Speaking of circling the drain...

Well the kids had all recovered from their pre-Spring Break ear infection/coughing junk. So I thought we would have a few weeks reprieve. And we did. Two weeks to be exact. Then the respiratory crap started again.

Little d was treated for flu after her strep and flu tests came back negative. PS Tamiflu upsets her stomach, turns out. So then we had the whole anti-nausea suppository fun as an appetizer to the dose of Tamiflu twice a day. Thankfully she stopped running fever in four days and finally started wanting to do something other than just lay quietly on the couch.

Little m had a light case of whatever it was.

But Little md. Saturday night we had to take him to the ER because he sounded so horrible. The doc diagnosed viral croup. He got a dose of oral steroid and breathing treatments. But Monday our pediatrician looked at his chest xray and said he had a touch of pneumonia. So now he's on antibiotics too. He is doing better. Still sleeping alot and not eating as much as normal, but he's fever free and his cough is no longer so deep in his chest. And no more of that horrible breathing that makes me ever so thankful my kids don't have asthma!!

Poppy is in the hospital--blood in the urine. Hopefully he'll be out before the weekend. My mom is getting over her terrible cough after a second dose of (stronger) antibiotics. She may have had a touch of pneumonia too. And me and D, pulling up the rear with irritated throats and annoying coughs.

I have decided to do a farm theme for Little md's birthday. I can hardly believe he's almost one. Just two weeks away. He's been walking for so long now, he's nearly running. I have to mention the cutest story.

He loves to dance. Bobbing his head and bending his knees in time to the music. The other night Dancing with the Stars was on and he watched intently as the professionals did their exhibition noting, apparently, the dips. Then when the singer came back on he resumed his dancing, but this time he would lean way over as if he was dipping as well. So adorable! I just love him! (Oh and today I swear he said 'moo cow'!)

Guess who's not potty trained yet?? That's right. Still a diaper girl our Little m. But also still a book reading fiend. As in "read this to me read this to me read this to me read this to me..."

Little d is doing so well in school. (You know when she's not home running fever.) She got an award for meeting her 50% goal with the AR program. I'm not even sure what that means, but she got a book to keep and was super excited! In her class they are hatching REAL! chicken eggs and about to have cocoons to watch as well. You all know my obsession with raising chickens, so I'm thrilled and quite a bit jealous that Little d gets to watch eggs hatch! A story about her... One morning we were driving to school and discussing how dirty boys bathrooms were...I don't know why...and I offered an explanation.

"You know little boys sometimes aren't very careful with where they are aiming when they pee."

She thought for a moment. "What, are they...guessing??"

A true LOL moment. "Yes maybe they are!"

On the Weight Watcher front. I have not had the time to track lately, but the last few weeks have gone something like this...0, 0, -3, +2, -1.

Off to do laundry---

Must go take care of laundry.

Weigh in Friday--a little late

One more pound down.

I'm starting to try to find a theme for Little md's birthday. It's right around the corner. And speaking of the little guy...he's taking steps now. The other day (and a couple of times since) he's taken up to six wobbley little steps all on his own. He absolutely loves to stand right up in the middle of the floor. I absolutely love the look of pride and accomplishment on his face when he does it.

Gosh I hate when D works nights. I hate when he works days too, truth be told. But nights really suck.

Today is Poppy's 92nd birthday. We're having cake for him tomorrow. Ninety two. That's a lot.

I just finished reading Water For Elephants. That's before I knew it was about to be made into a blockbuster starring "Edward" and Reese Witherspoon. Anyway. It's going on my favorite books lists. I really enjoyed it. Maybe I should do a favorite books lists on my sidebar. Yeah. When I have time...

out for now...cranky baby.

Weigh In Friday!

Well today I weighed two pounds less than last week. So coolio.

I celebrated by eating Sonic tonight. Ick. It has been soooo long since I ate greasy crap-ola. Again I say Ick.

I hope I'm not coming down with something. I am so exhausted this week. Just beyond drained.

It's not a riveting post, but it's real.

Weigh In Friday!!

Lost five pounds. I just may survive this weight watchers thing--said the lady who has been on it for one whole week...

In completely unrelated news...Little d is selling Girl Scout cookies and the Lemonades are total bliss! {and 2 points a piece}

Have a great weekend--I'm hoping to get the tree down...

Where are they now? {And an MLK tribute}

So it's probably been long enough since my last post for that title to make sense.

Little md is cutting his very first tooth. I think it's about time!! He'll be nine months in a week. It's the bottom right and I caught sight of it when D was changing his diaper last night. It's funny because people (okay-my mother in law) will always say that 'ohhhh {he}'s cutting teeth' as soon as they hit that four month old drooling period. Because it seems to me every baby starts drooling at four months, whether they are cutting teeth or not, I look for other signs. Anyway I just told my mom yesterday, I think he may actually be starting to cut a tooth. Ahh behold--he is!

He's also tooling around like nobody's business. He 'walks' along the couch. He can stand and sit on his own, and he loves making a beeline for something he's not supposed to get into. He's eating (baby) fruits and veggies and even likes (baby) ham. He's still drinking an insane amount of formula--taking three bottles during the night. Ehhh-whatareyagonnado? He'll sleep through the night when he sleeps through the night.

Little m. I've said it before, and I'll say it again--that child is hard headed. And yet to be potty trained. But I'll give her this...she knows what she wants. And if it's the pink cup after you already poured the milk into the green cup. Too damn bad for you. And she loves to change clothes. Every so often during the day she will make the proclamation "I need to change". And off she goes to dress herself. She's so tiny too. And she looks just like a little garden fairy when she runs around the house with her summer dress, bare feet and feathery hair framing her pink cheeks and impish smile.

Little d. Ahh. She's so smart. She's reading a little now--on target for kinder. She still is not a fan of school, but she comes home in a good mood and I'll take that! We had the best discussion Friday night at bedtime about race relations.

I should give you a little background. I've made it a point to not identify people as black, white, etc. I mean if I want to point out a black person on TV or something I'll say 'it's the guy in the green shirt' or something. In fact, Little d usually identifies people by their hair color. I remember watching the inauguration and Little d asked if his (Obama's) wife had already walked down the stairs and I told her yes. She said 'oh the black girl'. I said 'what do you mean?' Because I was shocked to hear her identify Mrs. Obama as black. And she said 'you know, mom, the one with the black hair.' Ah yes, that cleared it up.

Another time Little d said, 'wouldn't it be neat if we could color our skin different colors?' I asked her what she meant and she said, 'like pink or brown or something.' 'That would be cool,' I said. 'I only know one brown person,' she said. 'Who's that?' I asked. 'Pawpaw.' She said. I stifled a laugh. Pawpaw is very dark tan because he's worked outside all his life but to her I said, 'oh yeah.'

SO back to Friday night. With her being in school and this being the MLK holiday, they read a book about his life.

She said, "Mom today we read a book about King Luther or something."

"Martin Luther King?" I offered.

"Yes! That's it. Do you know him?"

"I know his story."

"Oh. Did you know he got killed? Not in the bomb, but later. Do you know how he got killed?"

"Someone shot him, right?" I said.

"Yes! He just wanted people to get along. Like the blacks and the whites." She said it like they were sports teams. She continued, "and Mrs. H knew him. Well like she heard about him when she was little. And you know mom it doesn't matter if you are a black or a white, it's about your character."

I was grinning. "Yes."

"I didn't know that there was, like a difference, like a black or a white." She looked a little confused.

"Well a long time ago people used to think if you were different, you weren't as smart or as... good." I tried to clarify.

"Yes and they had to sit in the back of the bus." She remembered more of the story.

"Yes. What does character mean?" I asked.

"It's like how you act."

Well done, Little d, well done.

So know I'm feeling all proud of myself that Little d had absolutely no idea that there would be any reason people would judge other people based on their skin color. Of course now, she thinks Pawpaw is a blackish. (Her words not mine.) I just love the innocence of childhood.

In other news, I started Weight Watchers. I have to get rid of this baby weight. Nine months is long enough!