Grumpy Grumpers

I'm here, but grumpy.

I called my doctor today, asking her if I should maybe switch back to Zoloft. The Wellbutrin is making me feel quite agitated and anxious. We decided to give it about 10 more days and then take it from there.

So, other than the head cold I have (yeah, that's right - another one) everything is peachy.

Dr. Doom & Dr. Fine

So, we have two doctors. The reason for this? Our primary pediatrician is in San Francisco, 45 minutes away from us. During the first year of the twins' life, we went through some incredibly scary medical issues with William and he was there for all of it, supporting us, helping us navigate some often troublesome waters. For that reason, he remains our primary pediatrician for all well checks and serious illnesses. He is an older gentleman, father of 3 children under 3 himself and overall, a wonderful physician. That said, he's old school, pro-vax and no nonsense. He doesn't get worked up by much and has sort a great outlook. I know when he seems concerned about something (as was the case with William) that there probably is something to be worried about.

Sometimes he is a little too nonchalant, but for the most part, I respect his opinion greatly. I call him "Dr. Fine" as in everything is going to be fine.

For the ever so frequent minor illnesses, we visit a local pediatrican's office. He is a pleasant enough man in his 40's who is very nerdy and logical. I like to call him "Dr. Doom" as he tends to be a little too quick to jump to worrisome diagnoses. He carries a laptop with him at all times in which he types copious notes as I speak (or at least that is what I think he's doing, he could be writing emails for all I know.)

Yesterday, Dr. Doom pronounced Sofia to have "walking pneumonia." I'm not exactly sure I agree with his diagnosis, but he is the doctor, so she's on an antibiotic, an oral steroid and obviously, continuing with the nebulizer treatments. Having had asthma my entire life, plus pneumonina, bronchitis, etc. and a card carrying graduate of Dr. Google, I tend to think it's more likely she has bronchitis, but again - I'm not the one with the stethoscope and he is the doctor.

He also said she was the "happiest" sick kid he's ever seen. On that, he was spot on.

Rainbows & Otarynologists

So, I drove 45 minutes to San Francisco yesterday, only to be informed that I was not on the schedule. SAY WHAT? At first, I was angry, then I almost resorted to tears. My plans of making a scene to get in to see the doctor were nuked when they informed me that the doctor was heading into surgery. I begrudgingly accepted an appointment today. If I drive 45 minutes to San Francisco in the rain to have them turn me away yet again, I may go postal. I'm just sayin'.

I'm trying to stay positive, but honestly, still reeling from last night's Bachelor finale. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who may not have watched yet, but wow. WOW. I had read the entire finale ending online, but wasn't sure if it was accurate. It sure was accurate, to the most minute detail. Ok, I won't say any more until I know people have watched it.

How can I *not* be positive today, when I see a full-on rainbow on my way to work???

Sinus B.S.

How sad is this? I just had to look back on my posts to see when I got sick...this time...so I can tell the ENT at my appointment tomorrow.

I'm not sure what he is going to say about my recurrent sinusitis, but I guess I'll find out. I certainly can't go forward taking a strong Abx every month, that's no solution.

While it's frightening to look back and see how much time I spent blogging about sickness, it's kind of nice to have a record of when who was sick. I think it goes without saying that "Sickies" is one of my more prolific post labels.

Lazy Weekend

I love this picture and wanted to post it.

Having a lovely, lazy weekend.

And here are some more pics: the boys, Sofia at ballet, etc.

Cautious Optimism - That's How I *Roll*

We took William in and *what a shock* he has an ear infection, or the other one didn't go away. My life has turned into one, big, juicy, ear infection. I feel like a nurse, dispensing all the different meds.

Did I mention that both the pediatrician AND the nurse asked how far apart in age the twins were? I always get such a kick out of this, but maybe notsomuch when it's coming from their doctor. I could tell he was a little embaressed that he didn't realize they were twins. Aside from their very different appearance, William is much bigger, taller and with a big noggin, so this throws people off. The doctor has seen them before, but not together. (We have their regular pediatrician in San Francisco, a 45 minute drive. We still see him for all well check visits because of William's history and him being there for all of that business)

And this just in...

We have a signed, six month lease (our preference) on our little house.

God Bless America.

Someone called Steve about a position yesterday.

I don't want to get all hopeful-like or anything, so I'll just stay cautiously optimistic for the time being.

Otis Ridiculosity

This is my daughter at the pediatrician's office, confirming that she does indeed have an ear infection. (This was after her randomly mentioning some weirdness with her ear & discovering she had a temperature.)

It's the weekend. It's what we do.

The worst part? Having her gleefully exclaim,"Yey! Now we all have ear infections!"

Little Pink Riding Hood Cries Wolf?

12 p.m., a call from Sofia's pre-school. The call I was hoping might come, but praying would not.

Apparently, my daughter (who by the way, refuses to only wear dresses nowadays and god love her, I wish I had a photo of the get-up she had on this morning) is running a fever and her ear hurts. She has been telling me her ear hurts for a few days, but based on her pointing to her earlobe when I ask her where it hurts - then goes on about a bug in her ear and a potential doctor visit involving stickers, I have not taken her seriously.

Her teacher sounded concerned. I began to explain that Sofia's brothers have ear infections, she wants to have one too, yada yada, but she didn't seem too interested in any of that. I was instructed to pick her up as soon as possible.

Fast forward a few hours and yet another doctor visit later - Sofia did not have a fever and does not have an ear infection. *sigh* I'm glad to hear that she doesn't, but it's so hard to tell if she is crying wolf and I'd hate her to really be in pain as I know how excruciating that particular pain can be.

Ah, well. Just another day in the life of a mom to three in the heart of cold and flu season.

Tonight is Lost, so all is good in the world.

Manny Down

So, apparently, Steve is not as God like as I'd anticipated. He's home sick as a dog. Fortunately for him, the boys are better and able to go to daycare and Sofia is in pre-school. So, Mr. Manny has the whole day to languish in bed, being sick and watching old Streets of San Francisco reruns. It's the simple things.

Oh What a Night

I was woken up several times last night by a screaming William. "Mah! Mah! Mahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" was his mantra. Finally, at 4:30 a.m., he decided he was going to start the day.

He did not want his binky, he did not want a bottle. He did not want to lay down. I brought him in my bed, but he did not want to lay down in my bed either. The only way he was happy was to sit on my lap, forward facing, clinging to me like a little monkey. When I attempted to lay down with him in this position, or put a blanket on top of us (it was in the 30's outside) he screamed "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I have to admit I am spoiled in the sleep department. Anyone who knows me knows what a sleep freak I am. Despite a rocky first 3 months with the twins, they have been on a schedule since early on - slept through the night since about 10 weeks old. 99.5% of the time, they sleep 12-13 hrs and I don't hear a peep from them.

This was obviously one of the .5% nights.

Considering how much moms go through with little ones and sleep issues, I probably shouldn't even complain, but I'm tiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrred. I don't do sleep deprivation very well. The one time I had severe sleep deprivation (first month of the twins' life) I ended up in the hospital and almost died. Yes, I am a wimp.

Anyway, back to William.

I finally gave up. I just let him lay in bed with Dad while I got ready for work (he cried the whole time, btw), then made all 3 children breakfast. I was concerned about his ear infection, so brought him with me and took him to the drop in pediatrician's office before work. His ear doesn't look any worse, so I was glad to hear that, I guess. Now, I'm just hoping that whatever caused his all night freak out doesn't repeat itself tonight.

So, here I am. At work. Tired. That said, I think I would rather be here than at home right now.

Calling Nurse Manny

Thus far, being of God like greek heritage, my husband has yet again, avoided the sickies in the midst of germ warfare. He has been home today, tending to 3 sick children.

I had to leave detailed instructions for medicine dissemination and while relatively confident in his ability to play nurse, I'm not going to lie, I worry. Apparently, I'm not the only one less than confident as my sister in law suggested I teach Sofia how to do a nebulizer treatment to make sure he's doing it correctly. He's also got oral antibiotics to administer to 2 children and Motrin for all 3 at different dosages. Fun with meds!

I did receive a text message from him around 2 letting me know that they were all sleeping. I was happy to hear that all was well.

How wrong is it that upon finding out that she had a mild temperature this morning, my daughter went off *skipping* to excitedly share the news with her father.

"Daddy!? Daddy?! Guess what? Mommy says I have a fever!!!!!!!!!!!"

Twisted, just twisted, it is.

I wonder how long before poor Steve gives in to the sickies.

Nimrods and Furr Monitors

So, both boys have ear infections, David is having an asthma episode. By all accounts, it's been a most joyous weekend.

Highlight number one? Having the pharmacy accidentally change William's Rx to "David" as David was in the system, William was not. After much explaining to the pharmacy staff, they changed the Rx to William.

Fast forward to today, when I went to pick up David's Rx for the exact same meds. The insurance company will not pay as it's "too soon." Well, of course it is, thanks to Nimrod putting it through as David yesterday. Granted, she changed it to William when I arrived, but it had already been put through as David.

I'm dealing with this fun with twins situation in Long's while Sofia is scoping out the toy aisle for things to ask for and David is barely able to hold himself upright in the cart. This is taking ten times longer than I anticipated and Sofia has brought me a Dora doll and Barbie Diamond Castle doll for purchase, which I then have to explain are not in our budget or her reality.

Really, the cherry on the cake of all of it was Sofia screaming out "MOMMY! I NEED TO USE THE BATHROOM. NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" whilst wandering around the store, firm grip on her privates. I almost panic as there is no restroom in Long's, but calmly explain to her that she's going to have to hold it.

We did eventually get the insurance snafoo straightened out and were able to make the 5 minute drive home without any accidents.

Highlight #2 of the weekend? Sofia asking I take her temperature with the "FURR MONITOR." That ranks right up there with Girl Cheese at the Ho-Towel. I'm just sayin'.

Can't wait to see what fun this upcoming week brings.

Checking In

I'm not quite on the other side just yet, but getting there. I'm not running a fever anymore, but am still achey and have a rip roaring headache and chest congestion.

I've pretty much torn through all the TV on the bedroom DVR and am now working my way through the family room DVR. My newest addiction? Ghosthunters. I can only watch it in the day, but it' s quite riveting. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm ODing on television! I would read were it not for the constant, vice like headache.

The boys are both running mild fevers and acting like they don't feel well. So far, Sofia has avoided this thing.

I'm planning on going to work tomorrow, so we.shall.see.

See You on the Other Side

I'm home, sick as a dog, congested, feverish and achey. No kids. Just me and the DVR.

I have about 19 Oprahs, 3 The City's, 7 The Views, 8 Jon and Kates and the new I Love Money to watch.

I've taken some Theraflu, so I'm about to head into a DVR/cold meds coma.

See you on the other side.

Later, Ass-lan

This morning, Sofia told me that she doesn't like to yell because it makes her breath hurt. She also told me she would like her own computer to play "bee-bee-dees" on. One thing is for sure, I am never wondering what she is thinking, needing, etc. She makes all her desires very clear. It's her gift. ;)

So, yeah. A friend of mine brought us a near life sized stuffed lion, a la, Chronicles of Narnia as a gift to the kids. They attempted to give this to Sofia at Christmas, but Sofia was adamant that she didn't want the stuffed lion coming home with us. At the time, I was secretly thrilled as the last thing I need in my 1100 sq ft house is a life sized stuffed lion.

Surprisingly, when they brought it over the other day (and after the brothers started climbing it, pulverizing it and destroying it in general) Sofia loved the lion, wanted to keep it and it was hers, only hers and NO ONE else's.

You can see said lion in the background of this photo.



I worked a long day yesterday. Almost 10 hours. When I got home, I was tired. I was cranky. I was not a happy camper when I saw the loads of laundry laying unwashed in the garage. My husband was home, the kids were in daycare, there were NO excuses. So, I blew up. I then proceeded to take a shower, letting him put the kids to bed, thinking it would be an escape. Not so.

Mid shower, I hear one of the children wailing. I closed my eyes, let the water run over my face while trying to guess which child was crying. Ah, the tone was a but shrill and went up a bit at the end of the cry, so *ding ding ding*, it had to be David. He kept crying...and crying...and crying. Why was my husband not attending to him? I hurried through my shower and as I was getting dressed, my husband knocked on the bathroom door and said "David threw up."

"Okkaaaaaay," I replied, but made no effort to hurry out of the bathroom. In fact, I stood there for a few minutes so he could handle the situation himself. When I did come out, the stench hit my nose as soon as I came into the room. My husband had a look of utter disgust on his face as he passed by me with vomit soaked paper towels. He attempted to rub them into the carpet and vomit, creating little vomit soaked bits of paper towels burrowed into the fibers. I immediately got some water and a terry cloth towel, stripped the bed, wiped it down with lysol wipes and generally fumigated. (Note to self: May need to reconsider the SAHD option)

The best part? The lion was sitting directly below David's crib and broke the fall of most of the vomit a la the ring cakes in the classic Curb Your Enthusiasm Nanny From Hell episode featuring Sherri Oteri. (Note to self: What ever happened to Sherri Oteri? She was hilarious! Seriously? Will Ferrell? You need to throw this girl some work!)

Bye Bye, Aslan! You are histoire!

Strep and Zoloft

So today’s fun news, nephew has strep. This is the son of my sister in law who is my daycare provider. Fingers crossed that David and I have antibiotics coursing through our veins, shielding us from yet another ugly infection. I don't want to be sick...AGAIN. I have friends who are coming over to visit on Monday who have had to cancel 2 times due to illness. I have a friend in San Francisco who has a 3 month old baby I’ve not seen since she was born due to my kids’ constant illness. I've canceled on her at least 5 times, I have lost count. I feel like telling people "We'll see you in May!"

The kids are home with dad for the duration of the week. He just called to tell me they woke up from their 3 hr nap (sweet!) and what should he feed them. Chicken nuggets and a banana was my suggestion.

The husband and I talked about a lot of things last night; moving to Sacramento (something we had considered for the last 2 years, but then he got this job), moving back to the old house, etc. Given the current depressed job market in the Sacramento area, I’m not sure how realistic this option is, but I think it might make more sense for me to look for a job as I am probably more marketable than him and might be able to find something quicker (my college degree/long job history in real estate industry/administrative background vs. his years as an independent contractor in sales blah blah blah), then hope he can find a job in the area so that I can stay home eventually. Obviously, lots of options are on the table and we're looking at all possibilities.

We could have our house on the market in a few weeks. It's super cute now that we fixed it all up, but we'd probably have to do a few more things if selling it. I'm not sure how much we'd get for it, but probably more than enough to buy a decent house in Sacramento. Just need a job there, so if we're going to go that route, I have to actively start looking.

***

I started the day completely gung ho to attend a Weight Watchers meeting and sign up. I have put this off so many times, I did not want to let the latest developments keep from moving forward with my plans for 2009.

Well, then I forgot to go to the meeting this afternoon. So much for focus!! Truth be told, with the cutbacks at work, I am actually busy for the first time in a long time and it completely slipped my mind. I am going to try and go tomorrow…

I’m really starting to feel better physically as I near the end of the weaning process from Zoloft. I’ve gone for walks 2 times this week with plans on more working out Friday and over the weekend. My goal for the week was to workout 3 times and I think I’ll reach it.

There were many contributing factors to my weight gain - lack of exercise & sleep, constant illness, major stress and eating bags of potato chips in one sitting being the primary ones – but Zoloft played a huge part in the perfect storm. I didn’t even realize what was happening while it was happening. It sounds weird, but I think it affected the pleasure center in my brain, turning it into overdrive, making me throw caution to the wind and allowing all my addictions and impulsive behaviors to take over, food being the primary one with shopping a close second.

When I think back, after I had pneumonia and was placed on Zoloft by the pulmonologist, it was then that my will power started to go off the rails. Don’t get me wrong, Zoloft saved my life, emotionally, but I'm so glad to be off of it. I was living in a brain fog, but given that I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown at the time, that was probably a good thing. I don’t think I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown anymore. At least not today. Tomorrow? We’ll have to see.

The Coughs, Day 2

So, the frog in my chest has turned into a dragon and my daughter and husband officially sound like they are going to cough up a lung. They have, as Sofia says "The coughs."

Understandably, Sofia begged me not to go to work today, as did the brothers, although their plea was a bit more primitive. I did try to explain that "Mommy has to go to work to buy you princess things and chocolate pudding & gogurt..." but her eyes just glazed over at that. Thankfully, the prospect of wearing her new rainboots was enough of a distraction to get her out the door without a Grade A meltdown.

I just braved Toys'R'Us, 2 days before my Christmas (something akin to the 7th Circle of Hell) because the doll furniture I got online for Sofia's dollhouse is entirely too big. I have to send it back, leaving the dollhouse, well, unfurnished.

I briefly considered making her earn the furniture & accessories via the sticker chart system, but the thought of giving her an empty dollhouse seemed sort of cruel. Besides, the sticker chart isn't quite as effective anymore.

The other day, she said "I don't want a sticker!" (she even turned down chocolate, leaving me with a hopelessly empty bribery arsenal, which is profoundly frightening as I head into a week of her being home.)

God give me strength.

Smells Like Bad Cheese in Here

Steve and I had an enjoyable date night on Thursday. We really should do that more often.

4 Christmases was pretty funny - Vaughn and Witherspoon were great. It was short too, perfect! I really want to see Milk, but it hadn't started yet and Steve is not the person I'd ideally like to see it with as he despises Sean Penn (political). I have a lot of nostalgia (for lack of a better term) surrounding the whole Milk thing as I remember all of it growing up in San Francisco in the 70's. I remember the day it happened. I was probably in 5th grade and I will never forget the look of horror on the teacher's faces as word spread that Milk had been shot. That day, the day of the Jonestown massacre and the day Elvis died are seared into my memory for some reason. In college, I watched an excellent documentary on Milk - the professor was friends with the director - I will definitely be going to see that one on the big screen.

So, William was pukemeister Dubbya today. He's not vomited since he used to projectile spit-up as a baby, so was freaked out every time. I've been really lucky with the puke scene, haven't had a whole lot of that with my kids. I think Sofia has thrown up maybe 3 times in her 3 years. In any case, I can't seem to get the smell of bad cheese off of me, despite having showered. Ewwwwwwww. You know your a mom when you smell like bad cheese.

Just got through decorating probably the saddest looking Gingerbread house I've ever seen, with the help of Sofia. Really, it is a pathetic mess. Decorative icing? Not my forte. Clearly. Once I have a working camera, I will share my masterpiece.

Most of my presents are wrapped, thank god. I still have to put together the dollhouse for Sofia and push buggies for the boys as I want them assembled and waiting for the kids when they wake Christmas morning.

Poop & Puke and Snot, Oh My

We've got projectile puke, explosive diapers and snots galore. The little kid trifecta. I'm about to dry heave myself thinking about it. Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer are my friends.

Brain Farts and Injuries

So I finally got my butt into the doctor's office to check my foot. I had sprained it a month ago (during the move) but hadn't had time to have it checked out. I figured it was sprained, there was nothing they could do and frankly, didn't have time to run around to appointments if all they were going to tell me was to ice it and elevate it. Today, it got really swollen again and has been aching, so I made the appt to go in. I had an xray and will find out results tomorrow. If it's a fracture, the xray will show this (unlikely) but if it's a soft tissue injury (likely) it won't show this. I've been referred to a podiatrist and will have to have an MRI. Ah, the fun just never ends!!

On a much happier note, I leave for Austin in a week!! This won't be Sofia's first airplane ride (there have been about 8) but it'll be the first she'll remember. She flew quite a bit as a toddler.

Oh yes, let's not forget my huge blonde moment of the day.

I made a point of blowdrying Sofia's hair and putting on a cute outfit for pre-school picture day. I asked the director if Sofia could attend today (it's not her regular day) as I wanted her photo taken, but didn't quite know how I'd have her there for 10 a.m. photos, then back to my sister in law's so I could turn back around and get to work. Fortunately, the director said they had room for her today.

I got an email from the director this afternoon. Picture day was not today, it's next Tuesday. To be fair, we both had brain farts (I specifically asked her if they could take Sofia today for picture day and she said yes), but it was still embaressing. I have forgotten to bring snack twice when I've signed up for it, so I feel like I'm skating on thin ice as it is. I honestly didn't have any excuses, just the usual trying to do too much.

Oh well, Sofia will just have to look cute again next week.

She has been laying down perfectly quiet for 10 minutes while I write this, I almost forgot she was there. She's watching Blues Clues. Is it wrong to use Steve from Blues Clues as a babysitter? Don't answer that.