My Mom put a funny spin on our current not-so-funny situation. You see, 2 out of 3 boys have pink eye. So lovely. Mom said that on Christmas Day we may be confused and think it's Easter since there may be so many little pink-eyed bunnies hopping around. Well put, Mom, well put.
Not only are a few eyes pink, my poor hands look so beaten up that I look like a professional boxer. Perhaps I should tape my knuckles and make myself look like a tough gal rather than appearing like a tired Mom with sick children at home. You see, if you don't have children, the reason my hands look awful is because I have to wash them and wash them and wash them and wash them and wash them. I don't think there is a lotion on the market that could soothe my poor cracked skin. It gets so bad my knuckles bleed which is, again, just lovely.
Just in time for the holidays, we have a virus or two parading through the children, waving its nasty flags of snot, vomit and ug. It's beautiful to behold. I'm hoping that this will all go away in the next day or two and then we'll all be virus free to enjoy the holidays. Since too much hope can lead to exceptional disappointment and since disappointment is rather unpleasant and all too frequent these days I'm trying to cope with what is going on and do the best that I can. Of course, I still stress out and worry that my boys will be sick on our ridiculously long drive (yes, we're driving) to Salt Lake City, UT, from Dallas, TX. If you didn't think I was insane before, you'll have the confirmation you needed because we're totally nutso.
Rather than visions of sugar plums, I'm having visions of barfing babes in car seats and tearful parents, racing as fast as we can to SLC without, of course, endangering our precious, vomiting babes. We'll see. Until then, I'll scrub my epidermis religiously, try to keep the babies from crawling in recently spewed vomit and medicate, medicate, medicate the boys until we're all well again.
So, my Christmas wish for all you parents out there is: May your children be healthy, may your nights be quiet, may your hearts be happy and may your knuckles be soft and smooth. Peace to all.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
The sun does set
The sun has set and so are my aching muscles and bones. Over the last few weeks, things have been pretty mild and even fun at times. I've enjoyed the feeling that maybe we're getting past the harder times. Overall, we are but the last few days have been rife with examples to the contrary.
Amusing things come to mind such as Neil's unrelenting pursuit for arguments. The best I've heard yet was his demand that I make the sun rise again. I guess it might not seem absurd to him. It's flattering to think that he thinks I'm that powerful. Of course, the fact that he says no to me all the time suggests that he doesn't respect my god like powers enough.
The twins are being pretty adorable these days and enjoy playing together. The biggest challenge is when their two minds work together to create even more unsafe activities with which to entertain each other. They give me a whole new respect for team work. Of course, it's also dangerous when they don't work together such as when Evan pushes a toy on which Dylan is standing.
Today provided two exciting episodes that I would have been happy enough to have allowed someone else to experience. The first one involved our television and Neil. The TV has been a concern of ours for a long time and Chris and I had not determined the best way to secure it. As far as we could tell, our biggest concern was that the twins would accidentally knock it over but we felt we had a little time until they could reach it. Classic parent mistake: we focused on the wrong kid. Duh. We thought Neil was disinclined for such activities but, today, he decided that moving the TV would be a good thing to do. As I was talking on the phone, I watched as he began to move it and I ran faster than I have in a long time in order to prevent it from falling. Neil subsequently had nap time.
With the strength that I didn't have (hence, part of the reason I'm hurting tonight), I lifted the TV over my head and put it on the highest part of the entertainment center. This took Herculean strength and engenuity, neither of which I found easily. The TV was moved. I had a beer. God forgive me, I had a beer.
The next pleasant event this evening involved bath time. Chris was having a rare evening out so I was in charge of bath time tonight. I had just finished bathing all 3 boys. The twins were in a play pen fussing for me to return and Neil was in the bath demanding bubble time. It was a no bubble night and that was that. Neil didn't agree and wanted to argue with me about getting out of the tub. All patience spent, I wasn't going to argue with him so I started to pick him up out of the tub and slipped. Bam. Nothing like a nice tub to hit at the end of a hard day. Can't wait to see the bruises. Being the hilarious 2 year old, Neil yelled loudly about how he hurt (his latest drama - a fly buzzing by him would send him into a tail spin). He wasn't the one who fell. Of course, I couldn't let him win the argument just because I couldn't stay on my feet so, a little more carefully, I hauled his little self out of the tub and ended that argument.
Part of me wants to get all philosophical right now about where I am in my life and the important role I play in these boys' lives and the rest of me, the tired me, just wants to be so thankful that the sun has set and that the sun won't rise for a few more hours. If I could make the sun rise at will, I might ask it to rise a few more hours later just so I could get some sleep!
Amusing things come to mind such as Neil's unrelenting pursuit for arguments. The best I've heard yet was his demand that I make the sun rise again. I guess it might not seem absurd to him. It's flattering to think that he thinks I'm that powerful. Of course, the fact that he says no to me all the time suggests that he doesn't respect my god like powers enough.
The twins are being pretty adorable these days and enjoy playing together. The biggest challenge is when their two minds work together to create even more unsafe activities with which to entertain each other. They give me a whole new respect for team work. Of course, it's also dangerous when they don't work together such as when Evan pushes a toy on which Dylan is standing.
Today provided two exciting episodes that I would have been happy enough to have allowed someone else to experience. The first one involved our television and Neil. The TV has been a concern of ours for a long time and Chris and I had not determined the best way to secure it. As far as we could tell, our biggest concern was that the twins would accidentally knock it over but we felt we had a little time until they could reach it. Classic parent mistake: we focused on the wrong kid. Duh. We thought Neil was disinclined for such activities but, today, he decided that moving the TV would be a good thing to do. As I was talking on the phone, I watched as he began to move it and I ran faster than I have in a long time in order to prevent it from falling. Neil subsequently had nap time.
With the strength that I didn't have (hence, part of the reason I'm hurting tonight), I lifted the TV over my head and put it on the highest part of the entertainment center. This took Herculean strength and engenuity, neither of which I found easily. The TV was moved. I had a beer. God forgive me, I had a beer.
The next pleasant event this evening involved bath time. Chris was having a rare evening out so I was in charge of bath time tonight. I had just finished bathing all 3 boys. The twins were in a play pen fussing for me to return and Neil was in the bath demanding bubble time. It was a no bubble night and that was that. Neil didn't agree and wanted to argue with me about getting out of the tub. All patience spent, I wasn't going to argue with him so I started to pick him up out of the tub and slipped. Bam. Nothing like a nice tub to hit at the end of a hard day. Can't wait to see the bruises. Being the hilarious 2 year old, Neil yelled loudly about how he hurt (his latest drama - a fly buzzing by him would send him into a tail spin). He wasn't the one who fell. Of course, I couldn't let him win the argument just because I couldn't stay on my feet so, a little more carefully, I hauled his little self out of the tub and ended that argument.
Part of me wants to get all philosophical right now about where I am in my life and the important role I play in these boys' lives and the rest of me, the tired me, just wants to be so thankful that the sun has set and that the sun won't rise for a few more hours. If I could make the sun rise at will, I might ask it to rise a few more hours later just so I could get some sleep!
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