the toys into what used to be the living room.

We finally succumbed.

However, the family room looks really nice! It’s totally an adult room. I’d forgotten what that could be like! Now, the playroom is completely trashed, but who cares - we have nice tables, our wedding picture, and some nice artwork in the Adults Only room. And once I get the laundry off of the sofa I’ll be able to think in peace!

When L got up, the kids had a snack and L played on the deck again. He was thrilled. I love to watch him run around. I felt bad for him, though. He wanted the dogs to come out and play so badly. He tried to goad Macey out of her sunny spot by picking her up. She just flopped back down. He was so disappointed.

AJ got home around six and he gave me tonight as my night since I won’t be here tomorrow night. Isn’t that sweet?

I tried to get my packing done and then I took a nice long walk all. by. my. self. I even ran, people. I had no idea that my mp3 player would be such great company.

When I got home L was still awake. I think it was a little too soon to get him in bed. I’ve realized that when he does take a nap, which is a GOOD thing, he doesn’t need to go to bed quite as early. The other night he stayed up until nine and did great.

I got a few more things ready for tomorrow, but for some reason I just can’t really get too worried about it. If we forget something, so what?

Maybe the Zoloft is working!

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