The comings and goings of the fab four

Our remote isn’t working. I asked the kids what happened to it. Lydia said, “Miles spilled water on it. From his mouth.” Oh, like drool?

BTW he’s finally cutting his 2 side front teeth on the bottom, as well as 3 molars. So we are really happy around here. Really. He ran a fever all weekend, lots of screaming. Beating on his ears. I think he still has an ear infection in at least one ear. Today was one for the books. The screaming is slowly but surely driving me mad. I wanted to cry by about 9:00 this morning, then I found out that the sitter canceled for Emily’s wedding and got my panties in knot #2. Then I found out that Robert had accidentally thrown away the prescription for Miles’ ear numbing drops, so I had to call the ped. back to get more. Then I had to drive about 40 minutes to our hippie doctor to get a physical form for Miles’ tubes. Both of the drs were with patients, but they told me they would fax it to the ENT. I figured that would cut my chances down to at least 50% that I’d have to haul back up there tomorrow. When I was driving back to our side of town, I called the ENT, and he said I needed a physical copy of the form, but then I spoke with Robert and he said that he would pick it up for me, so I was a little happier. I got a little break during naps – I folded about 3 loads of clothes and emailed with some people about babysitters for the wedding. I got a call from the ped. saying that they didn’t have record of Miles’ *respiration rate or heart rate*, so I would, in fact, have to trek back up there tomorrow to get the form filled out. CAN YOU NOT MAKE IT UP!??????????? COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!! At this rate I knew that the day was not on my side, so I needed to accept it and just try to roll with it. When the kids got up, we went to the store, since I hadn’t had the chance to this morning. Miles did have a few screaming episodes, but it was minimal (because I had him in the sling on my hip). When we got in the line to check out, Lydia insisted on throwing groceries on the belt as fast as she could – she likes to help, but I like her to only do some things (like unbreakable stuff). She grabs the EGGS, when I am not looking, and the next thing I know there are 12 broken eggs on the bottom of our shopping cart. I just looked at her and told her that THIS is why she needs to LISTEN. She looked at me and said, “My stomach hurts!!!!!!!” and started crying. Then she said, “Give me a hug”, (which is a frequent request when she has done something wrong or is pitching a fit), and calmed down. I was done.

I came home and made dinner (which was quite tasty, hooray). That’s when Robert figured out the remote issue, and is mad and talking about putting it in the oven. I told him to call Craig Harden first. I’ll go get another one for Comcast whenever I am not traipsing up to Southside Blvd to have my child’s respiration and heart rate checked for some red tape form that I have to hand carry to the hospital because things get lost. I guess it’s better than them not being anal and us having the tubes cancelled because the paperwork got lost.

So I took a good run tonight and feel a million times better. And tomorrow will be a better day!

Does anyone have a good babysitter in the Charlotte area that they’d recommend? Our second one just canceled for Emily & Thomas’s wedding, and I am beyond annoyed.

Does anyone have a good babysitter in the Charlotte area that they’d recommend? Our second one just canceled for Emily & Thomas’s wedding, and I am beyond annoyed.

In celebration of 50 years, WJCT, the public radio/television station here in Jacksonville, hosted an open house today. We decided to go downtown and join in the festivities – which included Curious George, Clifford, Super Why and (my personal favorite) Gordon from Sesame Street. Lydia was BEYOND excited to see Clifford – when we were getting ready I was looking for something in the dryer, and she saw her blue dress. She grabbed it and said, “I want to wear my blue dress because I want to look good for Clifford”. I just about cried! It was absolutely adorable

It was a mob scene – I think since everyone has been holed up in their houses all week because of stupid, festering Fay, they were out in full force. Anyway, we caught the end of a sing-a-long with Gordon, and I absolutely wanted to cry. It was all the moms that were getting excited and nostalgic (and singing the loudest) during Gordon’s performance. I will probably start forcing Sesame Street on my kids so they understand and appreciate the magnitude of what they saw today! We saw my friend Rachel there, and she said that Clifford had left, and wouldn’t be back until 1:30. We were bummed, but went with it. When we were doing the tour of the tv studio (very cool!), we saw Clifford on the other side of the glass. We ran out in hopes that Lydia could get a quick picture with him. She stood there, totally leaned up against Robert, with both hands in her mouth, in total terror. I think she was just starstruck. I got some great pictures of *other people’s kids* with Clifford. Maybe next time. It was great fun, though.

We decided to stop in Mandarin for lunch, since everyone was hungry. As we were walking into Chili’s, Ryan Bauchiero walked up – the Bauchieros were getting lunch at the same time, so we ate with them. It was fantastic to see them, although our kids acted like absolute insane monkeys the entire time. At one point I wanted Robert to check Miles’ diaper, and he walked off, and Lydia decided that she needed to pee too, but got freaked out because she didn’t know if she was supposed to go with Robert, or what, so she starts wailing (and I do mean wailing!). I walked her to the bathroom, with a full wail in process. She was sitting on the potty, peeing, and wailing, and I told her she needed to stop crying because people would worry about her. She FINALLY did, thankfully. I am sure everyone in that restaurant thought I was taking my child into the bathroom to beat her. It was pretty embarassing!

This evening we had the Linvilles over for apps. Rebecca made the most delicious marinated shrimp cocktail, and Robert made wings with Lyndon’s special wing sauce. Delish! We had a great time as usual, and were even able to venture into the area of politics (hooray for friends that are Democrats!). It’s nice to not be the odd man out for once! Lydia and Sydney were running around in their panties, and Lydia informed me that they were having an underwear party. After that, they dug into the dryer and got some clean PJ’s out, and ended up having a “pajama party”. Always fun. I am hopeful that Rebecca is going to stick around for a few extra weeks, instead of running off in mid-September.

I just gave Miles a bowl of black eyed peas – when I walked back over, there were 3 of the “black eye” parts of the peas. I guess he ate the rest and didn’t like the black part?

I just gave Miles a bowl of black eyed peas – when I walked back over, there were 3 of the “black eye” parts of the peas. I guess he ate the rest and didn’t like the black part?

I took Miles back to the ped. yesterday and his right ear was still infected, left was doing better, but not perfect. I was worried because he was still screaming so insistently, and has the most vile case of diarrhea I have ever seen. He now has a raging, angry yeasty diaper rash on his bottom, too. I took him into the ENT this morning (and my new claim to fame is “I drove over the Buckman during Fay” – NOT my favorite exprience, but we took it slow and didn’t get too blown around). The ENT agreed that it’s tubes time for Miles. He had a hearing screen (the only time he didn’t scream during the entire visit, because bears were dancing and singing at him!), and they checked his ear pressure (a little whacked out), and then the doctor came in. I loved the ENT, and he said that Miles also has a cold (awesome). He scraped down his throat and gave him some blasts of vaporized Afrin. Let me tell you, my child didn’t stop screaming for pretty much the entire time we were in that office. It was awful, but we have our tubes scheduled for next week, so I am relieved and hope that this will be the end of this. What a week!

Fay is moving through, and the weather is getting windier and it’s raining pretty consistently. I am about done with this storm! It has been raining for days and days and daysanddaysanddays…………… hopefully by tomorrow Miles will be feeling better, and the weather will let up, and we can go to the gym!

I realized I never wrote anything about the end of our week last week, and our fun Saturday. I just uploaded my pictures, so it’s time for a non-complaining post!

We went to A Day of Play with Alcola, Elias and Micah on Thursday. It was raining then, and I think everyone needed some time out of the house. The kids had a great time. We were sad to find out that they closed this past Saturday for good. I don’t know what happened. I kind of want to go up there and buy some of their good toys!

Our red Honda has been slowly declining for the last few months. When I drove it to Gulf Shores over Memorial Day weekend, I had some indications of serious transmission problems, and at that point started getting nervous about taking the car on long trips. We didn’t have any trips planned, and I don’t really think that Robert took it seriously. I won’t read into that too much! After we got the minivan, Robert started driving the Honda, and lo and behold, he comes home one afternoon and tells me that the Honda has some transmission problems (no kidding?). So long story to get to, we went car shopping on Saturday with the kids. It is probably not on their short list of fun things to do, but they generally do okay if we let them climb around in the cars. I took them home after it started raining, and Robert continued driving and negotiating. We joked that we should start selling our car negotiation services out to people since we are getting it to an art form. Haha!

After naps, we headed over to the Linvilles. We have figured out that doing heavy appetizers is how we roll. Rebecca made gluten free meatballs (thanks Rebecca!), and I made Marie Weller’s (hi Marie!) buffalo chicken crap. It was gooood eatin’! Sydney took a late nap and woke up grouchy. While I was getting the oven mits out of Rebecca’s drawer, I saw that she had a whoopee cushion in that same drawer. I asked her about it, and she said that Sydney loved it, and took it out to try to get her to cheer up. It worked, and the whoopee cushion was the hit of the party after that. Even Miles loved it and wanted to sit on it. They were hilarious. The girls played fabulously, and the adults had a great time too. The Linvilles are moving back to Washington state in a few weeks, so our weekends are getting fewer with them. I am dreading their move. So I won’t think about it right now.

I realized I never wrote anything about the end of our week last week, and our fun Saturday. I just uploaded my pictures, so it’s time for a non-complaining post!

We went to A Day of Play with Alcola, Elias and Micah on Thursday. It was raining then, and I think everyone needed some time out of the house. The kids had a great time. We were sad to find out that they closed this past Saturday for good. I don’t know what happened. I kind of want to go up there and buy some of their good toys!

Our red Honda has been slowly declining for the last few months. When I drove it to Gulf Shores over Memorial Day weekend, I had some indications of serious transmission problems, and at that point started getting nervous about taking the car on long trips. We didn’t have any trips planned, and I don’t really think that Robert took it seriously. I won’t read into that too much! After we got the minivan, Robert started driving the Honda, and lo and behold, he comes home one afternoon and tells me that the Honda has some transmission problems (no kidding?). So long story to get to, we went car shopping on Saturday with the kids. It is probably not on their short list of fun things to do, but they generally do okay if we let them climb around in the cars. I took them home after it started raining, and Robert continued driving and negotiating. We joked that we should start selling our car negotiation services out to people since we are getting it to an art form. Haha!

After naps, we headed over to the Linvilles. We have figured out that doing heavy appetizers is how we roll. Rebecca made gluten free meatballs (thanks Rebecca!), and I made Marie Weller’s (hi Marie!) buffalo chicken crap. It was gooood eatin’! Sydney took a late nap and woke up grouchy. While I was getting the oven mits out of Rebecca’s drawer, I saw that she had a whoopee cushion in that same drawer. I asked her about it, and she said that Sydney loved it, and took it out to try to get her to cheer up. It worked, and the whoopee cushion was the hit of the party after that. Even Miles loved it and wanted to sit on it. They were hilarious. The girls played fabulously, and the adults had a great time too. The Linvilles are moving back to Washington state in a few weeks, so our weekends are getting fewer with them. I am dreading their move. So I won’t think about it right now.

Now they’re saying we’re going to actually get hit by the hurricane. Let’s see how many times this changes before tomorrow evening. To be on the safe side I have water and batteries, and lots of candles. We also have a few lanterns, and I bought two more at Target tonight. We should be set if the power goes out.

Today was an awful day. Miles has had diarrhea the last 3 days, and he has been super uncomfortable b/c of his ears. The antibiotic doesn’t seem to be making a difference, it usually starts changing things for the better within 24 hours, but it has been over 24 hours, and he still has a fever when the ibuprofen wears off. He is a screaming, pooping mess. He’s not really eating, and I am working hard to get him to drink enough fluids… I might end up taking him back to the ped tomorrow. He is supposed to have an appointment with the ENT on Thursday, but they’re saying the hurricane will be hitting around that time, so I don’t know what in the world will happen. They’ve already canceled Duval (Jax) county schools for the next two days. Lydia is supposed to have her first day of preschool tomorrow, so I am going to be a little bummed if she can’t go. I was really looking forward to getting some stuff done around here. My house is a sty!