Sunday, August 28, 2011

AARP?

So when I was at the store today, I bought one of those daily pill sorters. I cannot keep track of what I have and have not taken. I'm on 5 prescriptions, 2 of which I take twice a day, 1 I take 3 times a day, and 2 I take once. I can fondly remember the days when I only took a multi-vitamin.

So, now I've got all of my pills sorted for the week. I was quite proud of myself until I realized all I need is an AARP card and a Medic-alert bracelet, and I'm a full-fledged senior citizen.

In case I never blogged about it, I have orthostatic syncope and neurocardiogenic syncope. In a nutshell, the reflex that should keep my blood pressure steady doesn't work properly. It drops when I sit still, and it drops when I change position (it's especially bad then). And I have lower blood pressure to begin with, so when it drops, I black out and/or get dizzy. The medications are an attempt to raise my blood pressure and counter-act that faulty reflex.

Yay me.

Inconsistency is Thy Name

Nolan is all over the board with this potty training nonsense. Just when I think he's a hopeless case, he'll do something to totally impress me.

Case in point:

Friday night. Nolan has an accident after dinner. We rinse his pants and underwear and toss them in the laundry tub. My laundry room is beginning to smell faintly off urine at all times. So lovely. Bill and I were totally frustrated with him. Around 10:30 that night, a sleepy Nolan stumbles into my bedroom muttering that he has to go potty. I help him to the bathroom, and he goes and goes and goes. He then informs me he wants to go back to bed, which I was more than happy to assist with.

Quick Side Story: Saturday morning, 4:15 a.m. I hear Nolan crying in his bed. Nolan never gets me up. I went to investigate. I just removed the side rail from his bed and I wanted to make sure he hadn't fallen out. I also was wondering if he had to go potty again. I went in his room and Nolan said, "Mommy, I don't want to be awake yet." Well...that's good... So, I asked him why he was awake and said, "My door was open." Katie Cat had apparently gone in his room and then had the nerve to leave without shutting the door tight. How rude. I did think it was funny that instead of getting up and shutting the door, Nolan laid there and whimpered until I came and shut it for him.

Saturday morning: Nolan was dry from the night before.

Saturday afternoon: Nolan has a random accident. Argh. He also filled his pants. He's been totally hopeless with that aspect of toilet training. I'm trying not to lose patience.

Saturday night: I was feeling really lousy all day Saturday (splitting headache, extremely dizzy) and was having trouble falling asleep at night. Every time Bill moved in his sleep, it felt like the room was spinning. I was waiting to drift off when Nolan barged in my room at midnight, frantically telling me he had to go potty. I got up, assisted him in the bathroom, and tucked him back in bed.

Sunday morning: Nolan is dry from the night before.

Sunday at church: Nolan stays dry IN UNDERWEAR! First time that long out in public!

Sunday noon: Nolan wets his pants while playing outside rather than come inside and admit he needs to go potty.

Let's see what the rest of this week brings. Preschool starts in 9 days...and they don't change diapers there...

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Hello?

One of TJ's privileges this summer has been that we allow him to go home from Grandma's at 4:00. He rides his bike over there in the mornings, and then at 4:00 he heads home. He is only allowed to do this if Daddy is working from home. I'm not ready to have him home alone for 90 minute stretches yet. TJ isn't supposed to bother Daddy from 4:00-5:00, but he is allowed to play, watch TV, etc. This makes him feel very grown up.

TJ has started answering the phone, especially if I am not home. I will occasionally call Bill on my way home from work...to ask him to pick up the kids, start dinner, etc. TJ has figured this out and will answer the phone, assuming it's me.

The conversation usually goes like this:

TJ: Hullo?
Me: Hey Buddy. Is Daddy home?
TJ: It's you AGAIN? Why are you always calling here?
Bill gets on the phone. "Is TJ harassing you again? You really shouldn't call here more than once or twice a week, apparently."

Well, last night, shortly after 5:00, our phone rang. TJ, assuming it was me, answered it. Only, it wasn't me. It was some guy. So TJ hung up on him. Nice phone manners.

A moment later, that guy called me. I answered in my car, using my totally awesome, hands-free, blue tooth. So cool. Anyway, Jared was looking for a baby-sitter for Clark and Miles. Once we made those arrangements he said, "Hey, I think TJ answered your home phone. But after he said 'hello', he wouldn't talk to me." I laughed and said TJ was still working on phone decorum.

When I got home, I asked TJ why he didn't talk to Uncle Jared. TJ said, "That was Uncle Jared? All I heard was a guy say 'Hello?' and then I didn't know what to do, because it wasn't you on the phone."

I laughed again, and told him next time to say 'hello' back and ask who the person wanted to talk to. But I was extremely impressed with TJ's impersonation of Uncle Jared. The kid was dead on.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Long-winded

Bill loves to talk. Seriously. He does most of the talking at home. I know you don't believe me, but it's true.

Bill also has a tendency to make short stories long. I like to tease him about this, but his children have noticed too.

The other night, Bill was starting in on a story, when TJ cut him off with "Hurry up, hurry up."

Bill was surprised and said, "What?"

TJ looked bored and said, "What's the point?"

Granted, TJ was being rude. Bill wasn't even being long-winded. But I was still amused...

Sorry, Honey!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Fuzzies

Most of you know that Nolan started out as a scrawny little thing. He was just five pounds when we brought him home from the hospital. Nolan has rapidly made up for his slow start and is one solid little boy. Solid, short little boys have fat rolls. Nolan has always had fat roll in his neck (although in the past few months, he finally outgrew that one) and two rolls under each arm. Dirt and grime love to hide in those cute little rolls. Nolan is a ticklish little boy, so when his mother has to clean out those wrinkly areas, he giggles and giggles. As long as he could talk, he has called the dirt and lint in his fat rolls his 'fuzzies'. We've turned it into a game. I will ask Nolan if he has any 'fuzzies' and he will immediately start giggling and hold up his arms so I can check.

We've found out the hard way that if a 'fuzzy' is left in his wrinkles too long, his skin gets chafed and sore. So, this is a game he enjoys, but one that his parents know is important. He understands this too, and will tell me if he feels his skin getting sore. This morning, Nolan informed me that he had a fuzzy and his lifted his right arm up. I checked, and sure enough, there was some dirt. I grabbed a wash cloth, but that was some stubborn dirt hiding under his arm. I had to rub pretty hard. Nolan stopped giggling and said very seriously, "Now be careful, Mommy. Don't hurt the fuzzy!"

Saturday, August 13, 2011

An Ax-i-dent

Nolan has made tremendous progress with potty training in the past several days. I think he has only had one wetting accident in the past four or five days (bowel movements are another story, so we won't talk about that...). Nolan has even been dry overnight for four night straight!! It's wonderful! He's been holding it and telling us when he has to go, which is a huge improvement over us dragging him to the bathroom every 45 minutes.

This afternoon, after another successful trip to the bathroom, Nolan told me that he wanted to let Grandma know he hadn't had any 'ax-i-dents' all day. I told him I was sure that Grandma would be proud of him. Nolan looked thoughtful for a minute and then said, "You know, if I went potty on the floor, that would be a bad ax-i-dent. You wouldn't be too happy."

Smart boy.

Friday, August 12, 2011

New Car

Last night, we picked up our new car. I got to drive it home. The Cruze has lots of gadgets and gizmos on it. It wasn't until this morning that I figured out how to switch it from XM to FM on the radio.

We took the boys out to Grand Haven to pick up the car with us. They were very excited. The Cruze was parked right outside the front door of the dealership. I opened the back doors of the Cruze and they climbed right in to check everything out. TJ immediately stuck his head back out and said, "Whew! It STINKS in here!" I put my head inside and smelled only the wonderful aroma of 'new car smell'. I believe that one comes to appreciate and yes, even love that smell when one fully comprehends how expensive new cars and that smell are!

It took a little while to get all the papers signed and the salesmen were great about letting the boys explore the vehicles that were parked inside the dealership. TJ was particularly drawn to a fully loaded Chrysler Town & Country minivan. It was all leather, two TVs, it had satellite television (yes, now you can watch Sponge Bob while you drive down the road!). You name it, it had it. TJ suggested that we buy that van and get rid of our Quest. I checked the sticker price and informed him that the van was pretty pricey at $37,000. TJ looked at me seriously and said, "Yes, Mom, but it's totally worth it."

So if he doesn't wind up being a meteorologist, TJ will definitely have a career as a car salesman. Once he gets used to that new car smell, that is...

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Too little, too late

So Nolan had regressed a bit on potty training, but in the past week, we've really cracked down on him. He has to be potty trained in order to go to preschool, and he is quite firm on wanting to go this year. So, we've put him in underwear. He's still having occasional accidents (yesterday was awful, today was much better), and we are dealing with the messes as they come.

Last night, on the Awful Day, Nolan sweetly asked me if it was okay if he told me when he had to go potty. I said, "Yes! Of course! That would be wonderful!"

His response? "Too late. I just wet."

Ugh.

High Standards

Last week, Bill sold our Mitsubishi Lancer (on Craigslist...second car we've sold that way!). He was pretty sure he wanted a Chevy Cruze, but told me we would just use the Saab as our second car until he figured out exactly what he wanted.

He made up his mind today and put a down payment on a 2012 Chevy Cruze ECO (yep, it's still a stick shift. I've got him hooked on those!). It's a blue car. We both shot down the red one that was sitting on the lot in Grand Haven. It looked too 'old lady-ish' for us. The blue is almost a royal blue and just looks more fun. Besides, we will now own a red car, a white van, and a blue car. How patriotic of us.

We were discussing this at dinner. TJ looked displeased when I said it was a blue car. He commented, "I don't know. I'm just not impressed with blue." Say what? Bill speculated that TJ would rather we get a green car and TJ nodded. Green is his favorite color after all. I told him that the Cruze didn't come in green, and that I had once owned a green car. The color reminded me of a bar of soap. TJ rolled his eyes.

He'll just have to get used to the blue car. In 11 years, it will likely be 'his' first car!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Tuesday Tidbits

**Last week, TJ was excited to discover he has a new loose tooth. He was trying to describe which tooth it was.
"Mom, it's this one! The, the, the white one!"

I don't want to know what color the other ones are!

**Nolan walked up to me late Saturday morning and said in a very authoritative voice,
"I want a snack. Please and thank you!"

**Sam was watching the radar last week when some mild storms were approaching. He found me outside and attempted to repeat what he had heard. He embellished it just a hair, to make it more interesting.
"Mom, we are going to have hail! It will be this big!" (He used his hands to measure what would be an over sized softball. That's some pretty serious hail). "We will also have lightning. Underground lightning!" Now, I've learned a little about weather over the years, but I have never heard of underground lightning. Bill came outside, heard the end of Sam's 'forecast' and said, "Sam, the weather man said 'cloud to ground' lightning, not 'underground' lightning."

**Due to vacations and scheduling conflicts, Sam's birthday celebrations have been rather spread out. We celebrated with Bill's dad & family on Sam's actual birthday. This past Saturday, we had a combined party for Sam, my nephew Clark, and my brother-in-law John. Next weekend, we will celebrate with Bill's mom & family. But this past Saturday, when I told Sam it was time to go to Grandma's for his party, Sam looked surprised and very excited. He asked if he was having another birthday party. I said he was. Sam lit up even more and said,
"I'm six already?!"

No, his mother is grateful that time doesn't go quite that fast!

Sam the Brave

Sam has always been a nervous, hesitant child. I've never pushed him to do things he was afraid of, but I have tried to encourage him to try new things. I've worried a little that some day he'd get teased. Well, he has certainly come out of his shell this summer. The boy who only got in the pool once last summer now cheerfully announces he is going to swim whenever he sees TJ getting in the pool. He either floats on a raft or moves around the inside of the pool by hanging on to the edge. What's more is he HAS FUN! He doesn't spend the whole time thinking of his potential demise.

On Sunday, he really shocked me. We were with the Gaikema-Platt family at Jim and Lois' home on Gun Lake. We were last there three years ago. Sam cried quite a bit last time and didn't want anything to do with the water. He didn't even want me in it (granted, he was only two years old). This time was completely different. He loved going on out on the pontoon boat. And when the adults jumped in a rather deep bay to swim, Sam got right in with us. He was slightly nervous and insisted on holding on to either me or Elisabeth, but he had a great time. Didn't shed one tear! Here he is, swimming:


After dinner, Jim took TJ out on the jet ski.


TJ enjoyed it, but Jim said TJ cautioned him several times not to go too fast. Nolan wanted to try it, but I said no. He is so short, I was concerned that he wouldn't be able to straddle the seat properly. I kept picturing him bouncing off and into the water. I told him he could go next time. I didn't expect Sam to want to go, but he informed me he DID want to go and he WAS going to do it. Not only did he do it, he loved it and proved to be more adventurous than his big brother. Jim reported that Sam kept yelling "Faster! Faster!"


I can't tell you how proud I am!

And here's a couple of the boys driving the Power Wheels vehicles at the cottage. Aren't they cute?