A New Year Already!

It's almost been another two years since my last post! JM3 is now 5 and he is awesome! JM2 is moving right along. His sensory integration disorder has been crazy over the past two years. But we are working through the tough spots. And JM1 is awesome as ever as a 10 year old.


Now that I am into a different season of life, i.e. no babies, I have been taking inventory of skills as a stay at home mom. I am an "older mom". Yuck. I hate even writing that. But let's face it, I had my first child at 35 and my last child at 40. No spring chicken here. I have three kids, not everyone can say that. I have 3 boys. Not everyone can say that either. I LOVE my husband and think he is one of the greatest guys around. Not everyone can say that. I enjoy researching things on the internet. For my friends. I LOVE the apps on my Iphone and have found some really incredible time savers, and time wasters. I know a lot about nutrition and exercise - even if I don't always apply it. And I know quite a bit about Sensory Integration Disorder and how it affects children and their parents and their social abilities. So, I know a little bit. Not all that much, but enough for me to get by. And I will.


So, I think I'll start trying to blog again but this time with more more focus. I'm not sure where that focus will be but for now, I'll think of something new to write about when I do write.


Something impressive and expressive.


Signing off for now:
Mompressive

So It's Been Two Years Since My Last Blog Post....

I was just reading my last blog post and was cracking up. In case you're wondering, the drugs DID work! It was really amazing. A month into the 2 week drug pattern, by husband actually made a comment about how I was less crazy. He used some politically correct phrase that pretty much meant "less crazy". He said he had noticed a difference. I fessed up and told him my doc had given me some drugs to help me out. My husband was all for it. I asked him if he was concerned that I had been taking drugs and he said, "Not at all. God made drugs to help people."

And that was nearly two years ago.

Now it's spring and today it a beautiful day. Blue sky, the sound of a lawn mower in the distance, light wind, and AH CHOO AH CHOO AH CHOO! I opened the door for a split second to let the dog outside and apparently let in copious amounts of oak pollen. I have a love-hate relationship with spring. I LOVE it when I am inside and all is new and fresh. I unlove it when I am struggling to breathe, or sneezing my head off while hiking and trying to find that one tiny area of wadded up Kleenex in my pocket that hasn't been used yet. Yet, I forge onward. I have three little guys that love for Mom to hike with them.

Hopefully I'll be back sooner than a year.

I Am A Nice Person Dammit!

Ok, I did it.

I finally got drugs for the insane person I become two weeks after my period starts. It has been a long time coming.

I have always known that during certain times of the month, I am excessively irritable and over-sensitive and tired and sad but I just thought it was all part of "being a woman". In the past 12 months, I have noticed that my regular craziness has changed severely. I can actually say that it's been taken up a notch. One might even call me a lunatic during that premenstrual time of the month. (my husband has yet to verbalize that but he's probably thinking it as I write this.) I'm not like that all month mind you, just around 2 weeks after my period ends until it starts again. I can honestly say that the things that happen to my mind and body are not just a little premenstrual hormonal discomfort. I am full blown crazy complete with screaming fits and crying jags. Someone once said to me that "it's alright to lose your temper". I don't think she realizes that I'm just not losing my temper during those 14 days. What I am is a psychopath who thinks her husband is an idiot and her children are maniacal brats. Here's the catch, though. When that wonderful red flow starts, within a day I am back to what I consider "normal". As if by magic, I am in love with all around me. At peace with the world. Loving my wonderful husband and adorable children more than I could think possible.

That's when damage control begins. My husband is shell shocked by this time and is afraid to speak with me about anything for fear that my spinning head will start spewing obscenities. I have to find my children who are lurking through the halls as if on egg shells for fear that Mommie will see them and threaten them within an inch of their lives for any whim she desires.

Enter Drugs. I went to my dr and told him my woes. He said he sees this alot with women my age and that it's normal. I told him how I upped my exercise and changed my eating habits and started taking a multiple vitamin every day. I also mentioned that I had already tried 2 different herbal supplements which didn't do anything but ding my pocketbook. He said that all those things were good to try but that the thing that has gotten results for his patients was the drugs. He told me that many women came in and thanked him for saving their marriages! How could I not try them?

He said that I could take the pills everyday but he recommended only taking them for 2 weeks a month, until right before my period starts. I figured that date to be about 4 days away, so I got the prescription filled. I started taking the today. We'll see how they do. So far not so well, but since it's just the first day, I can give it a little while longer. What else do I have to do?

I'm not telling my husband that the dr gave me drugs. I want to see if he notices. I'll keep you posted.

Merry Christmas!

I know I haven't written in a while but we have been so busy with school and schedules and therapies and extra curricular activities but I had to just write in about something that caught my eye today that cracked me up:

Two words:

Soy Nog.

Oh brother. You have to be kidding me.

Have a wonderful birthday celebration for our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas

Wow! I haven't been posting in a while. School starts next week for my two oldest jumpin monkies. The 3 y0 is going to preschool and the 5 year old is going to Kindergarten! I can't believe it. Kindergarten! I feel like he is being pulled out of my womb again! But this time, it won't be my loving arms there to hold and protect him. I'm so excited for him but scared and anxious for him, too. I know how kids can be and how will I handle his hurts?

I'm sure I'll be back to write about it on Wednesday when it actually happens.

Here's vent, though, on buying school supplies:

School supplies! I have a one in Pre-K and one Kindergartener and have spent approx $150 on school supplies. I had to buy paper towels and 4 boxes of wipes and "treasure box trinkets" and kleenex boxes and 4 different types packaged construction paper and 6 boxes of markers and 5 boxes of crayons. I literally had to buy 20 sticks of AND 4 large bottles of glue! Then there's the folders and scissors and paints and play doh and back packs and lunchboxes and water bottles...good grief!! What does all this have to do with the three R's?? Why am I buying paper towels for a school that I am paying nearly $200 A MONTH for my child to attend??!! I don't understand it!

Until next time!

Venting about Clothes Shopping

Yesterday we had a neighborhood dinner party. A Progressive Dinner. The kind where you start at one house for drinks and progress to someone else's house for appetizers then to someone else's for the main course and then dessert. It's a great way to reconnect with your neighbors. Since I am 8 months post delivery, I don't have anything to wear which really means I don't have anything new to wear. I have clothes in my closet but they are old and "pre-baby" oriented. Not that they're maternity wear (although I do have plenty of that), it's just that they are not the "in style" sort of clothes that I want to wear now that I am not trying to get to pregnant or already pregnant. So, all this to say that I need to go the mall to get some clothes. Ideally, I was going to run in and run out with an updated fashionable new outfit possibly with matching shoes. It was going to take me about an hour.

Yeah right. I started at the value clothing at Macy's simply because I haven't been able to find anything more than shorts and tees at Penneys. I grabbed a couple of dresses and headed to the dressing room. First of all, I am not 20. In fact I am not 30. I am not even 35! That's as far as I'll go with that online, but you get the idea. So why can't I find clothes that are stylish but made for someone who is not just out of college and has had 3 children? The new styles are very trendy and as I have said before, I don't want to look trendy. Fashionable, confident, but NOT trendy. Sure, I could pull off the silk giant turquoise circle dress with the yellow beading, but I don't want to! I don't' want to have to "pull off" anything! In contrast, I am not 80 either or 70 or even 60! I am a not a grandmother with my knitting needles. I don't need or want bulky, frumpy old lady clothes. What I want is something that says I am in 2007 but that doesn't say I am trying to be 20 or that I have given up. I just want to look nice.

So, as I make my way through the clothing sections, I finally see a few racks of clothes with clean lines, and elegant and fashionable style for someone my age. I grab some of those items and run to the dressing room. Finally, well-made clothing that fits like it is supposed to. I try on a lightweight sweater and skirt that I think are going to be fine for the evening. The price of the sweater is $80! The skirt is $179. Over $200 for one outfit?! NO WAY! I checked it twice just to be certain. I look at all the clothes I brought in from that section and they are all that way. Very pricey! I'm not cheap, but I can't pay $260 for one evening's clothes. So I put everything back and head out of Macys. I go to a couple of other stores but don't see anything like what I am looking for. I decide to go Dillards in hopes that they will have more "mature" clothing than some of the other stores. (I really hate calling it "mature" because that is usually synonymous with frumpy but what do you call clothing for my age group?) I look around a little and find a section of clothing that has exactly what I am looking for. Unfortunately it is in the Ralph Lauren and Jones New York section. I have already been shopping for almost 2 hours and haven't found anything. My window for shopping is closing very quickly so I decide to try on a few items to see if there is anything for me that I can get into fast. Within the first minute, I have about 5 outfits to try. The sales lady comes over and actually takes the clothes I am holding and gets me a dressing room. The room is made of dark red stained wood and there is a button to push if I need her to come back and get me a different size. Ah, the perks of money.

I find the perfect outfit and decide for the sake of time and effort to just get the outfit. I am not going to say how much I spent. But it wasn't a value outfit. In fact, I really can't believe how much I spent to find something simple and nice to wear. I ended up with a white light weight tank sweater over stylish capris. The tank was rather low-cut but I couldn't find anything anywhere that wasn't! The style these days is cleavage - no matter what age you are. I had just read in MORE magazine about how cleavage is in but I didn't really understand exactly just how much cleavage is in until I couldn't find anything that didn't show mine! I asked KingRob if the outfit showed too much and he didn't think so. (haha like he would) I was a little self conscious until I got to the party and saw that every single gal there had on some sort of cleavage baring outfit! I fit right in. In fact, my top was very conservative compared to some of the others. So it all worked out.

I guess I just needed to write about the lack of inexpensive, realistic, fashionable clothing options for women my age. And on that note, I have to add that several years ago I bought a Jones New York sweater that I still wear every year and it still is "in". So I think I got my money out of that one. I am hoping the clothes I bought yesterday will last me for many years as well. I won't be able to afford anything for a long time, so they have to!

When I got home I complained to KingRob about the problems I had shopping and he actually said "Can't you just go to the Gap"? I turned around and showed him my backside and asked him if he had ever seen a rear end that looked like mine in a Gap commercial. We had a good laugh about that. It's a good thing I can laugh about that. It just goes to show you, though, that if the people who are closest to you don't understand what I need in clothes, who can?

Until next time...

Let's pick the kids up off the pavement

Today was officially the last day of school for the monkeys. Both had the last day of preschool last Friday but JM2 had the last day of Speech Therapy Preschool at the elementary school today. He has had a little cough that turned into a big cough with a runny nose today. I let him go to school for the last day party and then I took him to the dr to figure out what to do about the cough.

Here's where it gets ugly. I pulled into the parking lot at the pediatrician's office and turned around to unbuckle JM2's 5 point harness. I hopped out, got the stroller out of the car, unhooked JM3 from the carseat and refastened him into the stroller and wheeled him around to the other side of the car to open the backseat door for the big boys and get my purse and diaper bag out of the front seat. As I opened the back seat door I passed it to get to the front seat and get my stuff. The back seat door flew open and JM2 comes flying out face first on to the pavement. I drop all my things and rush to the ground to pick him up. He is lying face down. I pick him up and try my best to comfort him while trying to get everyone together to get into the dr.s office. JM1 gets my keys off the ground and JM2's shoe which fell of during the fall.

We got inside and quickly get back to a room. Although I have already told the nurses what happened no one is cleaning him up, so I try and dab away the dirt with a paper towel and water. It's then that I realize that the black on his face is not from dirt. It's bruising! The RN comes in and checks out the damage and gives me some cough medicine for the viral infection. She also tells me to go get JM2 an x-ray to be sure he didn't break anything in his face. (it looks that bad). So, me and all three monkeys head to the x-ray shop to get him x-rays. He is so tired and in shock that he just lays where they want him to which made it go so much faster. JM1 and JM3 are in a dressing room since they can't come in due to x-ray exposure.

The nurse just called and JM2 did not break his face. He is sleeping with Motrin right now but is still in a lot of pain. And he's coughing which just makes it worse.

He also hurt his little knee in the fall. Poor kid.

I'm supposed to go play Bunco tonight with the ladies in the neighborhood. I guess it will depend on how the monkeys are doing before I go.

Until next time...

My 2nd Baby is Three Today!

Happy Birthday JM2!

I put helium balloons all over the house last night so when he woke up this morning, the house said Happy Birthday to him. He came in my room and we watched Sesame Street in my bed while we woke up. JM1 came in and we all just laid there until the monkeys started getting restless and JM3 woke up. I gave JM1 and JM2 celebratory donuts for breakfast and then JM2 got to open his presents. He got a Leapster and a bubble machine. We had lots of fun outside with the bubbles. JM2 had speech therapy this morning as well. Overall it was a nice morning.

Then we went to the movies.

It was a good idea overall. I would take all the monkeys to see "Meet the Robinson's" around the time for the baby to take a nap and then I would nurse him during the movie. What could go wrong? We got to the movies early enough to get tickets and make it to the concession stand. I had the older boys split a hot dog since it was close to lunch time and then I spent $30 on popcorn, cokes and giant boxes of candy. Still things are going well. JM1 helps with the stroller and I carry all the food and we get to the theater with still a few moment to spare to set up. JM1 opens the door for us to all go in and it is already so dark in the theater we can't see anything. Since JM1 can't steer the stroller into the small door and I am holding the giant food holder with all our drinks and foo, the only way to actually get into the room is for JM2 to go first and JM1 to prop the door open so I can push the stroller through while balancing the food on top of the stroller. This would have worked except that JM2 is afraid of the dark because he can't see anything so he won't go into the theater. I finally lead him just inside the door so we can all get in and have our eyes adjust before we get seats. I tell him to stand right by the door and then I go and push the stroller in with all the food through the door while JM1 holds it open. As I go through the door, I can't see JM2 at all. He is gone. I can't see anything and begin to get slightly ticked because the movie isn't supposed to start but the reason it's so dark is because they are playing this stupid cartoon that I don't let the kids watch anyway!! Finally I see that JM2 has already found a row and a seat on his own and we head down the aisle to catch up.

The row he chose is on the left side and it's good and we all pile into the row so I can sit on the aisle by the stroller. JM1 goes in first, then JM2, then me and the stroller is in the aisle. We sit down and the kids eat the hot dog and I realize that we are the only ones in the entire theater. YEA! What a relief. Everyone was doing great and I realized that since we were the only ones there we could probably move down a little closer to the screen. JM1 and 2 agree and we choose a row a little further down. It's on the right side and JM1 goes in, then JM2 then me and the stroller is on my left this time. The previews start and I realize what a mistake we have made. Where we were before was under the section where the movie projector is so the ceiling is lower. Therefore they don't have huge Dolby speakers in that section. Where we moved to had giant speakers on either side of us. And they had the sound turned up so loud we could have probably just heard it at home! Needless to say, the baby wasn't so happy with the new position and didn't hesitate to let me know by way of screaming. By this time 2 other families had come in behind us so it was really too late to move all of our stuff and the baby and the monkeys. So we toughed it out and I prayed that God would spare the children's hearing.

The seats are those kind that flip up when you stand up so JM2 isn't heavy enough to keep it down. So while I held the baby, I also draped my leg over the edge of his seat to hold it down.

Since JM3 was so upset by the noise I decided to go ahead and nurse him which I had planned on doing later on while the movie was on. I took him out of the stroller and hooked him up. He did great. So all was well despite the volume for a little while. Then about 1/3 of the way into the movie, JM2 decided he was bored with where he was sitting so he got up to move to the seat on the other side of JM1. That was fine with me. He held the seat down and proceeded to enter the seat feet first. Then the seat popped back up and he got stuck. I am still nursing the baby so I can't just get up and help him and if I put the baby in the stroller he is going to scream, so I try to talk him out of it but he starts screaming that he needs help. I adjust my shirt and get up with the baby and squeeze in front of JM1 where I attempt to pick up JM2 but he is really stuck. His legs are stuck through the back of the chair. I attempt again to lift him out but to no avail. One leg pops out but the other one is not moving. JM3 decides he will have no more of this jostling around and proceeds to tell me so. I maneuver the baby somehow to be able to hold the seat down and wedge JM2's leg out of the seat where I find out that his sandal is caught on something behind the seat. I stick my hand through the seat and figure out what has to be done and then I pull his leg out. (Thank goodness there wasn't anyone directly behind him!) At that point JM2 decides that he no longer wants to watch the movie and starts to cry. JM3 is already screaming because of the all the commotion. I decide that since it is JM2's birthday that he is the one that needs to stop crying first so I put the baby in the stroller which makes him scream even more. I get JM2 and hold him in my lap and ask him if his feet still hurt and if he's ok. JM3 is not quieting down so I reach into the diaper bag and get a container of baby food which I manage to open with one hand and start to feed him as fast as I can with my left hand. (I am right handed but the right one is holding JM2.) JM3 is really not interested in what I am trying to do so although he stops screaming, he is still making way to much noise for the movies. JM2 decides he doesn't want to sit in my lap anymore so he starts moving to jump down but all the food we bought is on the floor directly in front of me in the jumbo food container. I quickly tell him to not jump but he is intent on it and starts to scoot off my lap. I grab his arm and yank him back just as he was getting down into the popcorn and put him in the seat next to me. He starts throwing a fit as does JM3. He is so upset that he hits my arm in his fit and knocks the babyfood spoon that I was holding onto the floor. So no more babyfood! I pick up JM3 to comfort him he snuggles up for a second. Meanwhile JM1 is oblivious to everything. I don't think he even knew that JM2's legs were stuck! After about 5 minutes, I see that JM2 has taken one of his shoes off. I tell him to NOT take the other one off and I put the shoe in the stroller so we don't loose it. JM3 starts to fuss again and so I stand up to bounce him. He needs to be walking around so I tell the boys I am going to be right back and I take JM3 for a walk to the back of the theater. I can still see the boys and they are doing great as is JM3. That last for about 3 minutes. JM2 gets up and runs to the back of the theater where I am. He only has one shoe on. Great.

I lead him back to the seats and we sit down. JM3 has pretty much had enough of the movies but we still have about 40 more minutes! I try to calm the baby down by bouncing him on my lap while he is standing and he seems to be in a fairly happy mood so things go ok for a few more minutes unless I stop the bouncing. JM2 takes off his other shoe and hands it to me.

Finally we are in the home stretch. The movie is almost over and JM3 has settled down enough for me to attempt to nurse him again. As the credits start rolling I look down and he's asleep. Figures.

The lights come on and I hand JM2 his shoes and proceed to clean up our mess.

We grab lunch on the way out of the mall and head home. At home, JM2 will not eat his lunch so he goes to nap immediately. I haven't had much sleep the last few nights, so I read a few verses in my Bible, talk to God for a minute and then take what I thought would be a 25 minute nap. I woke up an hour later to the baby crying. He got a nap also.

So we get up and open Nana and Uncle J's presents. Then the monkeys play in the packing peanuts and I try to figure out what to do for dinner. Red Robin wins. I'm not sure why but maybe I just like the idea of spending $10 for a hamburger. Who knows? So we (me and all three monkeys) head to Red Robin and get a table right away. JM3 gets cheerios immediately and we get our drinks and place our order. The monkeys were pretty good at that time. But then the food took a while and by the time it got there. JM2 was just done. Literally, he was done. He wouldn't eat, drink, sit still, sit in his chair or mind me in any way. And JM1 decided he was tired of the sitting up part of the high chair so he tried to lay back in it. He was doing it pretty well but it couldn't have been comfortable. I pulled out the Gerber Stage 3 Chicken and Vegetable Dinner I brought for him. He snarfed that up, but I had to hold him after a while because he wouldn't sit up. Then JM2 wanted to sit in my lap so I hold him too. I finally was able to get all the older kids in their chairs so I could eat my Turkey burger. I told the waiter to bring on the sundaes and he just looked at me like he felt my pain. I hate it when they do that. For one thing, nobody had started crying so it was still a successful meal. And even though I paid $10 for that Turkey Burger and had to wolf it down, I still didn't' have to cook it myself or clean up afterwards so all in all it was a great meal. They came and sang the cute s birthday song to JM2 and we got outta there.

Tomorrow is Carsons Birthday celebration at preschool. I am supposed to bring stuff for the class. Nothing fancy, but more than I have at home so we had to make a quick stop at HEB. The kids were GREAT and amazingly we got in and got out in record time.

When we got home, Memaw and Pawpaw called to sing happy birthday to JM2 and I threw all their jammies on and put them in bed.

Heavy Sigh. This day is over!

Just another Tuesday

Last night we took JM2 to the ER since JM1 slammed a door into JM2 which forced the plastic tube he was holding in his mouth into JM2's soft palate. He's ok just a little shook up but it kinda set the tone for today. Everyone got up late (except the baby, of course) and our morning got off to a slowish start. We (me and all the monkeys) headed to Target to get JM1 some jammies. JM2 has so many he can't shut the drawer and JM1 has 2 pair! So we went to remedy that problem. Target with all three of my monkeys can be somewhat harrowing, so we did the Shopping-at-Target ritual where the kids share a bag of popcorn and slurpees for everyone (except JM3) We got situated with our stuff and heading on over to the boys clothing section. We found the jammies and I got him 4 pairs so he would have plenty. (spongebob, and spiderman)

Then I decided to go see the hard floor vacs. They had one on sale but it was sold out so I was looking at all the others. JM1 and JM2 found some kid recliners on a floor shelf and decided to take a load off and sit down to wait on me. All of a suddden I hear a loud crash and a shelf holding 2 more chairs has fallen on top of my monkeys and they are screaming. I run to pull the shelf off (as did a Targeteer) The boys were ok but they had literally pulled the shelf above them on top of themselves! And somehow JM2 had made his toes get tangled up in his sandal straps and it had cut off his circulation and he was crying about that. I have no idea how his toes even got involved in all of this, but we fixed his shoes and he seemed to be ok. The Target lady kept asking over and over again if he was ok. (can you say Lawsuit?!) Of course it was the boys fault and they were ok so I wouldn't even think about doing something like that, but I could tell that she thought I might. Right after that another Targetian came over and asked if I needed help getting a vac. I told him that the one I wanted was gone and he said he would get one from the back. More waiting. The monkeys were getting restless so JM2 head butted JM1 and his popcorn spilled all over the floor which didn't go over very well with JM1. So JM2 decided he would just sit in the floor and play with the spilt popcorn. Whatever makes him still and quiet!

We got a vac and picked up a couple of other things including a bin to hold the rest of the Easter stuff. JM3 had had enough shopping and didn't hesitate to let the world know just before we got to checkout. We paid and they were loading our cart up when the checker noticed that the lid I got for the bin didn't fit. Now this is my LIFE STORY! You would think by now that I would ALWAYS check the lid! So now we have to go all the way back to get the lid and of course the bin section is in Anchorage Alaska. We finally get over there - and did I mention that JM3 is done shopping? We're in the aisle and come to see that there are no lids that fit my bin. The same Targetite that helped with the vacumes went to go and get a lid but before he did another Targetonian noticed that the bin I bought was missing a wheel so I needed to get a whole new bin too! Finally, we got out of there!

I gotta go to bed.

I want to squoosh my Blackberry!

I got a new cell phone the other day since my awesome yet ancient SonyErikson T616 finally bit the Hi-techasaurus dirt. KingRob suggested a handheld so I could check email and have access to the internet while I am waiting for all those things that moms wait for e.g. the dr, the car pool line, the McD's drivethru circus, etc) So I got a Blackberry Red pearl. Very cool. Except it has one huge problem. When accessing the BB with the computer, it erases your internet and WAP browsers. I spent at least 8 hours over a two day period trying to find out how to correct this problem. There were lots of solutions that didn't work. I think I re-registerd my phone about 10 times and had them "resend the service books" about 7 times. Don't even ask me what that means! Finally I had to call CS at Cingular. After talking with a guy who literally was reading the manual to tell me what to do he told me that I need to talk to the BB specialist and transferred me over. The BB specialist was a nice guy who had all the answers so I did everything he told me to and he fixed my problem until I did the last step and it happened again. I lost my icons again! He told me to do everything again except that last step and it would work this time. Sure. So I did. Nothing. Now, I have been researching and downloaded and re downloading for the majority of the day just to fix this silly "little" problem. I have 3 kids which I have neglected today simply to have internet on my phone! I am going to get a new one tomorrow. I don't have time to mess with it anymore.