Advice needed....

I'm 99% sure that Sam has conjunctivitis. I decided to get a head start on treating it and just attempted to put the ointment in his eyes. Yeah, right.

He closed his eyes so tightly that I'm not sure if any if it actually got on his eye ball. Is there a trick to doing this? Is it enough to smear it all over their eyelid (meaning, will some of it work it's way into the eye?) I'm planning to do it again when he falls asleep but any suggestions on getting it in during the day would be oh so appreciated...

Out of the mouth's of babes...

Grace has been sick for the last three days. She was more cranky than usual on Tuesday and by Tuesday night, she had a high fever. She slept poorly, and in the morning, she was a mess. She wouldn't eat, wouldn't let me put her down and wanted to nurse constantly. By 10 o'clock, I couldn't believe that we had been up for a mere four hours. I was tired, cranky and very short with Sam.

When Grace finally took a nap I asked Sam to come read with me. He eagerly climbed up on the couch with a stack of his favorite books. I snuggled him close and told him I loved him. Then I apologized for being so cranky and mean that morning. He looked at me with those big, dreamy eyes and said, "Mommy, that was really nice."

"What was nice Sam?'

"When you told the truth mommy, that was nice."

Ouch. Compared to the times that I am cranky and mean and act like it's all his fault?

I love that boy. He makes me smile 100 million times each day.

Wash my mouth out with soap, then please get me a STRONG drink!

This has been one of the longest, hardest weeks ever. I'm starting to think that something is wrong with Grace. She screams constantly. Sam is bored and cranky. I'm tired and I have NO patience left.

I took Sam out to do errands with me this morning. We have a Christmas party tonight, and I just needed a few things to make cookies with and a bottle of wine. The entire trip should have taken twenty minutes, tops. Traffic was horrible though and by the time I had found a place to park, twenty minutes had already passed. Despite the crowded parking lot, we were in and out of the store pretty quickly. Trying to get out of the parking lot proved more challenging. Sam was in the back saying "I want to go home now." over, and over and over....it took more than five minutes just to get into the lane that would take me to the parking lot exit. Another five minutes to get near the main road. I was about four cars away from getting to take a right on red when I noticed a desperate looking man in a SUV trying to make his way into the lane. I felt bad for him. It looked like he might have kids in the back. Were they talking his ear off of or screaming like mine often do? I let him go and then I lost it. He pulled in front of me without a wave and blocked the right on red lane. I couldn't go. I beeped at him, hoping he would back up but the guy wouldn't even look at me. I started to get mad. The light changed and we didn't move. I beeped again, he still wouldn't even look. My blood started boiling. I beeped again. Nothing. I yelled, "Ass hole!" and felt a little better, for a second, until I remembered that Sam was in the back seat.

"Mommy, why did you call that guy an ass hole?"

"Sam, mommy said a very bad word that she shouldn't have said. I'm sorry."

The light changed again and I still didn't move. I thought about getting out and banging on his window but I opted for more name calling from the safety and warmth of my car...."Douche bag!" Woops, forgot that Sam was in the car...no worries though, he didn't learn "ass hole" and "douche bag" today.

"Mommy, that's silly. He's not a JUICE bag, he's a man!"

We finally got home, one hour and fifteen minutes after setting out...Sam ran into the living room and ratted me out. "Daddy, mommy called a man RASS hole. That's very bad, huh?"

Pirates Booty for dinner kind of day...

We got slammed last night. Snow. Lot's of it. Nine inches or so to be exact....while this isn't enough snow to make going out impossible, the 30 degree weather is enough to make you think twice about loading two kids in and out of car seats.... so for the second day, we were pretty much home bound.

My kids both woke up in bad moods. I escaped for a little while to get a much needed haircut, and when I returned to the trenches...everyone was still in a bad mood. I won't bore you with all of the details, but basically, when we sat down for dinner Grace tossed her dish on the floor and started screaming. I got up and poured her a bowl of Trader Joe's Pirates Booty and called it dinner. She sat quietly and ate every last bit.

Quiet has never been so nutritious!

Breakfast of Champions

Brad and I are tired. Between our two kids, we wake up three to four times each night. So when Sam comes in at 6:15 and announces that he wants to go downstairs and watch his shows, we send him down and come back to bed. If Brad gets up, he usually just opens the safety gate and sends him down. If it's me, I go down with him and get him a drink and a yogurt or granola bar. This morning, Brad got up with him. It's always interesting to see what Sam made himself for breakfast on the mornings that Daddy sends him down. I have found bags of baby carrots on the floor, empty yogurt tubes with the ends gnawed off (because as Sam points out, "They're really hard to open.") and up to four empty juice boxes. This morning I found an open bag of tortilla chips.

I said, "Wow Sam, I see you helped yourself to some chips.....and made quite a mess."

He replied, "Sorry mommy. I tried to take care of it."

Puzzled, I looked closer. He had tried to tape the torn bag with scotch tape. Kudos to you for being able to find the tape buddy. I've been looking for it for days. Oh yeah, I'm glad you didn't think to get the salsa.

I wonder where he gets it?

Sam has been really hard this week. Constantly testing and pushing the limits to see what he can get away with. I think that I've been pretty good about following through with consequences and such, but lately he just doesn't seem to care. He acts like he doesn't hear me. I feel like Charlie Brown's teacher, "Mwa, mwa, wa, wa, wa...." You get the idea, right?

Lat night he found himself in bed at 6:20. He was taking a bath with Grace and splashing water everywhere. I asked him to stop. He kept splashing. I told him to stop or he would have to get out. He kept splashing. He was removed from the tub. He had a FIT!!!! Stamping his feet, screaming, shrieking....he was told to stop or he would go to bed. He didn't stop and to top it off, he hit me....

Tonight after he ate dinner he was bouncing around the kitchen with a balloon. Brad told him to stop. He didn't. So I leaped out of my chair, grabbed the balloon and a steak knife....Sam was stunned. I don't think he could wrap his little brain around what had just happened...I think Brad was stunned too....Not my finest parenting moment but it felt soooooo good!

Later on Sam was playing with another balloon. I walked into the room and Sam ran in the corner and yelled, "Mommy, I'm being good. Please don't stab this balloon!" I felt like mommy dearest...."No more wire hangers!"