Friday, February 25, 2011

Steroids

I'm exhausted.  I have terrible eczema on my hands that I've learned, after extensive testing, is caused by my allergy to MCI/MI (methylchloroisothyazolinone and methylisothyazolinone)... aka, everything that I touch. 

MCI/MI are preservatives used in cleaning products, so I have to check labels on every hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, baby wipes, cleaning products, laundry and dish detergent, etc.  If something doesn't have a label (like soap in a public restroom) then I absolutely do not use it.  Well apparently I've gotten into something that I shouldn't have because I'm having a serious breakout that I haven't been able to get under control. I went to my dermatologist today- who is awesome- and she gave me a new steroid ointment to use, which for normal people means put some on and forget about it.

However, because I don't have normal skin, this is how I have to use it:
At bedtime...
1. Squirt about a quarter of the giant tube onto the breakout area (right now, all over)
2. Make sure it's unbearably uncomfortable
3. Put cotton socks over my hands to increase the misery
4. Sleep

Tonight the sleep portion of my routine isn't happening because I'm having an allergic reaction to the steroid.  I am miserable. I've washed the ointment off of my hands, taken a Benadryl and sat with ice packs on my hands for about an hour.  It's 1:00 a.m. and I'm wide awake.  And miserable.  Must.  Sleep.  Now.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

A Look Back: C

I'm feeling nostalgic today as our sweet little girl C will be five in a few days.  This is a look back on the last (almost) five years with her...

Hello Mommy!

Happy to be home

Discovering her nummy fummy

SUMMER!

This was in her "I love everything orange" phase... see the orange nose?

She loved sledding

Happy First Birthday!

Mothers Day at the zoo

Sleepy morning in Hilton Head

Cutest elephant ever!

Decorating the tree

Fashionista

Look who's two!

Summer vacation
What a great big sister!

Picking pumpkins

First haircut

Spring

Decorating mommy's birthday cake

First day of preschool, 3 years old

Merry Christmas!

Happy fourth birthday!
Easter 2010

First day of Pre-K

Deep thoughts

Almost five...

We love you!


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Fly Lady

I haven't blogged for a while, so it's about that time.  I don't really know what I'm going to write about, so we'll just see what comes to me... 

I've been trying really hard to simplify our life- a cluttered house is a cluttered life, right?  A few weeks ago I signed up for this website that I've seen on a few mom blogs, flylady.com.  It's a website that pretty much tells you what to clean every day.  It's kind of, ummmmm... over the top (doing a home blessing every Sunday), and I don't follow it to the letter, but it gives you a really good start and great ideas.  The main one being: you can do anything for 15 minutes.  So I've been trying this and it really works, when I see something that is bugging me, like the huge growing clutter pile on our kitchen counter, I set the microwave timer for 15 minutes and do as much as I can in that time.  I'm going to be honest though, it usually doesn't take more than 15 minutes.  Another flylady thing that I've subscribed to is doing a load of laundry every morning.  After we're all dressed I gather up all of the laundry from the day before and throw it in the wash.  When it's done I put it away- immediately (I've learned that this part is really important because if I don't do it right away, it will sit in a basket until it's all dirty again and going back down to the wash).  This may seem simple to you, but for me it was an epiphany.  And I love it.

New topic...
C is sick.  She started with a hoarse voice and runny nose on Saturday, and woke up with a fever Sunday morning.  She didn't have school on Monday for President's Day (which we celebrated by doing a US Presidents floor puzzle) so she didn't miss school for being sick, and today she seemed to be feeling better and went to school.  She did fine at school, but soon after was complaining that her ear hurt (a new symptom) and had a fever.  Tomorrow we'll be at the doctor.  Last time she had an ear infection she vomited in the car all the way to and from the doctor because her equilibrium was off.... pray for me tomorrow!

Last but not least- G is addicted to lipstick, and when I say lipstick I mean anything that you put on your lips.  She carries it with her wherever she goes and I have to really watch how much she puts on because I'm afraid she's going to poison herself with Minnie Mouse chapstick.  Today she told me, "I left my lipstick in my car, I'm going to run out and get it".  She's not my little baby anymore!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Noah's Ark

This week is "N" week in C's class.  All of the kids bring in something that starts with the letter N for show-and-tell, and they read books and do art projects based around the letter of the week.  Because C goes to a catholic school, many of her projects are based on bible stories.  This week has been about Noah's Ark, here is a picture of today's project:


As we were driving home I was asking the usual after-school questions- What did you do today? Nothing.  Who did you play with? No one.  Did you learn anything new today? No.- and getting the usual answers.  I finally got somewhere when I asked if they talked about Noah's Ark.

"Yeah.  Noah had a huge boat and he took a whole bunch of animals on it and he had places for them to sleep and places for them to do their business.  And he took his wife."

Ah, the mind of a four year old!  She was also telling me about how they still have a subway teacher (aka substitute teacher) and she's really pretty and young like when I used to be in college.  Thanks for the reminder, C.

In G news, as I was folding laundry and the sun was shining through the window onto the wall I spotted something.  See if you can see it...


Those are two footprints on the wall behind the couch.  G footprints to be exact.  I don't know how they got there (and I don't think I want to know) because they're pretty high up on the wall, but the wall has been wiped clean.  I wonder what the rest of the day has to bring?

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Showing Some Love

Yesterday (Monday) was Valentines Day, but D and I celebrated early on Saturday- date night!!!  C and G stayed at their grandma and grandpa's house for the night and D and I went out to dinner at McCormack & Schmick's (DELISH!) then to the movies to see The Fighter (I heart Mark Wahlberg).  It was a really fun evening and long overdue.  We're going to *try* to schedule a date night every two weeks.  We're starting a list of restaurants that we want to try... although some of them are in NY and LA... not sure how that will work on a random Thursday night out... hmmmm.

Yesterday the REAL Valentines Day was pretty crazy.  As you know, I had to make treat bags for C's class.  I got some really cute stuff (pink cups with hearts, heart pencils, heart erasers, candy, candy, candy) and the night before I started to lay everything out to assemble the bags.  The 25-count bag of treat bags only had 21 bags in it, and I needed 24 bags, so I was in trouble because at this point it was about 8:00 on Sunday night and the store was closed.  Yesterday morning I headed back out to the store to pick up another pack of bags, and they were all out!  I hurriedly picked up a different set of bags and rushed everyone back out to the car to assemble these last three treat bags before lunch and school.  I opened the pack and the bags were 24x27 inches- HUGE!  I ended up tearing the bags into misshapen squares and kind of wrapping them around the cups- so ugly. I feel bad for the kids that got those treat bags! 

Anyway, I lost track of time while I was fashioning my "bags" and when I finally finished it was 11:45 and C had to be at school in 15 minutes, and I hadn't fed the kids lunch yet.  I ran through Wendy's and ordered them each a cheese burger (no kids meal, no fries, just the burger) and milk and yelled at C to hurry up and eat while I drive because we were late for school!  She's in the back shoving the burger in her mouth and gagging because she was taking such big bites, it was horrible.  We get to school and we're running through the parking lot and C says "I'm still hungry, mommy!".... like a screwdriver to the heart!  We got her into school in time and I had a nice snack ready for her after school, but I definitely wasn't winning any Mother Of The Year awards!

Last night D took his girls (us) our for a V-Day dinner at Liberty Tavern... and it was kids eat free night, so we killed two birds with one stone!  We met D there after work, so he was still in his ACU's (uniform, for all you civilians), and he might as well have been Matt Damon, people were patting him on the back, shaking his hand, someone bought him a beer- crazy!  We've been there a million times, and probably 800,000 of those times D was in uniform, I guess people were feeling generous and patriotic yesterday.  An anonymous couple in the restaurant ended up buying our entire dinner and left us a note thanking D for his service, it was so nice!  All of the military love was just what he needed after a particularly hard day at work, and we're very thankful.  It was a really nice way to start the week!

Happy Valentines Day!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Shoplifting

I needed to get out of the house this evening, and D wanted some quality time with the girls (such a good daddy) so I headed out for some "me" time.  I got some dinner at Pei Wei and went for my typical me time Target run. Why?  Because Target is my night club.  I was looking at belts and wondering which size to get so I slipped a few around my waist and and decided on one and stuck it in the cart.  Approximately 30 seconds later I had red shirts all over me (Target lingo for sales associates).  They were watching me out of the corner of their eye, peeking around end caps and asking me if I needed help.  They thought I was shoplifting!

I know how to spot a shoplifter, I've worked in retail at the most shoplifted store ever (in my opinion), Gap.  Let me tell you about shoplifters.  They are teenage girls, ghetto girls with empty shopping bags, girls with shifty eyes, girls with giant pregnant bellies and a thong hanging out the back of their skin tight see through white PINK sweatpants, teenage boys in an emo phase (you know who you are!)... I am none of these.  Another big clue that I'm not a shoplifter is that I had the merchandise IN THE CART!

After about a half hour of wandering the store looking at all the cute C and G clothes, mommy shoes, books, pink valentines plates, etc., I was in the toy aisle checking out the Leapster games for C's birthday coming up.  A teenage male red shirt came up and asked if I needed anything.  His face was really red like he was super nervous and I couldn't help myself, I started asking him really in-depth questions about the Leapster games: "How much does Dora really speak Spanish in this one?", "Does this Tinkerbell game have all the same fairies that were in the movie?", "Which game focuses the most on math?".  He was sweating big time.  He said "uhhhhh.  I don't know."  And ran.

They still watched me- but from a distance- and that was fine with me.  I made my point: don't talk to me.  At the exit there was a red shirt with a security guard and I was praying they would stop me so I could really lay into them.  But they didn't.  Bummer. 

My me time was good tonight.  I got my belt, was home by 9:30, kids were in bed, kitchen clean, D watching hockey.  It's going to be a good weekend.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Kung Fu Fighting

This is a totally normal day in our house.  Keep your eye on G on the trampoline, and watch to the end, it gets more intense...


She got her moves from her daddy!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Typical

It's been pointed out to me that I need pictures, and I agree.  So here are some pictures of us:

This is C, on her way out to a protest...

A typical relaxing Saturday morning of drinking coffee and reading the paper...

This was New Years Eve.  We know how to party gaga style!


These last two were from this morning.
G was serenading Sam in her showgirl shoes...

And threatening me with scissors.

From now on I'll try to put pics with the posts.  One last funny thing that happened today: I took C to school and her teacher pulled me aside and thanked me for volunteering to bring treat bags for the Valentines Day party.  She said that C said that I would be "so excited" to do that for the class.  I'm happy to do it, I just thought it was funny that she offered my services, and that the teacher took the offer from a four year old...hmmm.  Makes me wonder what else C is saying at school.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Clean Teeth and Compost Worms

This one's going to be random. 

As an update:

1. D did not quit his job.  Instead he's going to find things to do that he enjoys outside of work.  I'm thinking this will lead to a life in the political arena, but we'll see.
2. G is still wearing dresses every day.  Last night she wore a Snow White dress to Max & Erma's, and she was stunning.
3. My arm is still not broken.
4. We still don't know what's for dinner.  But I did have a breakdown where I apologized to D for not being the wife and stay-at-home-mom that I should be and having dinner on the table for him when he gets home from work every day.  He laughed and assured me that wasn't what he was looking for, so I'm breathing a sigh of relief.  Although, he also said something along the lines of "I like my own cooking better than yours anyway"... I'm choosing to look past that.

That's it for the update, here's what's going on this week:

C had a dentist appointment this week, it was her third appointment since she first started going to the dentist and she's a pro.  The hygienist was really impressed at how clean her teeth were (props to me and D) and she loved having her teeth scrubbed with the cookie dough toothpaste (I find the idea of this flavor repulsive).  Last time they tried to take x-rays but her mouth was still too small and the little biter-things made her gag, but this time she fought through the gag reflex and got three beautiful x-rays.  I was so proud I cried a little... pathetic, I know!  It's the little things.  G got to "ride the chair" in preparation for next time when she, too, will get her teeth cleaned.  She even let the hygienist poke around in her mouth, so she got to pick a toothbrush- Dora in a samba outfit.  C chose a pink Belle toothbrush, which was to be expected.

I'm trying to decide how to bring up the idea of vermicomposting to D.  Vermicomposting is basically sticking your food waste in a bin with worms in it to break it down into a fertilizer.  Not glamorous, but it is what it is.  We've been really good about recycling, and we think it's important to teach the kids that caring for the earth and reusing materials is an important thing, and to me this feels like the next step.  As we're taking out the trash much less often than we used to before we recycled (usually about 2x/week, which is great for a family of 4), I've noticed that the food scraps really start to get stinky- especially the banana peels.  Eew.  So I want to explore vermicomposting as a possibility.

The reason I don't think that D will be enthusiastic about my idea is because we really should keep the composting bin inside while it's so cold out.  This means having a bin of rotten food with worms in it somewhere INSIDE of our house.  Double eew.  But as soon as the weather is warm enough we could move it outside.  We'll see how this conversation goes, I might have to give him a few beers before I bring it up!

Last but not least, I cleaned out our master bedroom closet yesterday.  I got rid of two HUGE boxes of clothes, shoes, robes, junk, that I'm giving to Goodwill.  C helped me and was a really big help, she loaded all of the donated items into the boxes for me.  It was nice of her to help, and she did a great job.  And now we can see the floor of the closet!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Ice Ice Baby

Tuesday night I had a little run in with the mailbox.

It started out as a crappy day when I woke up with a stiff neck.  You know the kind when you can't turn your head to one side or look up or down without shooting pain.  Fun.  Anyway, school was cancelled for C because of a major snow/ice storm the night before and she was super grouchy, I was hurting, and the stiff neck was giving me a major headache.  The weather wasn't cooperating either, it continued to sleet all day, and as the day went on the temperatures dropped and we ended up with an inch of ice covering, well, everything.

D bathed C and G (that's usually his job), and we wrestled them to bed.  Just as we were tucking them in the lights flickered a few times and went out.  That was it.  The electricity was off for what would turn out to be the next 12 hours, and it was about 5 degrees outside.  So what would you do if the electricity went out?  Go to bed?  D decided to pay bills.    I had to go out to get the mail to be sure we had all of the bills in the house.  As I said earlier, EVERYTHING was covered in an inch of ice. 

Turns out, everything includes the mailbox. 

So after the day I had, and the headache, and the stiff neck, I decided to punch the mailbox.  A few times.  It worked, the ice broke, but I hurt myself.  Within ten minutes I had a huge bruise forming on my wrist.  It hurt on Wednesday, but it killed on Thursday.  I ended up spending three hours- my entire evening- in the ER just to have an X-ray and for them to tell me that it was not in fact broken, and punching a mailbox wasn't a wise choice.  Oh, and to ask me if I "feel safe" at home.  This made me laugh!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

I Don't Look Beautiful

G will only wear dresses.  This began about three weeks ago when I got her dressed in her jeans and adorable long sleeved tee, she looked at herself and began to cry, "I don't look beautiful".  No matter how much I try to convince her, she is sure that she does not look beautiful unless she's wearing a dress.  We have ONE winter appropriate dress.  One.  So the other six days of the week she wears a summer dress with a long sleeved tee and jeans under it.  Or a dress up dress.  Right now it's a too-big Snow White dress, a tiara and Uggs.

C gets in on it too when she gets the urge.  Yesterday D met me on my way to an appointment and he took the kids to do some grocery shopping.  He didn't realize until he got them out of the car that they were both wearing floor-length lime green and purple Tinkerbell dresses.  Oops!  D was in his Army ACU's, and the girls were in full costume.  We catch some fun looks from strangers.

It's okay though.  We're cultivating our kids sense of self and allowing them to make choices on their own.  And it makes them feel good.  Who cares if they look like they just left a taping of Toddlers and Tiaras meets Last American Cowboy?  They like it and we do too.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Spelling

Before we get too far into this blogging thing, I want to acknowledge the fact that I cannot spell.  Spelling has never been my strong suit.  D pointed out to me that "kindergarten" was spelled wrong in the last post.  It happens, and if you're reading this you should probably get used to it.