Military Spouse Contest

Phyllis, over at mrslieutenant.com is co-sponsoring a contest with yourmilitary.com for military spouses. The contest is "Tell -Your-Own-Story" and the deadline is July 31st with prizes being awarded from Phyllis Zimble Miller and Lifetime is providing prizes from ARMY WIVES as well!

They are looking for your "Happies or Saddest or Most Significant Moment while your husband/wife served on active duty"--hmmmmm.....I think I have a few million of those!

The prizes are great, so head on over there, check it out, and good luck!!! Can't wait to hear your stories!

More lessons learned

Last night I was still sick--I really think it is something that I am eating--and I left the vaseline out and open after getting Junior ready for bed. He apparently found the vaseline and wiped it all over himself just like I do. He still had his pajamas on which made for a greasy mess. He kept saying "I lubed up".

When I went to pick up Abs yesterday from daycare, one of the kids told me as I was walking in that Abs got in trouble for giving mouth-to-mouth. Are you kidding me? So I sign her out and there is a note that I need to see the staff. I go to one of the staff and ask what it is about and she tells me that she has no idea and that I should see the staff at the front desk. So I go to the front desk and she has no idea, so she asks the ladies behind the counter. They continue their discussion on what so and so wore to church last week and I waited and I waited and I waited. Finally I gave up, let the lady know that they could call me if it was that important, and left. I think I am afraid to know!

We went to the mall this morning so I could get a few things. Abs was not on her medication and was ALL OVER the place. The employees at Dillards fell in love with her and next thing I know Abs has them convinced to put on a puppet show by moving the mannequins. The mannequins started moving and talking to her and she was delighted and the employees were having a great time. Then she had to act like a mannequin, it was the stillest she was the entire visit.

Junior is down for a nap and Abs is in her room for a bit. Total silence, so time to crank out some homework. I bought a science experiment book and Abs is fascinated with the thing. I found her last night with a flashlight reading it. She has almost read it cover to cover (it's pretty thick) and I think once she is done we will do a couple of experiments out of there for kicks.

I got a bath last night (thanks Marilyn!) and Abs and I are about to start on a Mother Daughter book club that Marilyn sent us too! There are several different books in there, but I think we will start out with Anne Frank since Abs is fascinated by the "hellacaust" as she calls it. My mom took Em to the Holocaust museum in Houston and she still talks about it. Abs wants to go as well, and we took them into "Daniel's Story" in DC, but we didn't think that they were ready for the whole museum. I still remember visiting Dachau when we were stationed in Germany. No words.

I have a day of R&R scheduled for next Saturday, and they are taking the kids for me and serving lunch and snacks. Not sure what else will be going on, but I'm willing to check it out!

Off to write lesson plans about maps, treasure hunts, rats, nonstandard measurement, rodents of the world, France and more!

Still alive & random thoughts

After me being sick for the last few days, I thought the weekend would never come. I'm sure mine is stress related, but I am feeling much better. Maybe because I just have to do homework all weekend and work tomorrow?


When I had Junior in the er on Sunday and Monday, I told them that amoxicillian would not work, but they of course didn't listen. I took Junior to the doctor today, and his left ear is worse and his pneumonia is too. They don't think he needs to be hospitalized yet since I am pretty vigilant, which is reassuring. I explained to the doctor why I did not think that the amoxicillian would work, and since he had been on it for 6 doses, he agreed. He gave me another medication to try, so I am hoping that my baby boy will be back in fighting form soon. Poor baby...


Abs is missing her sister. I am also missing my alarm--"Mommy, Abs is out of her room!". So far Abs has found rubber cement which she used to paint with--I didn't even know we had any. She rifled through the drawers in my bathroom, but I don't think she found anything interesting to play with/destroy. Abs is great with her brother and adores him, which is nice. When we go drop Junior off in the morning at daycare, I have to pry her out of his room since she loves it in there.


I had a 45 minutes presentation the other day in my educational psychology class. I HATE public speaking. I was so worked up about it, but luckily it was on Montessori and since Abs went there for a year and we loved it, I talked for over half an hour on it and my friend was able to do the beginning of the presentation. Our professor doesn't hand out super high grades, so we were shocked and excited to get a 100! My classmates told me that they won't listen to me complain about not being good at public speaking anymore since they know differently.

Junior thinks his blue "fuffy" is a yellow blankey like Baby Bop's.


We were at the pharmacy on Monday night and Junior was convinced that the picture of the black guy on the wall was his daddy. Today, every time we saw a Soldier, he called them "daddy". One Soldier came up to him at the pharmacy and spent a few minutes playing with him and talking to him. It was so sweet and Junior loved the interaction with a male. He doesn't get much of that.


I talked to Gunner online today. All is well in his neck of the woods. He sent two pictures so we could see his smiling face.

He looks good and strong...Army Strong. When did they start putting the logo on their gear?

We should own stock in pedialyte. My FIL traveled around to all the stores till he found the flavors that Junior liked and he bought them all and dropped them off for me. Huge help!

Tons of schoolwork to do this weekend, but we are on the home stretch!

Adventures of Sick Boy and Mud Girl

This morning Junior woke up with no fever. Strange. I gave him his medicine, motrin as a precaution, and took him into daycare. He seemed okay. During my break, I called and FINALLY scheduled his surgery for the 5th of August. I then asked if the doctor could call me back and put Junior on a low dose of antibiotics till his surgery. The doctor called right back and did what I asked. All was good. I am back in class and my phone rings. It's Gunner's Dad, Opa. Opa tells me that Junior is running a fever and that Oma is going to go get him but she needs a carseat.

So I give directions to where I am, and assume that she will be by shortly. I wait, and nothing. I get a call from daycare. They are in a panic and tell me that Junior's fever is over 102.5, rising and his fingertips are turning blue. He's also having problems breathing and his heart is racing. They say he needs to go to the er immediately by ambulance.

So I run into class....of course I am crying by this point....and grab my stuff and run. We are at the er and Junior now has a fever of 104.7 and his pulse is over 200. They give him tylenol and motrin. So what do they do with us????? They send us back out into the waiting room and tell me that if he starts to have a seizure to get them. I was floored.

So we are in the waiting room (praying that my son doesn't have a seizure), and Junior is sitting there quietly in the stroller. I'm busy watching all the people and holding his hand. There was a guy (I think retired) and his three or four kids that he wasn't watching, being loud and obnoxious. This comes into play later.

They buzz me up to the counter and tell me that I need to take Junior to get a chest xray. By this time my MIL and FIL show up. My MIL took so long to get to Junior because.........she had to wash her hair first. Give me a break. Anyway, we get an xray done and go back to waiting. While waiting, my MIL realizes that she lost Junior's hospital bracelet. So she told me to go retrace her steps and find it because Junior is Oma's boy and she needs to be with him. I do not carry a concealed weapon for a reason.

I send Opa to get Abs from daycare and Oma heads off to work. I sit there waiting, watching obnoxious guy and his obnoxious kids. I finally get called back and get the room right next to obnoxious guy. We wait forever. They finally come and tell me that Junior has pneumonia and a double ear infection. The PA was great, but had to be followed up by the doctor--yeah, he just happened to be the same one that sent us home the previous night. He looked embarrassed, but he didn't apologize at all. Jerk.

Then there is tons of noise from next door, our door is slammed shut, and Junior and I are lying on the exam table singing barney songs over and over and over again. I scrounged up a roll of crushed stale ritz crackers and a warm bottle of water and we had a feast. So then we spend another hour waiting and the nurse finally comes in to take Junior's temp again, which is down to 100.5 on motrin and tylenol. She gives him a Popsicle and we wait some more. Finally the PA comes back with the discharge stuff, and tells us that there was a huge problem and she apologizes for it taking so long. We go to leave and the obnoxious guy is surrounded by MP's. We get down to the pharmacy where obnoxious guy is escorted to pickup some prescriptions. I asked the guy next to me what happened, and apparently we were locked in the er because the guy went crazy and started screaming and yelling and punching things, apparently making threats towards the PA, etc. MP's got called, and they got him under control. Can't I have a boring hospital visit???

Our number finally got called for the pharmacy and they gave me the prescription that the ENT wrote for his ear infection. I asked him if it should say pneumonia on it, and if that would cause problems later, etc. He got really defensive and said some not so nice things to me. Of course I had to respond.

So we finally get out of there, and I call Opa to have him meet us at the house. He had fed Abs and so I was hoping to put her straight to bed and then feed Junior, myself, do hours of studying and get to bed before midnight. I pull up to the house to find Abs caked in mud from head to toe. I thought I was going to lose it! Any other time I wouldn't have cared, but I had been so stressed and was hungry, tired, and everything else. I wanted to get them into bed so I could do what I needed to do. Instead Opa had let Abs play in the mud. I didn't have a problem with her playing in the mud, but did she need to rub it all over her body? Did she need to get it all in her shoes? Hair? This is Abs, every single pore was covered and then some. If only I had had my camera charged. She could have been my WW this week.

So now mud girl and sick boy are tucked into bed. I scrounged up a sandwich. My homework is calling my name......

P.S. I a very grateful that my inlaws were there to help me up, even if it didn't sound like it. They bought a carseat tonight to put in their car so that they can pick him up without having to bother me. (I envision them forgetting to tell me that they have picked him up because he was sick and I can't find him) Oma is keeping Junior tomorrow, and I know he will be well loved and well taken care of. They did drop everything to help me (after her hair was washed) and I do appreciate that!! I have to keep reminding myself that they grew up totally different than I did or my parents and that makes a difference....and it keeps things interesting.

P.P.S. Gunner, I think when you come home for good I am going to deploy to a hotel for a few days, and you can't call your mom to come help you! Sad thing is, I know I would miss them terribly (& you) and I would worry the whole time, so I wouldn't enjoy it. Now Vegas on the other hand....lol.....

Sick Baby

He was doing okay this morning, but he took an extra long nap and woke up screaming about his ears. Off to the doctor we go. We get there two minutes before they close at the weekend clinic--and there is no one there--and the lady looks at me, and tells me that I'll have to call tomorrow to get an appointment. I have an obviously sick kid in my arms. I told her I would just go to the er and took off. So we head to the er and get in there when Abs decides that she is tired of being good. So I have two screaming kids. Junior has an infection in his eustachian tube, but they don't want to put him on antibiotics. So I get him home, he's shivering, I give him a bath since he is filthy, and he got dressed and fell asleep on the living room floor. Poor baby.

On the bath front--he did okay in the bath tonight. I got some of the foam soap as my friend Catherine suggested, and he was fine in the tub until he got some of the foam on him and then he freaked out. Wish he would make up his mind!!! Abs is in the tub right now and so I am sure that bottle of foam is gone...

UPDATE:

As soon as I typed that, I went to get Abs out of the tub and I felt Junior's forehead and he was burning up. So now I have a super sick baby. Will he/we ever catch a break????

Feng Shui my life

I was talking to my friend Jessie last night and she was giving me some feng shui advice, so today will be spent taking it and running with it. Our health corner is junked up with toys and goodness knows we need help in that area for little man.

I'm also contemplating taking him to the doctor today. I hate to not take him and then have to hit the er during the week. I also need to clean Junior's room so that I can walk in there. He has the tiniest room and since my FIL put the toddler bed in there, and the crib and stuff are still in there, you can barely squeeze through. I'm still not ready for him to go to the toddler bed yet though.

New story of Em up......

Talked to Gunner yesterday for quite a while. He looks good, mail is slow, and they have a new Iraqi Army to train. He told me once that the IA always tells him that "Allah blesses you" because he has three children. Then they go on to tell him to have more and more and they puff out their chests with pride at the 6, 8, 10 or more kids that they have. Gunner just shakes his head. Guess they don't have a waiting list for vasectomies like they do over here.