Today is one of those days where one task leads to another task which leads to an infinate supply of even more tasks and explains why I feel busy all day and yet have NO idea what I've done with my time. For example: My son wanted toaster waffles for breakfast, we're out upstairs so I go to the garage to get some more out of our freezer. While I'm there, I remember I need to get the next size up of clothes for my younger son since he's growing out of all of his. Grab those, then the waffles and Oh yeah...I'm out of this other thing and need to take that inside too. Back upstairs, toast the waffles, realize I need more butter, go to the fridge and take some out, realize I need more in the fridge which means another trip the freezer. And so on it goes. I think its the little things that not only make the day go fast but also what keeps everything in order. For all you who find yourself having days like this...good job and keep it up.

Enervate

My word of the day, the new definition of tired. The feeling most moms (and some dads) feel after night after night of being up and down with the kids, never fully falling into a restful sleep. Here is the definition courtesy of Thesarus.com: (http://thesaurus.com/browse/enervated)

Definition:	tire, wear out
Synonyms:	debilitate, devitalize, disable, enfeeble, exhaust, fatigue, incapacitate, jade, paralyze, sap, unnerve, vitiate, weaken, weary
Notes:	energize means to cause to be alert or to invigorate while enervate means to weaken mentally or morally enervate means 'drain energy or vigor from' (from Latin enervare 'weaken by extraction of the sinews') and innervate means 'supply with energy' (Latin in- 'in' and nervus 'strength, vigor, energy') innervate means 'to stimulate or give nervous energy,' the opposite of enervate

Growing Pains

Last week Ethan smashed his left ring finger playing with 5 lb hand weights while visiting his Grammie. He will probably loose his nail but thank goodness it isn't broken! He was doing really well with it, being careful not to bang it up any more when yesterday morning Caleb stepped on his finger! Blood was spurting out from under the nail and there was mild chaos! A few kisses and bandaids later and all is well.
This brings to mind all of the recent accidents Ethan seems to have. This boy is a walking accident waitng to happen lately. I remember being a clutz growing up and I still find myself frequently walking into things or wondeirng where that bruise came from. Sorry kiddo, looks like you're taking after mommy!

Another personal PSA

We’ve heard from many neighbors that the fleas are really bad this year. Of course, as we don’t have any pets we didn’t take much notice. Until…

You guessed it. We had a flea infestation in our pet free house!  

Obliviously, if you have a pet that spends time outside, you will most likely experience fleas in one way or another. You may even treat them monthly to avoid infestations.

If like us, you experience an infestation you may want to  try a fogger, but know that you’ll need one for every room in your house. We went this route and took care of the bulk issue.  However, even after fogging the house, we found a few stragglers. To get them, we’ve spread diatomaceous earth around various places in the house. It seems to have worked, but the month isn’t over yet!

Moving on to the bees...After dealing with Caleb’s swarm attack last month (He foolishly decided to pull a nest off the underside of the deck and see what it was), we put a trap out and check for wasp nests frequently.  They are vicious this year! I went out to dead head some flowers on my deck and within moments had at least three buzzing around and even land on me. Caleb came out for a moment but he did not like the bees on him. We quickly retreated to the safety of the house. Then, yesterday, when picking Ethan up from school, in a fluke accident, I got one trapped under my watch and stung on the wrist. Thankfully no allergic reactions, but I feel like I have nerve damage in my wrist now and I had a horrilbe migraine after.

I’m also nervous of spiders after Caleb’s horrid bite last month as well. Thankfully we’ve had non inside yet this year. I do have a nice supply of baking soda on hand, however, should another try to bite one of us again.

I distinctly remember giving birth to a sweet pudgy faced little boy. With just three months to go before Caleb turns two, his attitude is in full swing, and that sweet little boy is a defiant know-it-all little man! Still attached to his binky, he favors mumbling and pointing when he wants something. Heaven help you if you can’t figure out what it is. This attitude filled brute has taken to hitting and throwing things when he’s frustrated as well as when you tell him no. I do however find his throw down tantrums funny because he will look for a soft landing spot first!

On the plus side of his age, he’s now big enough to play better with his big brother and lately as been all over Ethan every chance he gets and when he’s  getting his way, had his naps and getting attention he is still that sweet faced baby just working the crowd!

Preschool!

Tuesday, September 6th was Ethan’s first day of Preschool. He goes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9-12. Two of his buddies from the hall are attending his class as well. He does amazingly well. So far he’s shown off his amazing intellect to the teachers by reading and figuring things out and also helping his classmates with their issues. One thing that will make this so memorable is that on the first two days, Ethan and his buddy Gabe from the hall wore the exact same shirts! Talk about two peas in a pod!
We’ve really enjoyed watching him grow in social skills and artistic ability. One thing that makes this school so great is the 5 kids to one teacher ratio! Lots of personal attention.

Ethan’s also been really into music lately. You’ll often hear him humming to himself  or making up new words to fun songs he’s learned or even making his own song up. He’s also very into classical music right now, even insisting its what we listen to during the day. He loves to try to figure out what instruments he can pick out from the songs. Very fun to watch his knowledge grow!

Stones, Stones and Even More Stones

No I’m not writing a gardening article , although stones do lovely things in the garden. Stone do not do lovely things to your body however,

The hubby has been dealing with kidney stones in both kidneys for the past few months and its been quite the ride.

After finally being diagnosed with the stones, he still had to wait a month before the doctor could get him in for treatment. He was scheduled for Sept. 1 for a procedure called lithotripsy, where they  break up the stones to make them easier to pass. His body however, did not want to wait and Saturday Aug. 27th, we spend a long 8 hrs in the ER for pain. He was discharged without treatment. We were told it was because although his pain was enough to warrant the ER visit, the cause of pain was not so they  couldn’t call in the necessary doctors and techs to treat him.  We spent the remainder of the week with Brian medicated to cope with the pain and headed off on the first for the surgery as planned.
When the doctor met with us, he was uninformed of our ER visit and the results of the CT the preformed while we were there. The CT showed a 5 mm stone blocking the ureter, basically cutting off kidney function. This explained the sudden onset of debilitating pain for the hubs.  Due to the right kidney no longer functioning, the surgery was a bit more invasive than planned. The doctor had to physically go in and pull the stone out and put a stent in to prevent other stones from blocking him up again.

A long 6 days later thanks to the holiday weekend, we went back off island to have the stent removed. “Take a deep breath and look up…” OUCH!

Two weeks later we were back to the hospital  for the previously planned on lithotripsy to the left kidney to break up the stones so they could pass easier.  Both surgeries went really well, but this time he’s in much more pain. This time its only a 4 day long wait to get the stent removed. Now, we deal with the aftermath of so much work to the body and pain medication, but at least the healing can begin.

Motherhood and the Flu...I mean School Season

I cannot believe it has taken me so long to get back to writting, but I hope to keep it up this time.
Today feels like fall is in full swing. Its overcast with the threat of rain. Personally, I'm in love with fall. There is so much beauty to find, especially in the Pacific Northwest. For example, taking my son to school this morning I passed many trees in various shades of color ranging from deep purple red to bright yellow. Even with the sun staying in bed, I find the colors refreshing.
The thing I'm learning to dislike about fall is the start of cold and flu season. My 4 year old is only just starting out in preschool, and yet he's already had one friend out for a few days sick and his little brother caught a cold.  I'm not saying we're never sick in this house. Far from it! But I realize that this will become the new fall norm. Child in school = an increase in stuffy noses and worse in the home. Normally, I don't find colds a big deal. I usually can work thru them, but as a mother of two, I find myself more and more jealous of those who actually get sick days! There are no sick days ahead of me. There are no morings to sleep in because even on weekends the children wake with the sun and always come to me rather than daddy. I guess there isn't really a point to my ramblings today but take it as a PSA for hand washing and vitamins.