Snow Day and Memories from Past

Well, another January with snow days for us! Todd was BEYOND excited to see the snow when he woke up! He came running into the room and said, "Mom, the weatherman got it right. There is snow and enough we can play in. Please tell me I don't have to go to school. I want to play all day in it!" At 5:55 am, this child was dressed and ready to hit the snow. I stumbled out of bed, assured him we would play in the snow, but not quite so early in the morning. Steve had to go to work, so that left us here to play without daddy. That made Max a little sad to be having fun without daddy. I told him when daddy got home from work, they could go out and play in the snow again. That perked both boys up and off to the cold, blustery snow we went. Max couldn't find his gloves, so he had socks on his hands and WalMart bags! The first thing Todd did was make a snow angel. He hasn't quite learned to pace himself in the snow! After a couple of snow angels, he decided to run down the sidewalk to make himself warm! When that didn't work, he decided it was time to go in and warm up! Once inside, oatmeal and hot chocolate were ordered by all to warm up! Later, Todd decided to brave the elements again! Todd comes in from the second round of snow playing and says (with a straight face), "Mom, breathe on my feet. They are cold and your breath will warm them right up." I put him in the tub!! To pass the afternoon, we were looking at old pictures. I came across a couple of videos, that had both boys laughing hysterically! The best was of Max when he was 4 years old!

Then, we found this one of Max singing songs for us. He hasn't stopped with his silliness either!

And not to be undone, Todd saw this video and said "I never talked like a baby. AND, why would I tell you to put me night night!"

Well, son, that's how you roll! You have always told us exactly what you wanted. You said what you meant and you meant what you said!

So, daddy finally made it in. The sled came out and fun was had by all! Daddy is so much fun (just a big kid himself!). Here are some pics of the snow fun!



Daddy pulling the boys on the sled down the sidewalk





My turn! The boys pulled me on the sled and didn't make me fall off OR complain that I was to heavy to pull. Hmmm....maybe I should look into a dog sled competition for them!

Memory Lane

So, here we are in October, the month where it seems anything wrong that is going to happen, will happen in this month. Aside from August, October is proving to hold true for us!

I have been in pain for weeks, and finally went to the doctor. She finds blood in the urine and says either kidney infection or kidney stones. Her office will set up a CT and then I will go to a Urologist either way, since I shouldn't keep getting either kidney stones or kidney infections. Well, heavens if I had known the trouble her scheduling nurse had in doing his job, I would've been better off at the Emergency Room. I guess since I have a high threshhold of pain, they look at me and think they can take their time in scheduling things. Well, it took a lot of persistance on my part but finally got the ct scheduled.

The CT was read in record speed, I had a call the next morning with the results, Kidney stones again. The nurse said the dreaded words, "Matt will be making an appointment for you and calling you in a couple of hours." Well, Mr. I Can't Do My Job still hasn't called me. I have called several times and they have excuses and I have the name of the Medical Director for Utica Park Clinic and a very nice letter drafted for him. I find it offensive that Mr. I Can't Do My Job has a job in the capacity that he has. I am sure there are other people out there in that practice receiving the same level of customer service but might not be as aggressive as I am! FRUSTRATING!

So, with that said, the ever so lovely hives that came with the last kidney stones, YES, they are back too! It has been two years since the last go around with all this. I am starting to think somehow the kidney stones are contributing to the hives. BUT, YES I am self medicating because Mr. I Can't Do My Job would have to get me a referral to the dermatologist and that would probably take him until sometime in 2012 to get that accomplished.

I am afraid of what our medical care will become in the near future. If this is ANY sign of how it *might* be, I DON'T LIKE IT, NOT ONE LITTLE BIT.

Shhh...be quiet....

In a family of all boys, I try to be queen at all times and a queen doesn't want to hear boy parts referred to in their proper terms so we use "unique" names! In this house, we have equipment and a bag of tools. You figure out which is what.

So, Todd has been having to go to the bathroom ALL the time. If we take to long to get out of the house, he gets upset because "now I have to go potty again." I really was thinking of taking the kid to the doctor, but then I remember back to all the times I had to go potty growing up and chalked it up to my paybacks from child years!

The first day of school is upon us, we are running around trying to get out of the house and in all the commotion Todd says....

"Shhh....be quiet, you are going to wake up my equipment and then I will have to go potty AGAIN." We all quietly tiptoed out of the house!

Dr Visit

Max has been complaining for a couple of weeks of his stomach hurting. So on Friday, we take him to the doctor. He explains to the doctor what all is happening and the goings on with his body. He proceeds to tell the doctor, "We are here to get to the bottom of what is going on with my body." Max is being very dramatic and VERY expressive. The doctor tells him he wants to take an xray of his stomach, Max agrees that is probably the right thing to do!

So, off Max goes to xray and when he comes back, he proceeds to tell us how safe radiation is and he is sure no harm will come to him from that machine. Explains to us the sounds the machine made and really there is no harm from having a xray taken (poor nurse, I am sure she had 100 questions thrown at her!) When the Doctor comes in, he looks at us and says, "Max is well, full of poop, that's a lot of what is going on."

Max says, "I forgot to tell you I swallowed gum on accident a couple weeks ago, did you see that or do you think I pooped it out already?"

The doctor explains that no he couldn't see it and told us and Max to eat more fruits and vegetables and food with more fiber. Max quizzes the doctor on healthy choices and tells him he really likes salad and will eat from the salad line at school three of the five days. THEN......

Max says, "Well, we were planning on eating Taco Bueno for lunch, that's a bit healthy for you. I was planning on eating fruits and vegetables there."

I am sitting there trying to contain my laughter, the doctor is smiling and listening, Max continues....

"See, I figure I would get a kid's meal and I would choose the taco. On my taco comes meat, which is fiber, lettuce which is a vegetable and tomato, which is a fruit. Now most people think tomatoes are vegetables, but really it is a fruit. So, that is what I plan for lunch, sound good Doctor?"

He laughs, and says, "Yes, I believe it is."

Ornery.....

If you looked up the word ornery in the dictionary you would find "Steve" followed by "Todd." Unfortunately, or fortunately, depends on how you look at it!, they both live with me!

Before kids, when we would go shopping, a couple scenarios would transpire. 1) Steve walking away really fast in a crowded aisle leaving me with the stench and people looking at me OR 2) making shopping absolutely miserable so as to not have to go shopping with me ever again.

It seems that his traits have been passed to his children, but only one choose to accept said trait!

A couple of weeks ago, we were all shopping at Sam's (something I don't do often, go in public with all of them in tow!) and Todd was playing with a whoppie cushion and having a blast. No harm there, he is entertaining himself and no one is having adverse reactions from his toy! UNTIL.....

We are in the checkout line, which takes forever, when Todd says, "Mama, move over here right in front of me." So, leading by example and being a good listener, I move in front of him. He proceeds to blow up the whoppie cushion and then deflate it. I must say, it was the loudest he had made so far, and Todd says, "Mama, you shouldn't fart like that in public." OH MY GOODNESS, I fell for it!

For the people behind us, they couldn't see his hands until I moved, but he had hidden the whoppie cushion and he had nothing. SO, there I stand, with three boys laughing hysterically, the people behind me laughing at him and then Steve says "See, that's why we can't ever take mommy shopping!"

Fast forward to last night at WalMart, New Year's Eve, and I was heading down the crowded chip aisle to get snacks to get through the long evening. I am waiting to grab chips and move because standing in one place to long is not good for Todd! His mind thinks and conjures up things he can do/say that will embarrass me.

Well, as I make my move to get the bag of chips, I feel a breeze on my back. Hmmm...wonder why I feel that breeze, which was then followed by a very cold feeling. Yes, Todd had stayed still too long! He pulled up my shirt and proceeded to place a frozen dinner on my back. I screamed from the cold, turned to Todd who was on the floor laughing, a man behind him laughing, to which I could only say, "Todd, you are ornery!"

I am determined that this boy will conform to and become a good shopper, I owe it to his future wife!! Now, if I could only work on the boy that is old enough to know better!

Moving.....

In two weeks, we will be fully moved into our new house, well, new for us, not so new in the years!!

Tonight when I came home from work, I told the boys we were going to the new house. Todd got concerned about leaving stuff in our house now, I assured him we would be back home tonight, we wouldn't be sleeping at the new house. Before we could go, he took Thrillville for the Wii and "hid" it in the pantry so the burglars couldn't find it. Nice Todd, now lets go.

BUT, before we could go, he had to put the Wii controller and nunchuck in the pantry too, it needed to be safe!

When I told him he just put things in a safe place; however, if we had a "burglar" and they were hungry than they would find not only the Thrillville game, but the controllers to play it as well. His little 4 year old mind couldn't wrap his mind around that. I realized quickly I needed to assure him there were no burglars and we have an alarm system and that would keep his game safe.

So, on the ride over there, he wanted to know when daddy was taking down our house and moving it. I told him there was no taking down of houses, there was already a house there, this one would stay, we would simply move our stuff into the new house. He really doesn't believe me, so for now, he is waiting for this one to come down and be placed in the new house. Hmmm....mind of a 4 year old again!

Hiccups - sunburn cures them!

Well, at least according to the 4 year old mind!

He went to the pantry and got out a Capri Sun, but somehow drinking a Capri Sun at 6:30 am is just wrong! So, I told him to put it in the refrigerator and let it get cold and he could drink one later.

So, about 30 minutes later, Todd says, "Mom, I have the hiccups really badly that is why I need a sunburn in my tummy, it makes the hiccups go away."

"Really, Todd, a sunburn makes the hiccups go away, how is that?"

"Because, it gets down in my tummy and makes my hiccups barf and go away."

"A sunburn does that? I didn't know that, Todd. Are you sure a sunburn does that?"

"Yes, the hot makes it do that but you made me put the sunburn in the refrigerator and now it's going to be cold and it won't be hot to make my hiccups barf."

"Ummm, Todd, are you talking about your Capri Sun?"

"Sure, mom, that's what I am saying."

So, not really a sunburn that cures them, but according to him, a Capri Sun will! I have seen no signs of said hiccups and I assured him we would not be trying the capri sun experiment this early in the morning!