Yes, she kisses her mother with that mouth.

It started innocently.  Matt and I were driving home from my cousin’s engagement party when we saw someone on the side of the road with a gas can putting gas into his car.  Matt says to himself under his breath, “Dumba--.” And that is how it started. 

So you can guess what Ryann’s new favorite word is?  She has called me this probably five times and it rolls off of her tongue like she has been saying it her entire life. 

“Mommy, are you listening?  Dumba—“ she says through clenched teeth when I don’t respond right away.

“I said give that to me dumba—“ she tells her little brother as he gums up one of HIS Christmas presents.

Each time, we chide her-we don’t say that word, that is a bad word,[1]etc., etc. but after she goes a few days without saying it, it eventually comes back out-although she is starting to apologize right afterwards, much in the way I anticipate she will apologize when she is in high school and starts using the language she uses around her friends rather than the language reserved for her parents.

So I am wondering-is she too young to taste a little soap, or do we just keep ignoring it until it goes away?  I am just waiting for it to come out again when we are out in public so that I can explain to everyone that she picked it up from her dad... :)

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[1] While fighting back a smile and tears at the awkwardness of hearing such a sweet voice say such a bad word.

Our patient is trying my patience.

We have been very lucky so far with our children in that they have been very healthy, easygoing kids.  The only time Ryann has ever been to the doctor’s was for a well baby check-up and the same goes for Matthew[1].    

That all changed on Tuesday morning.  Ryann woke up with a fever[2] so I got a hold of my parents[3] to see if they[4] could watch the kids so that my girlfriend wouldn’t have to bring her two over and risk getting them sick.

Ryann acted fine all day, according to my dad, she was just a little tired and didn’t eat.  He even brought the kids back to his house so that he could watch him there.  I walked in the door to pick them up and my dad told me Ryann had just thrown up.  Her clothes were changed[5] and so I just grabbed her and she fell asleep in my arms.  I was in no hurry to leave since I didn’t want her to get sick in the car, so we relaxed for a little while and my dad casually mentions that he was a little nervous about her vomit, because it looked a little red.  He shows me a paper towel that he used to wipe her mouth that has blood on it.

Since my dad has seven kids, I figured he wasn’t worried, so I shouldn’t be.  I called my mom to let her know.  She was leaving work so I waited for her to get home so she could check out the sample.  She came home, took one look, and said that we needed to go to the hospital[6].  I called Matt and told him to meet us there. 

We got our things together, put the car seat in my mom’s car, and raced[7] to the hospital where Matt was waiting in the Emergency Room.  I carried Ryann in and handed her off and went to go check her in.  As we were standing at the desk, she began to vomit blood again.  Matt and I of course were the typical fruitcakes freaking out as someone calmly handed us a tub to catch the blood in[8] and then ushered us into a side room where we sat with a few other people until we were called back.

When we finally got in a room they gave us a run- down of what they might need to do.  She had to be hooked to an I.V., get a tube up her nose and down her throat, get a catheter, and also have a few Tylenol suppositories to bring her fever down.  All the makings of an alien probing.  The only thing they did not do was put her under and put a scope down her which they decided would not tell them much since she was so small.[9]

We were admitted and stayed the night.  Matt and I were stressed.  They finally decided that she must have broken a blood vessel while retching, which is what caused the blood to come out.  They couldn’t find blood anywhere else[10]  so they released us about 24 hours with a prescription and orders to follow up with her doctor this weekend. 

Ryann is almost back to herself, she has been ordering us around like she is still hooked up to an I.V., and besides a cough and runny nose[11] she is doing well.  Matt and I, not so much.  Until we can relax about it, she is back in bed with us again I guess until the nightmares fade[12] or she gets married. 

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[1] Although I am a little more lax on getting Matthew to the doctor’s on time.

[2] About 103 degrees, but it was in the ear and never seems accurate, and I haven’t brought myself to learn how to take a temperature rectally yet. 

[3] Mom.

[4] My dad.

[5] Into one of her uncle Robbie’s t-shirts.

[6] The hospital as in Mott’s children’s hospital in Ann Arbor.

[7] 60 mph is racing on the expressway to my mom.

[8] I guess E.R. employees are used to these kinds of situations.

[9] THANK GOD.

[10] And believe me, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

[11] And nightmares most likely involving people in scrubs and white coats.

[12] About the 3^rd time she woke up crying last night, Matt told her that whenever she gets scared she can just rub his back to make herself feel better. I woke up this morning and she was rubbing his back.  Well played Mr. Everly.

These are a few of my favorite things...

The older I get, (and the older my children get) the more I appreciate the holidays and the traditions that have developed in my family over the years.  A lot of families spend time at the Thanksgiving table going around having everyone say what they are thankful for.  Since I come from a family of seven and my parents both come from families of seven kids our holidays don’t have down time to hear each person talk.[1]

So today, since chances are I won’t get to talk much since there will be so many people around[2] I would like to give a shout out to the people that I am most thankful for.

1.   I am thankful for my husband.  He is both hardworking and loving.  He is appreciative and helpful.  He is a great dad and role model for my children. 

2.  I am thankful for my children.[3]  My mom wrote me a letter in 8^th grade which I still have that said “you will never know how much I love you until you hold your own baby for the first time.”  She was right on this among other things.[4]

3.  I am thankful for my parents.  They worked hard[5] to provide for myself and six[6] siblings and are always there to help with anything I need.[7]

4.  I am thankful for Matt’s parents for helping to raise my babies and for raising my husband to be a great guy and father.[8]

5.  I am thankful for my brothers and sisters[9] for each of their separate personalities but shared sense of humor.

6.  I am thankful for my few but true girlfriends that provide me with an outlet away from all the above mentioned people.

All of these people mentioned along with numerous acquaintances that I may not see as much as I would like to[10] continue to make my life complete.

I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

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[1] It wouldn’t matter if we did anyway, because no one listens to each other, they are just waiting for the other person to pause for breath so that they can jump in and tell their “much better” story that will more importantly put the focus back on them.

[2] Plus, I like to focus my attention on more important things, like eating.

[3] Most days.

[4] Not EVERYTHING Mom, this is not a concession.  Maybe next year?

[5] And continue to work hard

[6] Yes, 6.

[7] Especially babysitting.

[8] Could someone tell them I said that?

[9] In-laws included

[10] With the exception of light facebook stalking.

Girls Rule, Boys Drool

We left early Friday morning for our much anticipated girls weekend, where the theme was “Girls Rule, Boys Drool.”  We spent all morning Friday shopping through Birch Run, stopped and had a late lunch, and then headed over to the Bavarian Inn Lodge.

 Is anyone surprised that my daughter wouldn't cooperate for this photo?

I cannot say enough great things about this weekend-we had a blast!  We had 6 women and 3 toddlers (age 2.5, almost 3, and almost 4[1]) and we survived incident free.  Mostly.

We had a few scares, with my friend’s daughter stepping into the pool and going under for what seemed like hours until her mom jumped in and saved her in the 18 inches of water that she was in.[2]  Also, Ryann walked away from us as we were gathering our tickets in the arcade and we couldn’t find her forever[3] until my girlfriend happened upon her at the opposite end of the play center shaking hands with what I can only assume was going to be her new family.

However, seeing the girls jump on the beds and run down the hallways and dancing on the dance floor[4] made me feel like a kid again myself.  And getting to spend a lot of time with my girlfriends (and sister) was recharging as well.  We are already looking forward to next time-although I will remember to pack life jackets and baby leashes. 

    Ryann out like a light on the ride home.  

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[1] Half years count a lot more developmentally when they are young so I felt it was important to give an accurate age.

[2] It was seriously up to their waists.  Just goes to show you can never be too careful.

[3] Or at least long enough for me to run through the rest of my unhappy life in my head including my massive weight gain and divorce.

[4] Kids are welcome at both bars at the Bavarian Inn ;)

Girls' Weekend

This Friday I have the day off so a few weeks ago I got with some of my girlfriends and we decided to do a girls shopping day at Birch Run accompanied by a stay at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth for the evening.   It would give us all a chance to hang out and get some holiday shopping done and in the evening we could go back to the hotel and let our daughters play, swim, etc. while we sit and talk about the way things used to be.

As soon as I booked the hotel, I started getting Ryann pumped up for it.  At first, she made me wish I had never mentioned it because she kept asking about it.  Anyone that has shared space with a toddler knows that they can be quite persistent[1] when they want the answer to something, and of course Ryann is no exception.

However, the tables have turned, because Ryann is so excited to stay the night with her friends that I can get her attitude adjusted in a heartbeat.

“If you aren’t going to be nice to your brother, then you can forget about going to girls’ weekend.”

“You better try some of those vegetables or no way can I take you to girls’ weekend.”

“Stop whining or else I am calling and canceling girls’ weekend.”

“Rub my back until I fall asleep so I can rest up for girls’ weekend.”

Okay, the last one was a joke[2]-but you get the idea.   Of course, I am glad that it is finally this weekend, mainly because I am sick of hearing myself threaten about girls’ weekend[3] all of the time but also because I am so very excited to spend some time shopping and relaxing with friends.  Plus, I know that I have Santa Claus to call this coming month if she gets out of hand.  Now I just need something for the rest of the year…

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[1] Like, Chinese water-torture persistent.

[2] Kind of.

[3] Ryann pronounces it “go streakin” which cracks me up all the time.

Turning a mole hill into a mountain.

Today I have nothing on the agenda, so I decided today was the day that I would tackle our cuarto del terror (terror room, in Spanish) which is our bedroom/office/laundry room that resides above our garage.  I think I am safe in assuming that most people have a room like this in their house, or at least people that are friends with me do.  This room is full of laundry, books, shoes, and other things that don’t really have a “home” within our home. 

The problem with me cleaning is that I have severe ADD when it comes to organizing so I can spend hours on a project and in the end nothing looks any better.  Here is how I spent the first few hours this morning.

1.  Enter el cuarto del terror.  Have no idea where to start.  Decide to put a load of laundry in to knock down the pile and hopefully get a glimpse of the hamper buried beneath.  Start folding the pile of clean laundry that has been sitting in the basket for a day.[1]

2.  Start putting the laundry away.  Note that there isn’t much room in my closet.  Start pulling out things that are either out of season or that I shouldn’t be wearing.[2]  Put those to the side.

3.  Go back to the laundry that is now done, start putting the kids stuff away.  Notice that there is a lot of stuff in THEIR closet that no longer fits.  Get boxes and start pulling things out of their closet to give away. 

4.  Noticing now that I have a bunch of empty hangers, I start to go through the hangers and get rid of some of them.  Since I have a garbage bag now, I start walking through the upstairs throwing things away.

5.  While I am emptying the garbage can in the bathroom, I notice that it could use a good cleaning.  Put the garbage bag down and get out the cleaning supplies. 

6.  Start cleaning the bathroom and realize I can’t wash the rug from there because the washer is full.

7.  Load the stuff from the washer to the dryer, start folding the things in the dryer.

9.  Notice a lot of the things from the dryer is summer wear.  Fold that and put it to the side.  Figure if I want to put the summer stuff away, I should get out the winter stuff. 

10.  Pull the Rubbermaid full of winter stuff out of the attic.  Dump it out.  Put the summer stuff inside.  Put the winter stuff in a pile to be washed.

11.  Eat a cold piece of pizza while standing in front of the fridge.

12.  Decide that I should update my BLOG.

13.  Finish typing the BLOG, and realize that the room looks worse than when I started.

See why it is pointless for me to clean?

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[1] Week.

[2] So long, maternity clothes. (Not you, maternity pants, I may need you for Thanksgiving, see #11)

Halloween Hangover

I have always enjoyed holidays, but I think once you have kids there is a lot more pressure on you to really get into the spirit so that they can start to appreciate holidays as well.  I figured Halloween was an easy sell.  Ryann would get to walk around after dark up to strangers’ houses and get free candy from them.  What is not to love?

We invited friends and family over around 3:30 for white chicken chili and appetizers so that the grandparents could see the kids in their costumes and Matt could see some people outside of the working world on his first day off in a few weeks[1].  Ryann, of course, took a longer nap than usual, and as part of some twisted plot to destroy me, everyone showed up around 3:30.[2]  I was upstairs nursing Matthew, Ryann was sleeping, and none of the snacks had been set out yet.  I would have had it all set, but Ryann wanted a Dora pumpkin and that took me longer than I expected to create.[3]

Ryann woke up in a bad mood[4] and didn’t want to put her costume on.  I finally convinced her[5] to get ready and she headed back downstairs and really enjoyed herself for the remainder of the evening.  She trick-or-treated with the neighbor, visited with her best girlfriend, and slept like a baby.  Besides Ryann dealing with a little bit of an upset stomach[6] I think that she really enjoyed her first “official” Halloween. 

Now I have a few weeks to decide how I am going to turn myself into a sweaty mess on Thanksgiving.  Maybe we will try shopping that morning for an outfit!

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[1] Guess my “honey do” list can wait a while longer. Grrrrrr……

[2] This is unheard of in my family.

[3] All morning.

[4] BIG SURPRISE.

[5] Through an assortment of bribes and threats

[6] Which includes filling diapers with flesh-eating diarrhea