I am typing this a few days after the fact. I am currently in the middle of doing about 429 things in preparation to go to a conference for 2 days right before Kaylen’s surgery on Friday morning plus I have to kennel the dog so I am losing my mind {AGAIN} – but I had to get down the story of the day I REALLY thought I was going to lose my mind…

It started early that morning with me waking up to the dog having grabbed the handle of my crocheting bag. There was yarn EVERYWHERE. It looked like a silly string factory had thrown up in the family room. Making matters funner was the fact that I had a small EHD in there that he also had managed to dislodge from its casing – chewing up the casing and chomping right through the hard drive. Luckily he hit no moving parts and I was able to reassemble this mess of plastic and metal parts into a fully functioning hard drive once again with no loss of info. That dog is FRICKIN lucky I am such a genius. So I get that mess cleaned up in time to greet the day with my bright smiling happy children.

The rest of the afternoon progressed relatively normally. My sister came over and we actually managed to get some work done in between the incessant issues that a 10 month old cruiser and a 9 month old whiner can create. We decided for some insane reason to take the kids to lunch at Panera and do a little walking around. I do’nt know what possessed me to think that karissa missing her nap on the busiest day of our week would be a good idea. But we did it, got home with enough time that I was able to put both girls down for a quick nap before kealey came home. During this quiet time, I pretend to be all domesticated and whatnot and iron on my daughter’s award patches so that her uniform accurately reflects all her hard work this year learning her verses. I get everything on except for the main one which WILL NOT STICK DOWN. I mean, i am melting the rest of the vest piping trying to get this stupid patch to melt. So i decide to do a little surgery. Go get my scissors and a regular old office brad (the only thing I could think of which would not poke her poor little b.o.o.b.i.e.s. with a sharp point. As I go to gouge a hole in the fabric, I instead take out about a half inch gash of skin in my thumb. So the patch gets on – with a little extra blood around Cubby Bear’s head. I kid you not. its a virtual feast of DNA on that patch.

Kealey walks in the door all whiney and pouty as only a 6 year old can get about the fact that she will not get to have a playdate after school and instead be subjected to the horrible fate of going to her sister’s dance class. (Which I might add is right next to a Dunkin Donuts. which i might ALSO add we frequent pretty much every nite of dance class. This is nothing new.) Anyways – So I am arguing with Kealey about fixing her attitude while trying to wrestle a comatose Karissa into her tutu and tap shoes and get her in the car. MAN that kid is like a sack of potatoes when she is tired – cannot wake her up for love nor money!

So we get to dance class, kealey perks up at the prospect of a lemonade coolatta and any kind of donut her little heart desires, and life is good. For about 45 minutes. Now we are going to have to go STRAIGHT to the Awana Awards ceremony back across town as soon as dance class is over, so I get Kaylen changed and go to make her a bottle, and realize that there are no more water bottles in the car. So i try to stall her till we get to the church. Get karissa out of class while kealey is whining MORE about not getting to go to class for herself and can i check to see if they have openings for her. Fine. Stand in line in the 4 foot by 3 foot foyer to dance class with 83 little crazed ballerinas and their parents crammed into it to find out if there is room for kealey. There is.Hallelujah. See you next week.

run out to the car with the now very fussy kaylen, strip karissa of tutu and put on awards dress and uniform. Keep in mind – we have just sat for an HOUR at two locations who had perfectly good usable clean restrooms.

Ok so now everyone is dressed for the ceremony, we’re on our way, and Kaylen is getting more worked up by the minute. She wants her bubba and she wants it NOW. So we go through the McD’s drive thru. I was planning on getting her a bottle of water to pour into the bottle (which i DID actually remember to pack formula for, just not water). We are behind about 7 cars, but trapped well into the line when kealey starts making animal like noises and holding herself claiming she is going to go to the bathroom RIGHT THERE, RIGHT NOW. I first said – ok get out and pee in the gravel, then thought better of it due to the LARGE amount of people randomly milling about in the strip mall’s parking lot. We happen to have a large glass of lemonade leftover from lunch sitting in the cupholder. So I pour the lemonade into kaylen’s sippy cup, hoping to pacify her, and hand the cup back to kealey, who, like an old pro, squats between the seats, takes aim, and lets loose. She’s got surprisingly good aim I must say. So she finishes and then HANDS THE CUP BACK TO ME. gag gag gag.

Its like, 20 ounces of warm – well, almost lemonade like material. Which I am holding. While waiting in line at McDonalds. i pretty much thought I was going to lose it right then and there. So its finally our turn to order and I am nonchalantly ordering our chicken nugget meals while pouring warm urine out the window into the gravel. I was so close to being like "And can I have an extra order of sanity with that happy meal please???"

Well as I was ordering kealey used karissa’s blanket to wipe with so now i have TWO of them screaming bloody murder in the back and kealey, with a big look of relief on her face claims " ahhhhh, sweet relief". Indeed.

Kaylen continues to spiral downwards, the girls are shoveling chicken nuggets in their face like its their last meal on earth, and I am driving like a maniac to get to the church. We manage to make it in time, get the girls where they need to go, and kaylen is still screaming. First thing when the kids get up there – karissa sees me, waves, and shouts – "hi mommy! I have to go potty!!!". awesome.

So down off the stage she comes with her leader so i can go take her.

Kaylen never did settle down, even after she got the bottle. She felt really really warm and kept getting warmer, so by the time the kids were done with each of their special parts – we were ready to just GO. I felt horrible having to leave like we did in the middle of everything – but – I knew that we were all at pretty much the end of the rope.

I do’nt even remember crashing in bed that nite. I think i was just so dead tired worn out from that day….

but it got better.

 

Friday afternoon I got a call from the school nurse to come get Kealey. She had a temp of 102 and a diagnosis of strep.

so off to the ped we went to be sure and to get her a prescription and sure enough!

Just what I needed.

But then the next day I heard this song…and it all kind of just became…

worth it somehow.

 

Ok this isn’t like an official video or anything – but its the only way i could get the music embedded.

Here’s the lyrics:

She was staring out the window of their SUV
Complaning, saying "I can’t wait to turn 18"
She said "I’ll make my own money, and I’ll make my own rules"
Mamma put the car in park out there in front of the school
Then she kissed her head and said "I was just like you"
You’re gonna miss this
You’re gonna want this back
You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna miss this
Before she knows it she’s a brand new bride
In a one-bedroom apartment, and her daddy stops by
He tells her "It’s a nice place"
She says "It’ll do for now"
Starts talking about babies and buying a house
Daddy shakes his head and saysAnd s "Baby, just slow down"
Cause you’re gonna miss this
You’re gonna want this back
You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna miss this
Five years later there’s a plumber workin’ on the water heater
Dog’s barkin’, phone’s ringin’
One kid’s cryin’, one kid’s screamin’
And she keeps apologizin’
He says "They don’t bother me.
I’ve got 2 babies of my own.
One’s 36, one’s 23.
Huh, it’s hard to believe, but…
You’re gonna miss this
You’re gonna want this back
You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna miss this"

That last part is what really got me.

anyways.

just wanted to get this random story down in case anyone ever wonders why i am certifiably crazy in the next four years.

I know some of you are waiting on the EDGE of your seats for track tuesday! (Hey i never promised i was actually going to be CONSISTENT with it! It just SOUNDED like a good idea!)

But today I have a treat for you!

I have a guest track tuesday writer to share with you his thoughts on

"Obscure Songs That Are Awesome But I Don’t Know What the Lyrics Are About Or Why They Were Written"

1. "Monsters in the Parasol"  by Queens of the Stone Age
2. "Police Helicopter" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
3. "Space Lord" by Monster Magnet
4. "A Little Bitter" by Alice in Chains
5. "Ars Moriendi" by Mr. Bungle
6. "Mouthful of Cavities" by Blind Melon
7. "Southbound Pachyderm" by Primus
8. "Sweat of the Bud" by Static-X

Excellent choices, man.

As you can see, I was able to find a few of them on Amazon for purchase and/or preview if you would like to sample some of the fine stylings of Mr. JustAnEye.

He also spins his slightly off-kilter humor (and tastes) into fine pieces of wearable art, found at his store Wearable Wares. Go check him out and buy a piece of flair for your closet!

Thanks for gracing us with your eclectic song choices this week Justin!

(If any of you would like to be a future guest track tuesday writer – just let me know! I am always happy to share my little corner of the web with others!)

I am sure there was lots of other meaningless drivel I was going to share today…but its surprisingly gone.

we had a fun playdate this morning for the girls, I finally got Kaylen’s pre-op info settled with the hospital, I am getting caught up on a few recent photoshoots, and I have lots of "Intervention" on the DVR to catch up on this week while Ben is off galivanting in the hills of yon wisconsin.

Oh i do remember one inane detail to share – i FINALLY (after watching about 23 youtube videos on how to do so) figured out how to CURL my hair with the flatiron. Its hella awesome if you have been itching to try it out. I will have to find the links to the videos that helped me the most. My only fear now is that i will never be able to get my hair actually STRAIGHT again. DANG that stuff can make curls. And make them stick! Its a fun new trick.

And….

I think that is all I have for today.

Have to figure out dinner. All i want is cupcakes. i am pretty sure there’s not a ton of nutritional value in that.

but i have been wrong before!

Any suggestions??? I am at a loss – I hate getting back into the routine of cooking for one and a half when ben is gone…maybe taco bell…

ok. enough rambling. i need to go forage for some nutritional food.

ciao.

terra

I know you were all just so uber worried about me.

Let’s see….where to catch up…

The reason for no posts last week was that I sprained my back somehow and was absolutely nauseous and sick from the pain all week, like at a barely functioning level. It was wicked horrible. I remember saying to Ben – "I haven’t had back pain like this since I was dilated to a ten during childbirth" (because of course all of my children had to come into this world backwards creating immense pressure on my spinal column. but that’s neither here nor there. Go read what to expect when you’re expecting, chapter 15, labor pains and back labor if you need more info.)

ANYWAYS.

It hurt.  Life sucked. I was in a massive time warp consisting of hours between horse doses of ibuprofen or aleve or midol or anything that was in a bottle that sounded like pills. The chiro helped a TON. But still. Dang that shizz hurts somethin’ awful.

Much better after this weekend though, so I am ready to get back into a good routine. Which is timely considering Ben is back to his crazy travelling schedule.

Today I shocked even myself. I prepared dinner already. I know, I know, crockpots ARE an amazing invention. I realize I do not take enough advantage of mine. But how can I not when there are now these AWESOME deals at the store. Its like EVERYTHING you need for a roast meal in one little container. Cut the bags open, dump in the meat and veggies, add a cup of water, and voila. Ben, honey, if you’re reading this – i REALLY SLAVED over the meal tonite though I promise!!! Dang, I hate giving away all my secrets…

Hopefully it tastes as good as it is smelling right now.

We have had a busy day around here already! Bounced out of bed at 7:30 to get the girls dressed so we could go drop Ben off at the car rental place, grab some mcD’s for breakfast, and then backtrack 10 miles to home THEN drive to the ped’s office for Kaylen’s pre-op/well child appointment in Plainfield. She is 18 whole pounds now! She has tripled her birth weight in nine months. But – she’s pretty anemic, had a bad infection, had to have ear wax removal "surgery" (yes we get charged for outpatient surgery every time they have to do this to her, which is quite often), has to go back on her reflux meds for a while, and got like – some ridiculous amount of shots. Needless to say, she was not a happy camper.

I am not sure what possessed me to think it would be a quick easy jaunt into target on the way home to pick up her prescriptions, but i was dead wrong. First, I forget the insurance card in the car, meaning i have to cart all three of  them BACK out to the parking lot. So I question the poor tech three times – GO CHECK that she’s in the system cause last time I ended up having to pay $75 for her scrip cause she wasn’t in the system. He cursorily glances at the computer and assures me she’s in there. Nice. So I am told to come back in 15 minutes. After cruising through the snack aisle and looking at shoes with the girls, we head back over at the pre-appointed time. Now another pharmacist, who I practically know on a first name basis cause we’re in there so much, tells me, you know, she’s still getting kicked outof the system as a "Does Not Exist." SILENT SCREAM!!!! THIS is why i tried to have kumar look her up BEFORE i dropped them off. She takes all 6 cards I brought in with me to show her that indeed, we are insured, and indeed, kaylen IS a real person who SHOULD be covered, and calls our insurance company direct, which takes 20 minutes. Great, they put her back in the system, all set, we’ll just fill these bottles up and get you your meds in a few minutes. Another 15 minutes goes by and Kumar is on the phone and tells me, oh we’re calling the doctor cause she prescribed double strength antibiotics so we’re checking on the accuracy with her office. I was like, well maybe she is trying to get rid of this infection once and for all since its either been one long infection since November OR its like number 892 (i lost track in february) and NOTHING IS HELPING!!!! I was about to lose my mind at that point. The girls are in that lovely state of hyperness that can only come from sitting in the same place for one hour and having nothing to do but pick on each other, kaylen was just getting pissier by the millisecond and I just want to get home!!!

That took way longer than it should have. But we aren’t even out of the target parking lot and kaylen is already asleep (and still is, awesomely enough) and the girls are happily sipping away on their watermelon slushies from the food ave.

And that, ladies and gents, is why I am just this side of insane.

I should try to go and work out while everyone is asleep here, but I already feel worn out from my morning. And let’s not forget, I HAVE already prepared dinner. Have kind of a hard nite ahead of me, meeting with some church leadership about a position at church.  Let’s just say that the last time I had to deal with church "leadership" it was not a pleasant outcome, memory, ordeal…but I know that that’s MY problem to get over. And I do believe in a God who gives peace that passes all understanding. Thanks to all the friends and family who are already praying and have been praying. I need it. Thinking about it still gives me the shakes and makes me nauseous, but I know I will make it through.

So that’s me for today. got a lot on my mind but just gotta kind of plow through it and keep moving forward.

I have an AWESOME guest writer for Track Tuesday tomorrow, I can’t wait for you all to read his Playlist!

In the meantime – ponder that this picture is completely photoshopped since I couldn’t get all three kids looking at me at the same time…

 

 

 

Make love not war.

terra

Watch out – this one’s gonna have  a lot of them. First up – YAY! I scrapped. For like the first time in…..way too long to remember. I like being creative just for creativity’s sake – vs. the WORK of being creative with other people’s photographs. i need to load this into the gallery – but all credits are from Gina Miller’s new collab kit with Lauren Grier – Amy Lou.

So now hopefully I will get back into a good rhythm and find my scrappin’ mojo again.

Not that I am amazingly mojo-riffic by any means, but I like the "done-ness" of having scrapped a moment in time, printing it out, and adding it to the girls’ albums to look through together. I need to do that with Karissa soon. it seems like we are always looking at Kealey’s albums, and I need to dig Karissa’s out soon. This could be due in large part to the fact that Kealey has 3 very thick albums dedicated to her first year of life, while Karissa has one album that is maybe 3/4 filled with all the pages through her 3rd birthday. Kaylen has…ummm….a few pages done, randomly scattered throughout my "faux studio" downstairs…

Ok on to some more vacation pics.

One nite we decided to go out for ice cream FIRST, and then meet Poppa and Namna for dinner. I mean, who doesn’t love a good first course of ice cream followed by some freshly harvested seafood? i guess when the weather is 85 and sunny – you’ll eat anything at anytime. So here we are at "The Love Boat". i have no idea why this ice cream shop was called that. but DANG did they have some good ice cream. They hand-make and create like 50 some different flavors every day. I was paralyzed with indecision. I mean, I have a hard time choosing between TWO flavors, let alone 50. But the girls enjoyed it. they were’nt quite ready for how extremely fast ice cream melts in the summertime though…

Ben and I ended up eating a LOT of ice cream, trying to stay ahead of the messiness of all of our melting ice cream cones. And Kaylen helped out too.

 

Tell me she doesn’t look ready to level the first person who tries to take that cone away from her….wow. Do NOT mess with the baby and her ice cream!

And of course – this is what we eventually ended up with…

These pictures are all a little "off" because I was using my little point and shoot and its fricking hard to correctly color balance on that thing. Takes pretty good pictures for its size I guess…but its not the same.

So anyways – we meet at the restaurant for dinner which was yummolicious , and afterwards decided it was such a nice night that we would go mini-golfing. Which Kealey thinks can only happen on vacation in Florida. Maybe we should try to take her sometime this summer up here. Just to prove to her that mini-golfing is a nationwide sport. We tried out a new course this year that looked fun. And this is what we see on the first hole.

Enough said.

Luckily, the following holes weren’t nearly as suggestive as the first.

I have no idea why playing mini-golf ed to such an aggressive stance for pictures…apparently the jungle theme brought out the lion in everyone?

tony the tiger was channeling ben?

We were trying to toughen them up cause we were sick of the whining?

Maybe all of the above.

and hey look – its an actual picture of ME on vacation with my children! I can actually prove I was HERE this year! (for the record, i believe this is the first picture of me on vacation we have in about 4 years.)

And lest you all think we forgot about the poor baby – she was there.

She had a fun time just chillin’ in her stroller. Until we decided to see if we could make a hole in one with her stroller. Thank God for Ben and his cat-like reflexes. There is a funny video of her rolling down the hill (with ben holding the stroller this time) that I have to figure out how to upload.

Good times, good times.

So anyways. That was our first day of vacation. Mostly.

Dang i wish it was warm here already!

I am beginning to think we have entered some kind of time/weather warp whereby it will NEVER be summer. EVer. Again. We are doomed to this insane cold weather and non-stop illnesses in our children. Doomed to be locked inside for the next 9 weeks cause its too frackin’ cold outside!!!

Ok maybe that’s a tweed bit overdramatic. Which i know is so unlike me.

Today is going to be a crazy one – back in our usual Thursday swing of things with dance class, dinner, and a mad dash to AWANA all in the span of 90 minutes. I feel  so blah today. Like I have a hundred things to do and no desire to do anything. Except eat mongolian bbq.  Yeah I could go for a nice huge plate O THAT right about now.

Ok. I’ll stop rambling for now.

That’s the way I need Jesus.

That Kanye West is so spiritually deep.

But seriously. It becomes more evident to me every day that there is no way I can get through any day without the strength granted me by the Holy Spirit. When I try to do things my way, on my own – those are the days complete meltdown occurs.

So one of the funnest parts of vacation, besides Karissa’s little escapade in the gas station bathroom, and her getting the flu and puking her guts out for the first three days, was Kaylen and her ears. So after whining about it to Ben, he agreed that we should just go right to the specialist to see what we could do, besides just try a new and fun antibiotic complete with all its side effects for which you need more antibiotics. I called Monday morning and they had an appointment for us that afternoon. Thank the good Lord. I didn’t think I could go even two more days without SOME kind of answers or help for this child.

We get into the office and the dr. walks in and says, "so you’re here about tubes?" I was like, "um, no I just am tired of getting handed the antibiotic flavor of the week by our ped and would like to actually address the real issue here." His response was "Yeah, 5 ear infections in an 8 month old? you’re here about tubes." He actually is a GREAT doctor, and I am really glad we went. He sent us for a hearing test which we got right in for, and after the results of that, my mind was definitely made up for me. She failed completely on her left side and barely passed on the right side, failing more than she passed. This doesn’t mean she is deaf or has the total hearing loss that karissa had, but it could definitely head there fast if the problem isn’t fixed soon. So – we scheduled the surgery. Friday the 25th of April is the big day. thanks to all of you who already have volunteered to help me out – I do appreciate it and as soon as I figure out what I am doing with my life I will definitely be taking you up on your offers!

In other news…

well there really is no other news.

That’s about it. Dealing with a child in constant pain all day is about all I have time for lately. I am glad that at least today the sun is out. That will go a long way towards helping me feel more sane today. I might even venture outside the house for the first time in…a lot of hours…

Don’t forget to drink your fruit today.

My fruit happens to be coke.

with a nice Jack chaser.

 

ok i’m kidding. kind of.

I need to go figure out what other 829 things I need to be doing today.

Jesus walks with me.

{you know what the midwest is? young and restless}

peace out.

me