Triathalon Sister...

Woo hoo little sister! You rock. Sorry the only pictures I was able to get because if you look below baby Iggy fell asleep and everytime I put him down he would wake up. Hope you enjoyed the sign, H thought you would like the glitter and fireworks.

Meeting up with Grandpa.

Drinking and talking.

The sleeping boy wonder.

Waiting for the race to be finished, those are small rocks not sand.

The sign by the boy for his aunt.

Oh, make that his best aunt. Sorry folks, I think the boy may have chosen a favorite.

Great son...

I know I talk about how wonderful I think my son is, even though some days I feel like I just want to strangle him, but when I have someone else make a comment to me on how good a kid he is I get even more boastful.

I have always said that he makes me strive to be better and I really believe that. I can promise you I would not know any of my neighbors if it were not for my son. He loves to go out there and meet them. Because he has been sick lately he has not had a presence outside as much and our neighbors have been concerned. I tell them he is sick and we get through that talk and such, well then they have to add in their piece of how wonderful he is with all the kids that are so much younger than he is. They just think he is wonderful to play with their 18 month olds.

I say he takes pity on a few other boys in the complex here, but really he just has a good heart and just wants to be friends with anyone. He even is really good to all the adults. I sent him out the other day to take the dog to the bathroom and I see him over talking to an older lady (a grandma) with the dog. I just got told today by her that he is really a great kid. She says every time she comes out he rushes over to tell her hello and just chats with her.

Two of our neighbors had babies and he had to rush out to get presents for their babies. He is the best and I can only hope to have the love in my heart that he has in his.

Good night boo, love you muches.

Knobby little knees...

So on a follow up visit to the doctor today we had to be seen by another doctor because our regular doctor was not in the office today. I took H back in because he has been throwing up and had not been able to keep a meal down. He advised me that we can trick the stomach into eating but putting him on a liquid diet and feeding him little bits through out the day. That way the stomach does not register that it has food in it and he will not throw up. So far he has been eating like this without much problem. He still gets an upset stomach but that is a sign for him to stop and wait for a little bit before we have more.

Honestly you look at the kid and you would not think that he is sick, he is running around like nothing it seriously just boils down to eating. He has lost 2 pounds since last Friday, that is a concern which is why we have to have a liquid diet to get some nourishment in him. He also is a little dehydrated, but I know it would be worse if I didn't make him drink from the sick bottle pretty much every 15 minutes. The doctor was impressed with that method.

I know he is still sick though because he wants to snuggle and have his "bebe" around. This one is a replacement one because the original was lost on our trip to San Diego. The cough does not sound like he is choking, just back to the original cough I went in for. I even went to the school today to pick up his class/homework so he can work on it because I am thinking by the end of the weekend he will be fine again.

On to the story of the knobby knees though, when the doctor came in I talked to him what was going on and such and he got H up on the table to push around on his stomach. No tenderness which is good, he was looking him over and mentioned his knees being knobby. Of course I have never really noticed them before for the most part because his pants and his shorts all cover them. But while being sick he has enjoyed just lounging around in his pajamas, well he has a short pair of shorts that he is wearing today and boy can you see them now. I took a picture and have it below but they poke out a lot! I wonder if he has a condition, I will research it on the internet some but then you wonder why he has the hypochondriac gene in him. ;)

If Wiley E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?

Tori Spelling troubles...

I don't want to add to any Hollywood gossip but this really struck a cord so I am just letting my feelings out.

I love Tori Spelling, I have loved her since the good old days of 90210 and Donna Martin. She has had a very successful career and has a wonderful life now. She has two books and she didn't want to have anyone else's voice on the audio version so she even read it. She has two cute and adorable kids that are just adorable and you can tell they love their mom. Dean is a great compliment to her and I totall wish them all the best.

Her mother was on a radio station on the East coast and she came out and said that Tori killed her father with Tori's strained relationship with their family. Oh please come on. I very highly doubt that was the case but even more importantly even if her mother believes that you suck for even bringing it up and furthermore airing it on a radio station! What mother would do that to her child.

I love you Tori, you should just not worry about having your mother in your life anymore. That is hard for me to say because I feel every child should have a good relationship with their mother or father but she is venimous and should just be cut. You have a great family relationship with your friends and they give you all the love and support that you should have.

The not so hypochondriac son...

Look who is laughing now my baby sis, I would say the past few days have not been so in the mind. At her request I am blogging about this because she saved me from wanting to yell at the boy, it will be explained down below why that was the case. Just to forewarn you though I will be explaining things, not in great detail but some of them funny at time so if any of that stuff sickens you please do not read on and just know the boy is sick and I am hoping he gets better before the next two weeks so he can go see his dad. And yes it will be long because I am long winded.

Alright this cough has been around since before Mother's day. I did finally get in to the doctor and he had given me those prescriptions, suppressant and an antibiotic. Well come to find out the boy is allergic to the suppressant. His eyes puff up when he takes it so we have been going sans suppressant, even the over the counter kind because I ran out of it. Don't let my dad know I really didn't read the side effects I just said I did, usually I do but I didn't feel the need because he has never had a reaction really to any medicine. I was hoping to let the cough run it course and he could just cough it up. Well that has not been the case, it actually has worsened over the past few days where it sounds as though he is choking when he is coughing. He even coughs in his sleep, not to the point that he wakes up but I know it is not a restful sleep.

On Monday he got really worn out with playing with the family at the park, we came home and went straight to bed. Well come Tuesday morning I tell the boy to suck it up because I didn't think he was that sick and he should go to school. That is mainly because it was month end at work and I needed to be there because unlike Boss Lady I feel like I need to be there and really knowing her she would find some way to get out of it because that is what she has done the last few month ends. I can just say karma got me though and it is funny so keep reading.

When we got home Tuesday he had one of his headaches. I got out my dad's glucose meter he is lending me because I think the boy may be hypoglycemic all stemming from the one time he had a headache and I didn't have water but we had a Sprite, well the headache went away without any throwing up. So now I want to monitor him and have some other news to go back to the doctor with. It might be migraines still because that runs in my family (why is it I can't blame any of this stuff on his dad's side, oh that is right his dad was adopted so we have no history so I find a link only to my terrible genes). Well I am forcing him to eat even though he is being reluctant. To my surprise while talking to his dad on the phone he gets to the point that he has to throw up. Long story short because I am not using this to vent about his dad but just have to add this in, his dad's b-day was Tuesday and I guess he was upset that H would not get to talk to him on his birthday, I guess he didn't hear him say that he was going to throw up. I got on the phone and explained to him what was going on and had H call him back at his dad's request after he thrown up.

This boy has thrown up a lot in his lifetime, it is only second in line to bloody noses. He throws up he just moves on with life like it never really happened. Me, I am out of commission but maybe because I don't throw up as often. Anyway, when I took the puke bucket to the toilet while pouring it in some of the lovely concoction flew up and got me in the eye. Like I said karma came back and got me.

Well today we stayed home and the only thing he can keep down without causing a stomach are cheese quesadillas and good old saltine crackers. I have been making him drink from a "sick bottle", just a regular bottle of water that we can throw out once he is done being sick. I was too tired to cook so we went and grabbed food, while eating he just picked at it so we decided we would leave. We went to get the antibiotics because I am hoping the cough will clear up some with that but not sure if it will just upset his stomach even more like most antibiotic. While there I picked up some more suppressant too. We get home all honky dory ready to give him the pill he told the doctor he could take. I told him in the doctor's office, he is my witness, you have never taken a pill you take those fast melt ones but those are not pills. He says he can do it, the doctor assures me I can cut it up and mush it if needed.

I show H the pill, he then proceeds to ask me does he just chew it or will it melt? Um, I think I already had this discussion with you, it does neither, you must swallow it. I walk him through the steps of putting the pill as far back on your tongue as you can and then you swallow it while you are drinking. Easy enough I know but I also know there is a gag reflex and it is hard, my sister Mary didn't take a regular pill until she was in her 20's. Taking baby tylenol for cramps (you asked that I share this on the blog so I am now embarrassing you), but I know it was hard for her to take it. And yet again in my genes so who knows. He drinks a little and tells me that it didn't go down. I tell him don't think about it as swallowing the pill just think about drinking the gatorade.

Well I finally just have him spit it out in the cup which then I proceed to cut up and throw back in the cup with more gatorade letting it dissolve. I decided that I will give it to him like the claritin I use to give him, the only medicine he loathes, that I will essentially pour it down his throat and he can just take a drink afterwards. Well we are both getting frustrated and I know I am getting to the point of almost yelling and he is just crying because now he is scared he says. I am trying to calm him down and we do the plan. He takes a small drink of gatorade and then hands it to me running around the house. I am thinking he is over reacting to the taste. Come to find out he is looking for the puke bucket and throws up the everything we just ate and the pill we just finally got down his throat. He also then holds up one finger and tells me he does not think he is going to school again tomorrow.

I have really had it at this point more because of the fact that he didn't say he was feeling like he was going to throw up and I just gave him one of the pills so I called my sister who talked me down because I didn't want to yell at him, he is sick but I am just so angry that I just wasted getting this pill down his throat. After that I go back out get another pill and cut it up and start having it dissolve. I go out and talk to him and explain we are going to try again. He says I guess there are only two choices in me getting better, puffed up eyes or throwing up. I just roll my eyes and I laugh at him. I tell him this pill will help, we just got to get it in and get it to stay down. He grabs the PB and says he needs it just in case. I tell him if he thinks he is going to throw up then he probably will and I explain that the doctor would not have given him the medicine if it really was not going to make him feel better. He nods his head and tells me I am right.

New plan, much like the old but with a little modification. I tell him I will pour it down, he grabs the water and then after to get any taste out takes a bite of string cheese. I then point at the PB on the couch and tell him it is there if he needs it but I think he can do it. He then tells me while acting out in slow motion him taking the drink and running after the PB. I laugh at him and say I will grab the PB while you are drinking and all you have to worry about it eating a bite of the string cheese. If he did throw up again the pills would have been put on hold.

We finally did it and no throw up yet. I gave him his suppressant and rubbed his chest with vapor rub (a childhood favorite). He had some trouble getting to sleep because he feel asleep for a little while driving to get the medicine but he is asleep now and not one cough since he fell asleep. Maybe, just maybe there may be an end in sight.

Good night moon.

Sisterly love, cooking and the hypochondriac son...

My little sister is the greatest, she brought over the ladder so I could get my swamp cooler working. I take pride in knowing how to take care of a few things and that makes me very self sufficient, that doesn't hold over so well when it comes to guys, they like to take care of you. I say I have had to deal with it for 8 years by myself, just be happy I don't need help with every little thing. We got mine working, of course there is some small leaking that my dad said he had taken care of last summer but it is back so guess what there is a bucket under it. Luckily it is just minor dripping so I should never really have to worry about it, it will evaporate before it becomes anything bad. Plumbing things not my forte. But none the less I feel bad we went to work on hers and hind sight is 20/20 I know how to get it working but I think she was fed up because of the day and she knew she would help our dad out with his truck. I totally can fix it now, but she won't let me.

I don't claim to be a chef by any means, but after looking at a recipe that was on my sister's blog I "adapted" the sticky chicken one. H is still trying to figure out why it is called sticky but that is the way he is, very particular about things. I made asparagus to go along with it. We had also made some corn bread muffins earlier in the day so it was a full on meal for us. I have a hard time cooking chicken at home, it just boils down to the fact of the smell, if I can smell the raw chicken even if it is cooked I can taste the raw smell. I know it is freaky but I think I have only a few random quirks when it comes to things, I have been learning to deal with them.

My lovely sister also said my son was a hypochondriac today. He has been battling this nasty cold for some time now. We finally got into the doctor because if he is going to be leaving in a couple of weeks I want to make sure he is okay before he leaves. Well it is nothing serious, he gave us a cough suppressant that will help him to sleep because by the end of the day he is just drained from the coughing. Also gave me a prescription for antibiotics that I can choose to fill if it doesn't clear up, it is cough specific. I hate drugs, I hate giving the drugs to the boy, but I understand that sometimes it is needed. Like his allergies, if I don't spray his nose and give him his pill I can guarantee he gets a bloody nose. He is so use to them he just shoves toilet paper up there and carries on, it is because he hates to tie up his hand.

Well we gave him his medicine after a lot of thinking about it and we went swimming. It had cooled down a lot and the water was about 80 degrees, but that boy has no fat on him at all so he started shivering. I asked that he get out and warm up and then he could get back in. I gave him my towel too to warm him up, I told him he could use it because he had goose bumps and the shivering wouldn't stop. He said I didn't need it because I had none, I didn't want to tell him that would be because I have all fat now. He did get back in for not even 5 minutes before he decided he was too cold. As we were walking back I noticed his eye was swelling up. I don't know what would have caused it to swell up and this picture is not even at it's worse. I gave him an allergy pill, we put eye drops in and I put an ice pack on his eye. He kept telling me how sick he was and that he needed a blanket and quarantined himself to the bedroom until his eye was better. He also thought his eye was giving him a fever. Well it finally started to go down, I was minutes away from taking him to the hospital because I thought he was having a reaction to the drugs but then I checked him again and it started to go down.

Now Mary did call him a hypochondriac but really come on, he is my son, he is not reacting any worse then what I do on any other day. I get a pimple and I think it is skin cancer. But the funny thing is I may think all these things but I never go to the doctor I just play them out in my head and read up on it online but it never really goes much further then me telling others that is what I have. Only if I can find a real valid reason will I ever find an excuse to go to the doctor.

Fishing Program 2009 and Memorial Day Woes...

Okay I have noticed my titles are becoming monsterous in size, I will work on that, but most of you know I am pretty long winded so I am not sure how long that will last.

One of the good parts about having a sister who works at the SoDa Center is she keeps me up to date on programs that H might like to do. She hit the nail on the head again. They have a fishing program that is just wonderful, it teaches kids about fishing basics and safety. Most of the guys running it are retired old men that are just great with kids. H has enjoyed this class so far, he looks forward to it and he told me that "it is about patience, which you already taught me mama." Yeah, that is one we are still working on. No fish caught yet but I am not sure what we are going to do when he catches one but we will figure it out when he gets it. He is an excellent caster though, he is proud of that and spends most of the class just bringing the hook back in and casting it out.

The funniest part about the picture that is above is I totally thought he had caught a fish so the helper brought over the net and bucket to get it, well it just turns out he got stuck in the weeds near by. He made me get up for nothing, silly boy.

I just found out that my older sister and boys will be doing their own fun on Memorial Day, that is sad because we usually always get to do something together as a family. H leaves right after school gets out so he won't get to see them for a long while because he will be with his dad for 6 weeks. We will have to carry on with out them though. Miss you guys already, hope you have lots of fun.

Dog haircuts and psychotic cats...

Okay, really I love my cat. He can be so annoying but I like cats because they just keep to themselves and can be trained better then a dog because he has always gone in the litter box. Angel (yes, named after Angelus from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who then got his own show and I find myself waking up bright and early to catch it on TNT) (okay, you caught me really because when we got him H said he wanted to name him Angel because he was like an angel, but really learned that is not the case) and the dog get along for the most part. I mean really, anyone living in the same household of you can get on your nerves and drive you to the point of insanity, you can say they don't but I know deep down it is true you just may choose to find a better venting tool then what others do. But for whatever reason, and it never fails, whenever the dog gets her hair cut, the cat seems to think it is a different dog and chooses to fight it out to the point where I have to cage one of them for the night. Seriously cat you are psycho! Just so you know how psycho he really is he takes off with my cellphone because it rings and vibrates so he just likes to take off with it. It does not happen as much anymore but I still catch him.

He is not as crazy as Friskies, the cat I got in 4th grade and snuck home and had hidden for about two weeks before I ran out of cat food for him and needed to get more but my parents saw the cat food I had put in the cart when the lady was ringing it up. Blasted parents for paying attention, but little does the boy know I did those things so I can catch him doing them and he can't figure out how I know. Friskies would attack you, but not just any attack he would leap on your head with his body over your face and claw into your head and latch on. Although Angel does just attack you out of no where but then runs away, like a sneak attack. And Angel did just attack my "wallet", the size of this thing is the size of a small clutch and actually quite heavy, he did proceed to take off with it before his front claws were removed. Okay, maybe it is a tie, why do I have the tendency to find all the psycho cats?

If I did not catch all of them just to make sure you know, the dog is a girl, the cat is a boy. I for some reason in my mind think dogs are boys and cats are girls. They are both fixed so really not anything other than the bane of my existence and it feels as though I have two other kids in my house at times.

Instead of a sign off, just a GREAT picture!!! Shatner is great.

Hot and tired but can't sleep, so a week in review...

Well, the heat came today. It was nice though, I have enjoyed it. I have been using a self tanner because even though I did bake myself with the baby oil when I was a kid the idea of doing that now actually frightens me. I wonder why I freak out over any new mole, it would be one thing if they were cute little freckles but mine are big and yes sometimes nasty moles. The self tanner is so I look at least some what living considering I have those really bad dark circles under my eyes because of my continued use of allergy medicine and blonde nature (although I try to hide it, still a dirty blonde).

This week was quite the week, my sister is up from Vegas. She is up with the babe and is going to take the bar exam. Wow! I told someone at work about her doing this all and she looked at me and asked "Are you serious? With a new born? Law school?". So the fact that she is still kicking and getting through this all is great. Good for her though, only wish I could help her more than I am.

I just found out yesterday that my nephew has a "girlfriend", I guess he has "written" her a letter and "mailed" it, no those quotes should be there. My older sister is toying with his emotions. But still cute. He told me he wants to kiss her the next time he sees her because he held her hand the last time he saw her. To my understanding this is just some random girl he met at the park. I am sure my sister will pipe in with her defense.

I also did a 5k on Saturday, found out that it is not a 3.2 but a 3.1, but I could go on about that for days. Thanks sis for making me look like a fool to my co-workers when I write out on my board that I am doing a 3.2 and when we talk I mention it is a 5k. All of those looks from them make much more sense. My sister did it with me, I walked the whole thing (okay started with a jog but it really didn't last too long). I thought I had completed it in an hour, well it was just over an hour. Blasted! Well it gives me a goal for next time. I want to complete one with enough time to watch H start and complete his kidsK. Also, I kept getting teared up when other parents were coming down the finish line with their all too proud kids. I don't know if I will be able to do a marathon, but maybe a half? Time will tell along with lots of exercise. Picture of us together below, she being on the left me on the right and the shadow in my face.

Also I just wanted to mention just how proud I am of my son. He had a bike rodeo this week that he was planning on going to, well first we had to fix his flat. Well I ended up popping his tube, at which time 3 neighbors came out to figure out what the loud popping sound was. I had to admit defeat to the boy, he graciously accepted the fact that it was not going to happen so then he proceeded to tell me that he will put on his own rodeo once we get it fixed. I told him we could invite his cousins over and he could get them to put on a show too, he is all too excited for this. But I was proud that he did not let it ruin his spirits. I was really proud of him and it just shows how much he is growing up. He also literally got dog piled this weekend, picture below.

The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap.

Happy Mother's Day...

I don't look at Mother's day as being anything different than just another day to celebrate women in general. I don't think you need to be a mother so be able to get a present or a surprise. So to any women out there I wish you a happy Mother's day today because guess what you have one and sometimes that is more of a battle than being a mother yourself.

We spent the day at the park, we had lots of fun. I forgot my camera so hopefully my older sister can send me some of the pictures that were taken on her camera because overall it was a wonderful day. Even with some headbutting with H it was still fun. I put a picture of the flowers that were sent to me from him, and no I didn't order these myself this year, his step mother actually helped him to pull it off. I enjoyed them alot and think it was great that she helped him out. I still want to warn you all that sometimes he really doesn't keep secrets very well (much like my younger sister).

The best think a father can do for his children is to show respect to their mother.

Wind chimes, flowers, fishing poles and colds oh my...

Well H is not feeling very well. He has a little cold and what worries me is he is complaining he can feel it in his chest. So I pulled out the humidifier and the vapor that goes along with it and set it up in his room. I made the mistake of "taking his temperature" (which really just consists of a kiss on the forehead, when it is too warm that way a real thermometer is pulled out at that point) and telling him I thought he felt a little warm. I had him sleep with the humidifier in his room with the door shut so it would work up the steam in there. This morning he kept making me feel it up more and more because he seems to think that is the only thing keeping the fever away. He stayed in his room the whole day, I felt like we were wasting such a beautiful day so I told him lets go to the store and find a fairly cheap wood chime.

Once at the store it became a whole big deal. We had to go and look at all the things he wanted to see and it wasn't until I said it was my turn he started hacking again (which really was more self induced) and he kept touching his forehead and telling me he had a fever. Finally he asked for me to kiss it to see, but by this time I was on to the plan and I told him he was fine, but it did feel a little warm again, but really he is a fairly warm little boy anyway. So I saw some more wind chimes outside, but that was where the flowers were and he just had to get his flowers for our pots at home (yes, that cough disappeared quite fast). We found a good number and his favorites were these little midnight blue flowers, but he liked them the best because "they were so blue they are purple too Mom". We will see how long the flowers last this year, usually around end of June they are all dead so all the money and time spent on them is out the window.

My sister works at the recreation center and called me up because they were offering a fishing class, so he needs a fishing pole. Well he started asking me all these questions about fishing. I have not fished since like I was a small child so my knowledge in it is very limited. But the questions never stopped, finally I just said we will have to wait and he can ask them at the class because I would hope that the one running the class will have fished before but I guess we will see. For our mother's day outing tomorrow hopefully Grandpa can put the pole together for us because I don't know what I am doing. I was very proud that the boy chose the package that came with all the hooks and stuff even though the Transformers and the Star Wars poles were looking much more enticing. He has his own little tackle box to carry it all in too.

Oh yes, as a comprise on the wind chime, because I like the sound of the reed chimes better than the metal ones, he gets to paint the birds that are on it. But it was not the expensive one that I had really wanted but it is a very good second place one. I will love it more once it has the painted touch on it.

Alas I just put the boy to bed with the humidifier again, we will see how the cough is acting in the morning, hopefully it is just a slight cold and nothing more serious. But I know there is nothing that is making me worry like I did when he was little. We have been working on drinking more so he can flush it out and got lots of vitamin C going as that works for me. I found this baby rub, couldn't find the vapor rub that my mom would rub on my chest when we were kids, I think that will help more with the chest feeling he is feeling but all is well so far, we will see.

A wise man asks questions, a fool always has the answers.

Happy Birthday and Graduation Little Sisters...

Mary - I hope you had a wonderful day. Talking at lunch today with Jules made me want to go out and find a picture, after searching for some time I did not find the one where you were holding Hunter in the hospital on the day he was born, so if you have a copy of that some where I would love to get it. Yes, I know it is your birthday and not yours but Jules was talking and she had mentioned how old the boy is getting and how she remembered the day you called in to say you weren't coming in. I just wanted to put it up there just because it is one of my favorites. So I found this one instead.

I know Norah will probably be even more upset that you have yet to go on a vacation with them yet, but I really liked this picture. He still talks about this trip to me alot. I may not be able to afford a trip like this for a long time coming, but I think I do need to find some way to get him back to the beach because he really enjoyed it.

As I have read you seem like you had a wonderful birthday. But I also wanted to thank you again (and yes tears are seriously coming to my eyes) for everything you have done for me in the past 8 years. It has been nice to have so much support from you these past few years, you have really saved my sanity and you save me when I have some melt downs and just cry up a storm for a number of stupid reasons. You have been a rock to me that I have needed and even though I feel you are a second child to me because of the bickering that goes on between you and the boy, I know he loves and appreciates you more than you even though. He is always wants to make sure he has not disappointed you in someway no matter how small and silly it may seem.

Tami - I am so happy you graduated law school, I know it was always a running family joke you were adopted, oh yeah and you would be the first female president (but between Alva and I you have a lot of family skeletons now). But I wish I had the fire that you had to complete school, now that I am actually interested in learning I feel like I can't find the time to go back just yet. I am really excited you are moving back, it will be nice to see you anytime. I know we have not been the closest (Mary seems to be everyone's go between) but it will be nice to see you more often. And to have such a supportive husband and such a beautiful baby boy you are just beginning a wonderful adventure in this life.

To all of my family, thanks to you all, it is I do know how much you do for me and I appreciate it.

To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.