Do you think it's the... (gasp) SWINE FLU??

I've been getting that question a lot lately ... Even though there are no confirmed cases in WI - who knows right?

Noah is STILL throwing up now and then, mostly in the morning when he takes his meds, and late at night. Now... at around 3pm - Nathan started to get sick, I was feeling crappy all day and last night I had such a fever that I had on 3 layers, 2 blankets, and insisted on Dennis holding me just so I could warm up. Then Kaedyn threw up in the middle of the night. And now this morning - Calahan threw up (missing the toilet might I add) ...

Dennis continues to avoid it, and I hope he does. A: It's not fun. B: I wouldn't want anyone to get this. AND C: he can't miss anymore school!! Or else!!

It was hard for him to leave this morning. But I managed to get him to. He was starring at me and I knew it, and I said "I know you have a moral delimma going on in your head, but you are going to school" ... see he has missed 3 days already, 2 from being sick, 1 from not having enough gas to get there that day ... so if he misses one more day, he fails automatically due to some rule they have if he misses 20% of the class stuff ... well... they have very short classes, so if he misses one day, it's a lot.

Anyway - so we are all sick. So I'm quite, don't have time or energy to write much :(

HUGS ... hope no one else gets this crap - it SUCKS!

Why YES Chef Gordon Ramsay ....

If you didn't know ... (raises eyebrow) ... my husband is studying to become a fine dining chef. We watch Hells Kitchen, Top Chef, and various other cooking shows like that (Iron Chef being another) .. mainly because I have a thing for Gordon, Tom, and Michael! Well, Dennis likes Mario of course cuz A: he's Italian like Dennis and B: he has cool orange crocs that Dennis wants. But that's beside the point...

Earlier ... Dennis was spouting off at the mouth some "how could you not know that" type whatever and I was only half listening, I was waiting for him to call me a DONKEY but it didn't happen, so I said "Yes Chef Ramsay" ... and he says, "I'm not Chef Ramsay," I thought he was done there, but then he goes on and says "but I wouldn't mind taking his money, his restaurants, or his reputation...." ... I bust out laughing so hard...

It's no wonder I'm fat. No really, it is. I got separated from my first husband, I lost so much weight, I was looking and feeling good, and then I met Dennis. Dennis who's .... well.... favorite late night after a good work out (wink) food was egg sandwiches. I gained 10 lbs in 2 weeks ... all because of him. Course that stopped when he moved up to my house in Wisconsin - land of cheese curds and more cheese curds ... and apparently high cholesterol for him! LOL... His body went into shock, I swear. So ... 2 pregnancies later, I manage to gain back everything I lost. This doesn't sit well with me, btw. He cooks these AWESOME meals almost every night.

Tonight ... Chef Ramsay made Steak, Broccoli & Falafels ... Funny story about the Falafels... Dennis came home from school one day and said "guess what we get to make in school tomorrow!?" Then he proudly announced "Falafels!!"

I had to laugh, and the first thing out of my mouth was "Periwinkal would be SO PROUD." He bust out laughing. He said when his teacher asked if anyone knew how to make Falafel, he raised his hand and said "Well Periwinkal says that it's fried chickpeas and lots of vegtables" which got laughs from a few more studants, to which he said "ah, you must have kids!" LOL...

We have a Blues Clues episode on our DVR right now called "Neighborhood Festival" ... several of them bring different things and half way through the episode Joe finds Periwinkal and Duck at a table with a "snack" where he explains what Falafels are and then they try it and say "emmmmm good!" ...

So he got stuff the other day to make them, and decided to do so tonight.

Today was ... overall a long day. I didn't get out of my PJ's really, and I didn't bother getting the babies dressed. Noah is feeling better - for sure - but he's still sick and weak and just generally run down. I've been trying to catch up on Nathan's Daily Diary ... and just playing with the babies / spending time with the family. Tomorrow starts the two weeks where I have to take Calahan to and from school. Joy. Thing I look forward to the most is waking up my house and piling everyone in the van, just cuz Cal got into trouble.

Anyway - Nathan ended up taking a very late nap (finally crashed around 4, even though we tried to lay him down for a nap at 2) ... and is still up. He'll be up for awhile I'm sure - oh crap I just remembered Dennis didn't give him his meds! Noah didn't get his second dose either because he fell asleep on the floor - so if he wakes up before I go to bed, I'll give it to him. Noah is still very warn out and still sick but not vomiting and the fever has settled down too. The last time I had to give him the anti-nausea meds was this morning, and only cuz he said his tummy hurt and he was feeling like he might throw up again. Anyway - he'll most likely be staying home from school tomorrow, and Tuesday we'll have to play by ear, but he has an appt with his Kidney DR... so ... we'll see. He's been out of school a lot this year again. Poor kid has a crappy immune system like me. Only lately it seems like mine has gotten better. I don't catch *everything* now, but close to it. LOL. Noah though, he gets hit, and he gets hit hard like me. It lasts a lot long then *normal* and it sucks cuz the kid is 7 years old and less the 40lbs. :( He has been so tired - he wasn't sleeping most the day today, but he has been lounging again a lot. And he did fall asleep around 5pm tonight on the living room floor and has been out since.

Does anyone else have kids who tag furniture with their cups??? I swear it's almost like a dog or other animal pissing on something to mark it's territory!! Nathan tags the couch, the chair, heck even the floor with his cup. He flips it upside down and bends the soft spout to squirt liquid out. Oh I hear you ... Just change him to hard cups .... it's not that easy with him. With his cleft palate issue it's harder for him to "suck" so the soft tops, he really only has to bite - or squeeze the sippy part open. With a hard top he has to suck. We've tried to switch him - because of the tagging issue - so many times.... but he just can't seem to do it. So we always end up going back to the soft ones. It's not as easy, with him, to just say "tough, you'll have to deal with it" because of his major weight issue. If he loses ANY weight, it's a MAJOR issue :( We have been trying to keep him ahead of G-tube talks and various other things for over a year now. Sure it's been brought up, but then we hit the wait and see, and then he does good for a bit. Well now, he's just pretty much tappered off again. Depending what all these other tests show and if he starts HGH in the fall... I guess we'll just take it from there.

I'm getting tired, and of course Nathan is still awake. He's getting to the point where he's whining so I better go cuddle with him.

Until tomorrow..

OMG I just noticed all the horrible spelling errors!!! I'm so much better then that ... and I am cringing. But I'm leaving them cuz I'm too tired to deal with it... and Nathan's waiting. Oh well ... Please look over the terrible spelling. Blame it on the lack of sleep the last few days, the fact that I had a 2 year old up and down on my lap the whole time I was writing it... and and and... :::sigh::: ... btw - the last picture is a run away picture of me. I thought it was halarious cuz it shows my bad hair day - I just threw it up .. ha ha ha ha...

My DEMANDING Little Imp...

Yes!!!! He lives!! He is no longer passed out on his bedroom floor with me constantly checking on him just to make sure he's - at least - still breathing and getting worried lines as I scrunch up my brow over the temperature of his pale skin.

3am.... I hear "MOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMY!"

So I reluctantly get up. See, I had already gotten up several times with him. Apparently, him sleeping from 3 in the afternoon meant he was going to be up all night. I managed to stumble my way down the hall to his room. "What?" I mutter... my mouth tastes horrible. Ewww.. I would brush them right now, just to make them minty, but I don't have the energy.

But I blink in the darkness, I don't see him. So I flip on the bathroom light, cuz it casts just enough light in his room to see without blinding the poor kid. And I look blankly around. He's not there... huh? I know I just heard him. So I look in the bathroom, nope, not there either. I look back in his room, he has to be there... no on his bed, top or bottom bunk... not on the floor... did he crawl into his toys in the closet? He's done it before.

"Noah," I managed to slur in my sleep deprivedness ... (is that a word?) "Where are you?"

"In the living room, MOM," he hear him reply, holding back a giggle. He has a full view of me looking unsecessfully in his room. And he had no urge to save me. Gee thanks... I nurse you back to health, at your beck and call, getting very little sleep, and you sit back and watch me gape into your room searching? Thanks...

"Mom," he says as I stumble into the room. "I can't fix this" ... he turns his attention to the TV, currently showing the blue screen of death.

So I get it working, and there is nothing on that he can watch. Infomercials and Family Guy... ah.. I don't think so. So I hit the DVR button, I know we have Snow Dogs on here cuz I haven't transfered it to tape yet, so I go to start it playing, and the TV takes over... to refresh the box, which can take 10 mintues. "WHAT" I bellow...shocked, dismayed and about to cry! Then a light bulb goes off. So I go over to the VHS tapes, thinking YES!! Six hours of piece and quite, sleep blissful sleep and I pull one out, I'll just throw in the first one I grab.

I look at it... "Beautiful Girl, Romy & Michele's Highschool Reunion, Summer Catch..." I blink a few times. Okay maybe the second one.... grab tape #2... "So I Married an Axe Murderer, Speed 2: Cruise Control, Love Potion #9...." ... um...

And then it dawns on me...

I'm on the wrong shelf.

So I remember where the correct shelf is in my sleeping stupper... and go to it. Grab the first tape.... "First Kid, Jungle 2 Jungle, Blank Check..." ... he's never seen this tape, but he's old enough to like these now, works for me!!

"But I don't want to watch that?" He complains.

"Too bad, you'll like them, you've never seen them."

I put it in, hit rewind cuz I noticed it was in the middle of the tape... I go to lay down on the couch as it does cuz I simply cannot stand another moment. Noah starts counting and saying that he has voices in his head.... he can hear them....

and I'm thinking.... and it's telling you what to do isn't it? ....

The tape stops... I manage to push myself into the upright position, again, and go push play.

"Mom!" he yells. "I don't want to watch this."

I ignore him and just fast forward through the beginning stuff. To the beginning of the movie. I look at him, he's watching .. so I stumble back to bed.

20 minutes later.... Kaedyn is fussing...

I stumble up again, and then give him his paci, turn on his waterfall... stumble to the wall and look... "what do you think Noah?" ....

..... silence, other then the movie ....

Apparently it's a hit!

Yay! SLEEP!!

I go to bed, tell Dennis he's getting up the rest of the night, I'm done. And I pass out.

I get up this morning, and Noah immediately starts "Mom, I'm hungry" "Mom can I have grapes?" "Mom I want milk, can I have milk?" "MOM NATHAN IS BUGGING ME" "shhhh Nathan, you are making me angry I want you to be quite" ...

Yep, he's feeling better all right!

The Eerie Sky....

Here is the sky from the "storms" that BARELY missed us the other night. I was all excited about the rain and the boomers... and then it just nicked us with it's scattered showers.... bah! What a let down! But I got a few cool piccers!!

48 hours with 7 hours of sleep...

I’m running on empty!! But I’ll survive. We ended up taking Noah into the ER last night. The last straw was him laying on the bathroom floor until I came and got him (he had to use it, and had been too weak to even get off his bedroom floor, and go in there, so I got him in there and then went to get him a change of clothes)… because he just couldn’t move, he was that weak. It breaks your heart.

Dennis was in the middle of making dinner at the time, and after I settled Noah back down after all that, he feel asleep – almost immediately. So Dennis continued to finish cooking, and I played with the kids, fed Kaedyn his dinner (lil’ piggy) and kept an eye on the storm (or not so storm) happenings. After we ate dinner, Nathan wasn’t going to sleep. Noah was still sleeping so we tried to get Nathan to sleep and it just wasn’t happening. So I decided to just go by myself. Dennis helped me get Noah out to the car and all that, and when I got out there, Noah asked me where Daddy was, and I told him in the house. He asked if he was coming with, and I said no, it was just him and I. I then asked him if that was okay, at first he nodded but then changed his mind and said “I want Daddy to come too” ..

See, Noah gets VERY scared when it comes to him going to the DR. First thing out of him mouth anytime you say his name and doctor in the same sentence is “will I get a shot?” .. he gets all panicked and anxious .. It breaks my heart, but he has been through so much in his seven years. 3 minor surgeries, several hospitalizations, and then 2 years ago- last week- going through or near to kidney failure. It’s hard.

So we got to the ER, there was a wait – it was busy, but the wait wasn’t long. He got taken back to a room … the nurse said “if he gets sick or anything, let me know” .. so I pushed the button when he threw up and someone came in (not his nurse) and gave him a new puke thing and a washcloth that she got before I asked her for it, and tossed the used one after he was done. The second time, he messed his underware, leaking all over the bed I called again, explained, and the girl just went “I’ll let the nurse know” and walked out. I was like… “excuse me!! He’s sitting in his own filth! A little help.” But I’m no stranger to an ER room. I sent Dennis home to get him a new pair of underware, and then found one of those pad things, and the hospital bath wipe things, and I got him all cleaned up. Keeping the pad under him.

He ended up needing a blood test… yes he flipped out but he did SO GOOD. I was very proud of him. I mean … it could have been so much worse and he just glared at her after she got the needle in and then after she was done said “That hurt!” Then announced the fact a few more times through the night. He got some nausea meds, and some drops for his ears. He has a double ear infection and a virus, and she wants me to wait to start the antibiotics until after he stops throwing up. He actually hasn’t thrown up again since the ER, thank goodness! But he’s now running a 101.7 temp.

He’s been having moments of feeling better, and then sleeping for long stretches today. I feel so bad, he is so miserable :( But he can get up on his own today!!!

Afternoon Rambles...

The kids are home the kids are home... the buses have come and the kids are home... oh wait, mine have been home all day. Well, with exception of Nathan... who has war wounds from his DRs appointment. (He is sitting in a basket of clean clothes watching Blues Clues ... see his owie on his arm?? I will update my other blog later and you can see what he had to carry around with him all morning - poor kid!) ...

Might I say - I was soooooo right!?!? It is currently 88 degrees... OMG it's HOT... yes I said HOT. For all you people who think that's cold, you are nuts. Or I'm nuts. I live in Wisconsin... where the cows freeze ... what do you expect? Time to break out the AC's!!

So Noah is feeling better but he's sleeping again. He has been laying around on his bedroom floor on a ton of blankets a lot today - sometimes without having his TV on.. just ... laying there... in misery. He'd yell for me, and then think about it for a little bit while I stood there... trying - hard - to come up with SOMETHING... anything ... to keep me there. "Can you scratch my foot?" he would whimper. Ahhhh, Noah, you are 7, you can scratch your own foot, hate to say it... and then, he'd go "can I have some grapes?" We started out with crackers of course, with the promise that he'd get grapes if he didn't throw up again. So ... he got his grapes. Whew! He has been too weak to even get up on his own today, and..... oh man, I spoke to soon, he just got sick again. No more grapes for him! :( ... anyway he has been complaining of how weak he is and says both his ears hurt but he isn't running any sort of fever that I can tell. :: sigh :: Guess I better check and make sure huh? ... Well apparently I am having a bad mommy moment!! But to my defense, even Dennis said he didn't feel warm at all. His temp is 100.5... not a huge temp, but one non-the-less.

So after Dennis and Nathan got home, I cuddled with Nathan, and wouldn't you know... he HEAD BUTTED ME and gave me a FAT LIP! Wasn't that nice of him? He does this a lot, and it's something I'm concerned about. He head butted Dennis tonight too (he throws his head backwards) and knocked the glasses right off his head. The Autism clinic called yesterday and after asking me a bunch of questions, they decided to go ahead and evaluate him. Apparently it's going to be an all day thing... going to see a Speech and Occupational Therapist in the morning along with a Ped and then those three will confer, and we'll all come together after lunch, and find out what they think. Everyone says "I don't think he'll have it" and I hope everyone is right, but my gut says he's got some form. He is fine with people he knows touching him, but anyone else it's a major issue. Who'da'thunk a little boy like him could give Momma a fat lip!?!? He may be small but he PACKS SOME POWER!! It's not the first time either...





Anyway... Mr. Kaedyn has just been keeping me in giggles today.. he is - I swear - the best baby!! And if you read my blog a couple days ago, you'll find out that was NOT always the case, but OMGosh he lights up your day. You say his name and he breaks out with this HUGE open mouth grin. I mean who can be upset when you see that?? Here he is today ... just hanging out with Mom playing on the floor. We're working on sitting - cuz I hate to say, he's still not doing it steady... yet.... but hopefully soon! He is however rolling all over the place now and getting around the room, just to get into a little bit of trouble... (his shirt says LADIES MAN incase anyone is wondering) ... Ohhhhhhhhh here is a shout out to my friend Melzie-wellzie-puddin-pie who made the BEAUTIFUL quilt he's laying on!!! She just found out she's expecting # 4!!

Oh my there is a siren going off, I don't think we have any severe weather coming... (checking our local station) ... oh now the revolt that I turned off Backyardigans off! HA HA... oh my - look at that, yep - we're under a severe thunderstorm warning O si guess I better close this out and go keep an eye on that. We don't watch a lot of regular TV - that's an other thing about Nathan ... he has his routine and he loves Blues Clues and Backyardigans. We may not always be watching it while we play, but it's on... and we take time out to sing the songs. Nathan can sing the mail song and all sorts of songs - it's so fun to watch him, I'll have to tape him one day (maybe tomorrow) .. because you can't understand him but you totally know he's singing it. Okay - closing this out now to keep an eye on the storm!...

A Few Visitors I had today...

These were taken through my front door/window some some of them are a little fuzzy - please do not adjust your screen... lol..

Early Morning Ramblings

I seriously do not know what to do with myself right now..... other then cleaning that is, which I am successfully avoiding... for the moment... I'm sure the lasso of responsibility will come steal me away here soon.

I mean... I am home, with 3 out of 4 kids... and.... it's QUITE!!

:::gasp!:::

THE HORRORS!! I tell you!! Where is the chaos?? Where is the fighting, the bickering, the "MOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM" screams of terror with incisive giggling that follows!

Quite...

.... what exactly do I do with quite???

Calahan, after coming up and asking if he could *please* go to Marshfield with us promptly went back to bed after he was told I wasn't going cuz Noah is sick. Noah.. poor Noah... is sprawled out on his bedroom floor in a huge t-shirt, and a sick bowl by his side, oh and don't forget the 7-Up in the M&M straw cup. And Kaedyn, well, *Mookers* as we call him, went down for his morning nap.

Maybe I should call the Wonder Pets.... I seriously need some help...

So what do I do?

I blog!

SEE!! I must be back!!!

I could be reading the last 50 pages of NEW MOON for crying out loud and instead, I'm blogging.

::: checking forehead :::

Nope, I'm fine.

So the weather today is suppose to be GEORGOUS!! In the 80's ... it's already 77 at not even 9am, I think it might get above that! Who knows...

Look what I had for breakfast....... shhhhhhhhh don't tell the kids! ROFLMBO!!!!!!

Ahhhhhh... Man!!!

Noah is sick, Dennis is taking Nathan to his appointments in Marshfield... so I'm home... joy!

More on all this later I guess...

I'm tired and when faced with writing right now, even though I want to ... apparently I don't... huh... weird!

It's About Time! ... Right??

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I'm coming back..... I think...

Be prepared for me catching up on my blogger friends ... and notes...

I will update, but I'm going to catch up on the boys Blog first (Unique Flowers) ...

A lot has been going on. A LOT... mostly with Nathan.