Strep Take 3

That's right I have strep again. AGAIN. How is it possible that I have had it 3 times since the beginning of December? The dr said I either have a "superbug" that is resistant to the antibiotics I have been taking (unlikely) or that someone in my house is a carrier (likely). So, she recommends that everyone get treated. Which would mean 6 people on antibiotics. Lovely. So Paul is trying to get his prescription today and I will call the pedi on Monday to see what to do with the girls. My doctor even recommended that Jacob go on antibiotics but I don't know about that. Lily just got off antibiotics so hopefully she won't need to be treated again. Likely it's Paul or Emma that is the carrier. Maybe I'll ship them off together somewhere. Any takers?

A Lot on My Mind

I have a lot on my mind this 51st day of January (because it's been the longest month in the history of my recent memory)....

1. I think I have strep again. Again. AGAIN. Yes, that makes 3 times since the beginning of Dec. What the???? Why can I not get over this. I'm going to the dr this afternoon to beg for an extremely powerful antibiotic...

2. Jacob actually slept last night. I think God had pity on me (see #1) and blessed us with some sleep. Jacob had shots yesterday so he may have been a little drugged and he had a bottle with rice cereal in it before bed. Whatever...he slept...bliss...Crossing my fingers for tonight..

3. So, speaking of Jacob sleeping, our pedi recommended putting 1-2 teaspoons of rice cereal in Jacob's bottles. She thinks the sleep issues are reflux related. She also told me to sleep him in the swing if we wanted to which relieves me of some mommy guilt. I've never had a pedi tell me to put cereal in the bottle but apparently it's recommended for refluxy babies so there is more weight on their tummies. If it works again tonight Jacob will be getting a bottle with some cereal in it every single night until he's 12....

4. Thinking about reflux do you ever think that perhaps every baby these days has reflux because we don't put cereal in their bottles and that we wait so long to give them food? I mean when I was kid (as my mother tells it) we had cereal at like 2 weeks, food at 2 months and milk at 6 mos. Maybe babies tummies can't handle just milk? Just a thought. Seems every other baby I know is on reflux medicine..go figure...

5. Also, when I was in school (which I realize was a while ago) we didn't have near the allergy issues of today's kids (or asthma for that matter)...I mean maybe 1 or 2 kids couldn't drink milk but nothing like today. Makes you wonder how environmental it all is...

6. I'm seriously irritated that we are still waiting on a w-2..I mean Paul left that job in Nov..how long does it take or are they punishing us for leaving the company?

7. Big date night plans tonight: Bunk Bed shopping..don't be jealous...

First Tooth

Jacob turned 4 months on Tuesday. Today his first tooth cut through. My baby is getting too big! My girls all git their first teeth right at 5 1/2 to 6 months. It didn't occur to me that Jacob would be any different. However, over the weekend I noticed him really gnawing on his hands so I took a peek in his mouth and sure enough I could see the faint white line of a tooth. This afternoon I could feel it had cut through. Sigh...Perhaps that explains some of his night waking?

I'm a little sad about the tooth..I love, love a gummy baby smile. Luckily the teeth take a long time to grow in so I can enjoy the gummy smile a little longer...

The Great Room Switcheroo

Last night we bit the bullet and decided to go ahead and move Julia out of the nursery so that we could move Jacob into the nursery. We were going to wait until the bonus room closet was done but we (me) got tired of waiting so I suggested we just do it. We decided to keep Julia in a crib though Paul did suggest we just move her to a bed. That I am not ready for..I still need to contain her as much as possible.

During the day yesterday Lily and I moved some things around in the girls room to make room for the crib. After dinner Paul got to work. We decided that instead of taking down and moving 2 cribs (since they don't fit through doorways) we'd take down the one Jacob has been sleeping in and move Julia into that one. While Paul was moving that crib I was busy setting Jacob up in his new digs. We get the moves done and it's time for bed:

Here's a little replay of how it all went down from my perspective:
8:00 - Me nursing Jacob, Julia screaming as Paul is trying to put her down. I hear "mama, emma, mama, emma"
8:05 - Jacob in bed..I go into the girls room. Julia is still crying and screaming and now pointing to Emma's bed. I think she wants to sleep in Emma's bed. I hug her and talk to her for a little bit. She seems to calm down but refuses to lay down in the crib
8:15 - I go put my jammies on and come back to check on the girls..Julia no longer crying but still standing and pointing at Emma's bed
8:30 - Lily comes downstairs with a "boo-boo" and says Julia needs us
8:45 - hearing lots of noise from upstairs - Paul goes to investigate..all girls still awake
9:02 - Emma yells downstairs: Julia needs you...Be right up...
9:30 - Still lots of noise upstairs - Paul goes to investigate...Julia still up..no longer crying or pointing..just talking..other girls gave up and are sleeping..
10:13 - Julia is still up...will this kid ever sleep?
10:32 - I got to bed and finally Julia is asleep
11:34 - Jacob up for the first time - will not settled down..noticed he has slid halfway down the mattress..perhaps I elevated too much?
11:45 - Jacob wins and I nurse him
12:15 - Jacob up again..just needs a paci
2:40 - Jacob up again...won't settle down..end up nursing
3:08 - Jacob up again...needs a paci
4:10 - are you kidding me? what is wrong with this kid...I bring him in our room and try the travel swing..
4:40 - travel swing doesn't work..he's still up and not happy...bring him into bed to nurse and we both fall asleep
6:00 - Lily gets up to go potty
6:03 - Emma comes in "Daddy, Juju took her diaper off"...
Holy crap..this is going to be a long day...

So last night didn't go so well..clearly. Julia is napping well today so I am hopeful she will like her new room better tonight. And Jacob..who knows..he's napping well this afternoon too - that could be good...wish us luck

Is it still January?

I generally think time goes by really fast. Like I can't believe Emma is almost 6 and that her kindergarten year is more than half over. However, I seriously think this has been the longest month of my life. Between Jacob's bad sleeping habits and all these days the kids have been out of school it just seems to be dragging. I swear New Years seems like months ago instead of weeks ago.

On another note Julia's birthday party was on Saturday and was tons of fun. She's really talking more and more. Paul and I agreed tonight that she's turning out crazier than Lily...that's pretty scary..true but scary! More details of the bday party and pictures coming soon.

You Say It's My Birthday....

Happy Birthday Julia!

This time 2 years ago I was sitting in the hospital room in Milford, MA with my brand new baby girl Julia. She was born promptly on her due date despite my begging to my ob to induce me a week early. I remember being so nervous about what I would do with Emma and Lily when I went into the hospital or what if there was a snow storm (it was winter in MA after all) or what if Paul was at work (he worked an hour away). But, I need not worry..God had plans to work it out for us. He always does. My mom had come up about 4 days before so she'd be there when I had the baby. I woke up about 1:30 having contractions..I laid there and timed them and about 2:15 I woke up Paul and told him I thought this could be it. I said at 3am if I was still having regular contractions we should call the doctor. He agreed and a few minutes later he got up to go to the bathroom. While he was in there I heard this strange noise, a pop of sorts. I had no idea what it was but as I went to stand up I realized it was my water breaking. I quickly ran to the bathroom and yelled for Paul to call the doctor. We got dressed quickly and grabbed my bag (I had just packed it the night before), told mom we were leaving and were on our way. The contractions were so freaking bad on the way to the hospital..omg..I will never forget that...we got there a little after 3am and I begged for an epidural from the minute we got there. The contractions were coming about every minute..fun times..I remember Paul had this pained look on his face like he felt so sorry for me. I think I was like 5cm when we got there and thought really? that's it? I got the epidural about 3:45...at 4:10 I told Paul I felt like I needed to push...the nurse nearly didn't believe me but yes I was fully dilated at that point..So she called the dr and I started to push about 4:20...at 4:31 our little girl was born.

With Julia we did not find out if she was a boy or a girl so it was a surprise. Such a wonderful surprise! Emma had insisted that we were going to have a girl and that her name was Julia. We still have no idea where she came up with that name. So, when we she came we had to name her Julia. Her middle name is Claire..just cause we liked it. She was 7lbs. 3 oz and I have no idea how many inches. Now she's a 29lb toddler who is talking more every day, climbs like a monkey, thinks she's a daredevil and cracks us up constantly. She is true blessing and joy and our family would not be complete without her. I thank God for her every day!

Back to School!

Praise the Lord! The big girls went back to school today. On a delay but still they went! The first snow day was fun. The second got long. Luckily Emma got invited to a neighbors and my cousin Emily's boyfriend came over to play in the snow with the kids in the afternoon. Had they not gone today it probably would have sent me over the edge. I must say I think snow days are better when you don't have Monday as a holiday. Three days in a row with everyone home + snow = a very messy house and a lot of laundry.

In any event I feel totally behind this week from being home for 3 days. I had to take Julia to the dr today for her 2 year check up so that left me with little time for errand running. 25 minutes at Walmart is just not enough time for grocery shopping plus birthday party shopping (Julia's party is on Saturday). That does mean that I'll get a little time out by myself this evening to finish up.

Julia's birthday is tomorrow..hard to believe my little girl is turning 2...

Snow Cream

I remember as kid it didn't snow much but when it did we were so excited. It was great to feel that excitement again yesterday with my own kids. They were SO excited to see the snow. I came downstairs before them and I could hear them get up, look out the window and then run downstairs to tell me it snowed! So cute!

As I kid I remember going out to play, coming in with wet clothes, having hot chocolate, watching TV, going out again and repeat the cycle as much as we could in one days time. Of course the snow days were few and far between so it was exciting every time. We also looked forward to making snow cream when it snowed.

When we moved to New England I made a comment about making snow cream the first snowfall. None, and I literally mean none, of my friends there had heard of snow cream. What? I guess its some sort of regional thing? Anyway, we got to make snow cream several times while living in New England and were very excited to make it again yesterday. Emma told me she didn't remember making it in MA but when she tasted it she remembered!

So, for my New England friends who don't know about Snow Cream here is the "recipe". Please note: I hear there are several variations of this recipe but this is what we always used as a kid:

1 large bowl of clean, fresh snow
Milk
Sugar
Vanilla
Optional: Chocolate syrup for chocolate snow cream

Mix snow, milk, sugar and vanilla to taste...just keep adding until it tastes good but not too sweet. If it's too sweet add some more snow. Eat right away and freeze the rest. It does tend to melt quickly.

Can't wait to to have some more today!

Snow Day!!

They forecasted snow yesterday but who believed it really would snow? Well it did! And a lot! Well, a lot for NC! We have several inches on the ground and of course school is closed today and I'm guessing school will be closed tomorrow and possibly Thursday too....you know they are really slow to clean up snow around here. Emma has make up days on Saturday - go figure. She will actually be thrilled to go to school on Saturday but I imagine that sucks for the teachers! Year round schools.

We have been out once to play in the snow and boy was that an ordeal...it took about an hour to gather up all the clothes and get everyone ready. We were out for about 10 minutes before Emma started complaining she was cold. We stayed out about 25 minutes, made some snow angels and the kids ran around. Jacob wasn't too excited about the snow in his face. Thankfully Paul is on his way home so I can take the girls out without him later this afternoon.

The girls are super excited to have the snow! They were really cute this morning as they ran downstairs to tell me about the snow. Here are some pictures of our snow:

Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This describes Jacob..during the day I have the most wonderful baby boy. He smiles a lot, coos a lot and even laughs some. He rests nicely in his swing and for the most part he has gotten over his aversion to riding in the car. He will nap several times a day..likes to play on the floor and is considering rolling over but has not committed to it yet. He even goes to bed fairly easily around the same time as the other children.

However, around 11pm he turns into the demon child....crying, screaming and not having any of being in his crib. He may sleep for hour spurts and wants to nurse constantly at night. Last night I actually got a 2 hour stretch..the longest in several nights. What is going on with this kid? Admittedly none of my kids have been great sleepers but he takes the cake. Up until he got his cold at Christmas he was going 7 or 8 hours..it's crazy..and hard...and frustrating. I keep thinking this too shall pass, it's a phase and he will sleep eventually but at 1am when a baby is screaming in your ear that's hard to remember...anyone have any suggestions or advice. Keep in mind he's still in our room (hopefully only for another 2 weeks though as we hope to start the work on the bonus room next week) so I'm not sure I can handle crying it out until he's in his own room.

Happy Birthday Paul!

Today is Paul's birthday! Last night Nana and Papa John came over to babysit so I could take Paul out to dinner (which is really just us going out to dinner since I don't have a job and therefore can't really take him out to dinner). I wanted it to be a surprise but my sister in law let it slip that his mom was coming over Saturday so he figured it out. We went to McCormick and Schmicks which is a new to Raleigh seafood restaurant..it was delicious! I had made the reservation online and made a note that it was Paul's birthday. They presented us with a Happy Birthday menu and we got a complimentary dessert (note to self: next bday event be sure to do that again to get free dessert). The food was really good so it ended up being a good choice.

We finished dinner early so we decided to go by Circuit City since they are going out of business and see what kind of sales they had. The place was mobbed..surely if it was that busy all the time they would not be going out of business. And, there were really not any great deals. Some stuff was marked down 20% but it was mostly stuff you could get at Target or Walmart just as cheap. People were going crazy buying stuff though..just goes to show people will buy anything if they think they are getting a good deal. But I digress..this post is about Paul's birthday..

Today we went to church then out for a quick lunch with his mom and sister. We have another birthday party to go to tonight..I'm sure Paul is dying to spend his birthday evening with 20 preschoolers at Pump It Up but, it's a good friend and the kids will have a blast (we were there yesterday and Julia was a complete nut but that's another post). I had made Paul's cake on Friday so he's been able to enjoy that all weekend. We gave him his gifts this morning...3 new ties and new socks. Birthday gifts are so thrilling when you are in your mid thirties. I also figure our upcoming Disney vacation is going to be all our big birthday gifts this year.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband! I hope your day is great and that you know how loved you are!

100th Day

Today is Emma's 100th day of school...which totally amazes me that she's been in that long and also means only 80 days left of the school year. Holy crap. Anyways to celebrate the 100th day, which apparently all schools do now but I have no recollection of when I was a kid, the teacher sent a note home to have the kids dress like they were 100 years old. I had some grand ideas of how Emma could look old. However she had some grand ideas on how she was absolutely not going to participate. Seriously how can one 5 year old be so opinionated?! Anyways I decided this was one battle I didn't care to fight so no dressing up for her. Whatever. I hope all the other kids are dressed up.

Jacob - 3 months

I took the kids (well 3 of them) to TJ Maxx this afternoon to shop for Paul's birthday gift. All was going well until I banged Jacob's head on the car roof while trying to get him from the Baby Bjorn to the carseat. There goes my mother of the year award. He cried and screamed and cried and screamed and we had to cut our trip short so Paul will only get half a gift. Oh well..In any event I got some cute pictures of Jacob before the debacle and before he got a red mark on his head....I realized I had not taken any in a while so here's my little at about 3 1/2 months:

Strep Strikes Again

After selling Girl Scout cookies for 3 hours (yes..3 hours) on Sunday Lily spent the rest of the night under a blanket resting on the sofa. I thought she was just tired..I was. She woke up yesterday morning seemingly OK so I sent her to school. Her teacher said she was tired all day and didn't want to play. We got home and she went straight upstairs (no lunch) and laid on my bed. I knew then that something was wrong. She ended up falling asleep and when she woke up she was burning up. I called the pedi on the way to pick up Emma and wouldn't you know they told me to bring her right in. It really helps when you are super nice to the receptionist, btw. I had told them about my history with strep and so they did a test and so yes, Lily has the evil bug. We went straight to Target to fill the prescription. It was, btw, my first outing to such a place with all 4 children. I must say it was pretty successful..it helps when one doesn't feel well and one is still in the infant carrier.

So, she's on an antibiotic now..for 10 days. She's been fine today - no fever and she's acting like her old self again. She stayed home from school today but I'm hopeful the fever will not return tonight and that she can go back tomorrow. When I told her she had to stay home today she said "I don't want to miss fun". Bless her heart. I don't think she minds having strep - she was actually excited to have her very own medicine. Weird. I know....

A Selling We Will Go

At 9am this morning it officially became Girl Scout Cookie time! And since Emma is a Daisy Scout that means she has to sell cookies. Yeah? I thought Daisies didn't sell cookies but it seems that's so last year and now they do. So we got our cookie info yesterday and planned to meet up with the 3 other scouts (2 Brownies, 1 other Daisy) to go selling this morning. Paul had to work so I dragged all the kids with us (which actually worked out better than expected). I thought Emma might be too shy to talk to strangers but not so much. Nicole (the experienced Brownie who previously had the Kitts Creek market cornered graciously helped the little girls) went first and after that Emma seemed to get the hang of it. I'm sure we were quite a site - there ended up being 3 Girl Scouts plus 4 siblings standing at the door when people opened it. Generally people were so very nice and I think every house we went to that answered the door actually bought cookies (thank you kind neighbors). The girls did a great job taking turns and there were even a few houses who bought from all 3 of the them. Now Emma is on a "cookie high" so to speak and wants to call everyone she knows to ask them to buy cookies. She wants to sell 100 boxes..my oh my...we'll be hitting the pavement again tomorrow so neighbors beware (though we don't anticipate as many siblings tomorrow)! And family beware..Emma will be calling!

ROYGBIV in NC

You know I was feeling so crappy yesterday (I am a little better today in case you were wondering)..I was sitting at the computer listening to the kids fight (ugh) and I got up to come in the family room. It had all of a sudden gotten really dark and started to rain and as I walked by the back door this caught my eye:

Isn't it beautiful? I quickly called the kids to see and they were so excited. We so rarely see rainbows here (unlike my friend Amy in Hawaii who just blogged about how she sees them all the time)..especially a double rainbow! It was really vibrant and so beautiful. We then checked out the front door and we saw it from this angle:

The girls and I talked about how we believe a rainbow is a symbol of God's promise to flood the earth again. It really did bring some joy to otherwise really crappy day.

PSA

To My Family:
I am sick..I feel like crap that's c.r.a.p. Please note that for the next 24-36 hours until my antibiotic fully kick in I will be doing the following: sitting on the couch. That's it. The house cleaning, cooking and laundry will be neglected. Sorry..you will just have to wear some of the clothes in your drawers instead of your favorite outfit every other day. I know it's cruel and unusual punishment but I am sorry. Sometimes a mom just has to take care of herself first. I need to get well. I need to kick this strep thing. I hope you understand.

Please keep the yelling, fighting, screaming and general grouchiness to a minimum. Please. Please. Do not come bug me unless you are puking or bleeding or one of your sisters is. Please remember Daddy is home this time to help. Thank God.

I will return to your normal house cleaning, laundry doing, cooking mother very soon. I hope.

Love,
Mom

Strep. Again.

So it seems that I have a strepish infection in my throat. Again. Second time in a month. We don't know if I just didn't get rid of it the first time or if I got it again. I can't imagine why my immune system is weak right? I mean I only have 4 kids running around, coming off the stress of the holidays and nursing a baby who doesn't seem to want to sleep at night anymore. Fun times.

I started feeling a little scratchy on Monday night and when I woke up yesterday I knew I had the beginnings of something yucky. So last night I went to the Minute Clinic..this time not such a good experience. She refused to give me antibiotics until she had a positive throat culture which won't come back until Thursday..as in tomorrow afternoon! Are you kidding me? I am in pain! I can't eat or drink much..pain.

Went to bed last night and woke up about 5am in the worst pain since childbirth. Also my tonsils are about the size of hockey pucks or at least it feels that way. I knew I had to get to a doctor pronto. I drag myself downstairs to research urgent cares and found one down the road that opened at 7:30..yippee..I was going to go beg for drugs and be home for carpool. Well..didn't so much work out like planned. I was there forever and they did a rapid strep test (negative) and a mono test (mono? I thought only 10th grade girls got mono? Apparently not) which was also negative. The doctor who could not have been nicer said I clearly had an infection of some kind, was surprised the np at the Minute Clinic didn't start me on an antibiotic. So thank God I left there with a prescription....which I promptly went and filled and took. One dose down...Thank heavens. I am hopeful tomorrow I will be feeling better.

Both the doctor and nurse I saw think one of my kids may have strep and not know it? How is that possible? They recommended having them tested...guess I need to add that to the list cause I don't want to do this again. On the plus side it does help you lose weight quickly when you can't eat...of course all that you want to eat are Frappachinos and milkshakes but still...

Birthday Month

You may be wondering why I changed my background to Happy Birthday..well...it's because it's a birthday month here at the Potter household. Paul's up first on the 18th (I won't mention how old he is turning) then my baby girl Julia turns 2 on the 23rd. Apparently it's a birthday month for a lot of people as we've gotten invitations to 3 other parties in the last 2 days. Two of the parties are at the same place a day apart...Pump It Up..here we come...

I love birthdays and planning parties though it can stress me out a little. I made the mistake of telling Emma I had an idea for her party in March and now she wants to talk about it constantly and make the invitations.

Off to go work on Julia's invites..a Mickey Mouse theme this year!

9 Things for '09

I've been reading on my friend's blogs about their New Years Resolutions so that got me thinking. I don't have a great history of making resolutions or keeping them for that matter but, I thought maybe this year I'd try a few. You know..new year/new you or something like that. So here are 9 things I want to do in 2009. Some are easy...some not so much but I'll try...

1. Eat Less/Move More - I have got to get rid of this baby weight....
2. Ride Space Mountain - We go to Disney in 9 weeks!
3. Wear makeup more often
4. Stop nursing..forever
5. Stop calling it a "goal" and start calling it a "budget" and stick to it (at least more often)
6. Ride a bike - I have not ridden one in years..I mean like maybe since I got my drivers license which was longer ago than I care to admit...
7. Finish all my book club books
8. Play with my kids more
9. Be more appreciative of my husband and what he does for our family

Overheard

While shopping at Belk's last night I overheard to old ladies talking about fashion. They were lamenting the fact that they couldn't find dresses anymore. One of the ladies remarked that today all maternity clothes are fitted and made with spandex while regular clothes are loose and flowy. While I hadn't really thought about that she was dead on. This last time I was pregnant I bought several shirts from the non-maternity section because they were looser than the maternity ones. Just thought that was an interesting observation from some 70+ year old ladies.

I also want to send some sanity vibes to my friend Amy. Her husband has pneumonia and is off of work for a week while at the same time her kindergartener is in the last week of her school vacation. We all know how it is to have a sick hubby home for a week but add a bored 5 year old girl...Lord help her! Amy..I know you know..but it's always 5 o'clock somewhere!

Retail Therapy

There is nothing like some child free (well mostly child free..Jacob was with me) shopping to brighten your "school vacation is lasting forever" spirits. Today Paul and I left the girls with my mom for some Gagi time and we hit the outlets. We both had some gift cards from Christmas and since they were burning a hole in our pockets we wanted to use them. I was also hoping to score some post-Christmas deals on clothes for the kids. The outlets didn't disappoint. It was pure bliss to be able to shop without hearing any of the following words: "I want that", "Can we buy that", "I don't like that", "I won't wear that", "she hit me", "did not"...you get the picture...Though Paul was with me we split up and did our own thing which worked out well. I got some great deals..I treated myself and got some things for the kids. We got a bunch of stuff for Jacob...a ton of stuff actually. It's still a little strange to buy boy clothes but fun! I know boy stuff gets less cute as they get older but right now the infant boy stuff is so cute..especially at Carters. Paul and I are doing our part to keep the economy going...

Happy New Year!

Paul and I rang in the new year in the most uneventful New Year we've had together (with the possible exception of 2006 when I was 36 weeks pregnant). We had leftovers for dinner, played with the kids, put them to bed, played wii Monopoly and watched random TV shows. We did actually make it up till New Years but then went to bed at 12:02. Happy New Year...


Yesterday we had our annual black beans and collards lunch with my father in law then headed down to Myrtle Beach for a post holiday long weekend. My mom was thrilled we were coming so she volunteered to keep all 3 girls at her house while Paul, Jacob and I stayed at their old condo. Can you say vacation? A vacation now is being without children who don't talk or whine.


We're leaving the girls with mom all day today. I'm ready to hit the outlets and see what deals I can find. I'm curious to see how Julia did last night with no crib and no mommy....

Happy New Year! Hope your new year is off to a great start!