Dropping like flies

I woke up on Thursday feeling like I had been hit by a train. There was no possible way I could get the kids ready. Don took over and got the kiddos off to school. I had one call I absolutely had to make for work and then I just laid in bed.

While Don was off on a walk, Kyath called. He was sick at school. I waited about ten minutes hoping Don would get home before I dragged myself to the car. But with even as sick as I felt, I couldn't leave my sick baby at school. The school secretary said that everyone was "dropping like flies". I weakly smiled and took Ky home to get better. Don came home and had two sickies to take care of as well as Zander and Dresden. It didn't take long to realize we had the flu.

Well, Saturday Porter was sick. I was still not feeling 100%. But I was getting better. So I spent the day taking care of Porter and doing all the things that need to be done when your child has the flu.

It looked like we were in the home stretch with everyone on the road to recovery. Then, today as I was running to the bank, Zander threw up all over...wait for it, wait for it...Don's baby, the Galaxie. To see more about Don's baby- click hereI know this is terrible, but I laughed. I called Don to tell him his baby had been thrown up on and I just laughed.

So I guess the secretary was fore-shadowing or predicting my families future. We have been dropping like flies. I hope it skips Don and Dresden. I am done with all this.

Why I love Porter

On our way to Pick Kyath up, Porter, Eric and I had the funniest conversation. It started with Porter telling me he was going to buy me a convertible for my birthday. I said, "If not for my birthday, at least when you grow up. Because you are going to be rich."

Eric, Porter's friend, then asked why Porter was going to be rich. I explained that Porter is really smart and would probably be a scientist when he grows up.

Porter then piped in and said, "Yeah,I am going to be an 'oligist' or 'neiceologist'."

I clarified, "Do you mean a paleontologist?"

Porter said, "Yeah a paleontologist or a 'dinosaurologist'. I'm going to work with dinosaur bones." To which Eric sat in awe.

Mama Bear

Porter came home crying from school yesterday. He said that the lady down the street yelled at him and he never wants to walk that way to school again. After I calmed him down I tried to get the whole story from him. What I pieced together was that as they were walking past a duplex on the corner of our street, a lady came rushing out, yelling that they better not poke her dog with sticks or she was going to call the cops and they were going to give every child a ticket that walks by her house. Did I mention that he was walking home with Tori, Lexi, Kyath and Tori and Lexi's Grandma?

I tried to think rationally. So I called Susan (Tori and Lexi's Grandma) to hear her version of the story. She painted the picture of a crazy woman that came bursting out of her house yelling at her and the kids. This lady kept getting madder and madder the more she spoke. Susan reassured her that she walks with the children to and from school and has never seen the kids poke the dog. Susan said that she was terrified herself and could only imagine how upset Porter was.

I waited until Don came back from running an errand before I went down to her house to see what the crazy ladies side of the story was. I thought Don would want to come with me, but he was fine with me just going on my own. Kyath was scared and told Don that I shouldn't go alone. But he could see her house from where he was standing and he wasn't too worried. Porter decided he was going to go with me.

When I walked on her lawn she immediately said, "May I help you?" I explained that my child came home crying and told me that he was yelled at on his way home. Cindy, the crazy woman, immediately got on the defensive and said that someone has been poking her dog and that the police told her that when she saw someone do it, she should immediately walk the child home and tell the parents that they would be given a ticket by the police. She said she didn't appreciate anyone poking her dog. After she was done with her rant I asked her calmly if she had a description of who was poking her dog. She said it was a BLACK GIRL and two boys with blond hair that looked identical.

Let me just stop here to remind you that Porter is a WHITE BOY as well as Kyath. Kyath has dark brown hair and Porter has blond hair. They do not look identical.

At that Point I had Porter come out from behind the fence. He was too scared to come any closer until I called him. I said, "Is this the boy that was poking your dog?" She said, "No." Then she went on ranting about how the police told her this and that and that it was not okay for someone to poke her dog.

So I waited until she was done with all her ranting and raving and I said, "Does he look black to you? Does he look like the blond boys at all?" She replied, "No" and "No". I said, "It is not okay to yell at kids as they are walking home from school. It is not okay to make my son scared to even walk by your house."

Cindy told me that he could just cross the street and walk on the other side of the street and then cross again when he got to the corner. I said he shouldn't have to do that. I said that I understood she was mad that someone was poking her dog, but if they were, she should just put the dogs in the backyard behind the fence where they belong. She said that they had a trampoline and she couldn't put the dogs back there because they would jump on the trampoline and over the fence. I suggested that maybe it was time to take down the trampoline. She said she wasn't going to do that.

I have to say I was quite impressed at how calm and composed I had been up to this point. I had said all the right things in the right way. But notice I said "up to this point." That was when I lost it. I told her that no dog was worth the life of a child and that her dogs were worthless. I told her that it was against the law to threaten kids. Did I mention that I yelled it? Anyways she told me her dog was worth more than my child. At that I turned and walked away.

Don thought I was making a big to do over nothing. I told him that anyone can yell and threaten me all they want. But when someone threatens my children and makes them so scared that they won't walk past a house anymore, I draw the line.

Porter made us drive him to school today and cried when he got home again because he had to walk by her house. It's just hard to see.

Anyways, I need feedback. Am I being too much of a mother bear?

Swapping Threads

I was showing Jerri the pictures I took of Flea and then put on my blog. She came over to my house to look. Belle, her daughter (future Mrs. Zander Moore) brought Flea still dressed up. But she took the dress off Flea while they were here.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity...



She was so imbarrassed she wouldn't come out. By the way, this is how she takes walks.



Bibbing her out...

Flea

My neighbors Carl and Jerri are babysitting their sister's dog. This dog is an old, old miniature pinscher. Jerri's sister left Flea at their home two months ago to "babysit". Two months later the sister is yet to show up. Well today this is what Flea was sporting...



I can't imagine Flea is too happy about this outfit...


because Flea is a he.

Bad things come in threes

Well, I pretty much gave it away with the title, but guess where we were last night? That's right, our friendly neighborhood E.R. The boys were playing on the swing set. Ky was making the glider go as high as it could go. They had discovered a new fun game called throw the doll into the glider. They would throw the doll toward the glider as Ky kept the glider going at full speed and it would spit the doll out into the air. Did I mention that all the neighbor boys love playing at our house? Anyways, Porter was walking around the swing set and managed to walk right in front of the glider. It hit him right in the head.

We of course were horrified. We took him to the E.R. immediately. As we were walking in I was trying to calculate the odds of the same people working the front desk as the other two times. I let out a sigh of relief as I looked at the registration desk and didn't recognize anyone.

I kept waiting for the social workers to come in and separate us to get our stories. One look at my children could send off DCFS sirens around the world. Ky was wearing a flithy white shirt. Zander was of course barefoot, again. All of my children were dirty from playing in the yard. Even my little Dresden had been crawling around the yard getting dirty right before the accident.

I was grateful to get a different nurse as last time. She was friendly, and great with kids. She made jokes and helped ease the panic that Don and I were feeling. We told her this was our third trip in two weeks. She just smiled and said, "You must have boys."

Porter's cut was worse than either of Zander's cuts. It was 1 1/2 inches long and bled the whole time he was being stitched up. They wanted to do staples, but neither Porter nor I could bear the thought of staples.

It was hard. None of us liked the experience. But we are glad that Porter is okay.

So any guesses on what we did today? Yeah, the swing set is gone and Porter stayed home from school because he woke up with a massive headache.

What do your children do while you blog?

Yesterday I wrote a very long blog. I did it after Ky's football practice and Porter's soccer game. They were exhausted and watched TV for a little bit. Dresden was sitting right next to me. Zander was in the kitchen "cleaning dishes". Our computer is in the dining room right off the kitchen. So I felt like I was keeping a pretty good eye on him.

When I got off the computer I saw that Zander had been cleaning my breast pump. This is how I found him.

Porter started soccer today. All I can say was that it was cute. He was so cute trying to get a kick at the soccer ball. I liked that there were no real stars on his team or the other team for that matter. All the parents were just happy when the kids were kicking the ball in the right direction. The whole thing would have been enjoyable if I didn't have Zander doing constant headbutts into my breasts (did I mention that I am still nursing?), headstands on my lap and karate kicks in my face.

We brought our dog Lexi to the game. I know, I know, what was I thinking? All the kids thought that she looked like a cute friendly dog and wanted to pet her. Little did they know that this little miniature pinscher is just friendly to my kids. So I spent a good part of the time protecting all the naive little children from being nipped.

Dresden is teething, so she has been a handful. Dresden is the dream child. She really is. But even a dream child can't help but be a handful when they are teething. I love holding her. But it would have been nice to be able to set her down.

So enough about the game. I have other experiences to share...

Zander went to he ER not once but twice last week. There is nothing like going up to the ER desk and have everyone remember you. It is pretty embarrassing.

The first time he ran into the fireplace and cut his forehead open near his eye. It comes close to matching the scar Porter has by his eye. Zander is a tough little boy and only cried when we were going to the hospital. He kept telling me that he didn't want to go. When we were there he was doing his usual somersaults and headstands. I tried really hard to get him to sit still when the doctor was in the room.

The second time Zander cut his forehead up by his hairline. The older boys were keeping Zander busy at Smiths while I was at the check out. I obviously wasn't watching as they started spinning out of control on some stools by the picture counter. Zander came running to me with blood running down his face. The entire Smith's management was there in a flash trying to be as helpful as possible to keep me from suing them. I told them not to worry. It was my fault that I was a neglectful mom and not theirs. I did let them carry my groceries out to the car.

As we drove to the ER Zander kept telling me that he was fine and to turn around. He used great vocabulary for a three year old. He said that he just wanted to go home.

When I went the first time to the ER I left Dresden and Kyath at the neighbors. But this time I had all four children. They were wearing dirty shirts, not so clean shorts and dirt smeared legs. I fit the part of neglectful mom. The triage nurse asked me how many children I had. When I told her four, she said, "That's enough." under her breath. And she wasn't trying to be funny. I can't explain the joy I felt (sarcasm intended) when she ended up being our nurse and was the one that held Zander down while the doctor stitched him up.

I thought I was shaken up after the first trip to the ER but two trips in a week really put me over the top. The breaking point was probably when Zander woke up the second day after stitches and glue on top (it was very deep) and I noticed he had picked all the glue off. The thought of going to the ER a third time was a little too much. Don and I decided to just keep it clean and let the top part heal on its own. It is close enough to the hairline that the scar won't be too noticeable.

The most ironic part of the last couple of weeks is that I started working again and I have never been happier. I have decided that I need something that takes my mind off my crazy life. I think I am going to have to tell my therapist that I am cured and no longer have a need for her.