RazNoggle

Yep, it’s coming up. Do you make a big deal out of V-day? We never really have. We always do celebrate it of course, because who doesn’t love an excuse for indulging in chocolate and reminiscing about how you fell for each other. But we’ve never really made a big deal of it. I ran across this article that has 10 things to do for Valentines that are budget friendly. Nice to think about. I really need to put some more thought and effort into making Valentines more special. I’m a little stressed about it this year because my brain is pulling a massive blank about what in the world to get Stu. I know I could go the traditional chocolate route, but I like to do things more creative/different. Don’t know if I have time to come up with something/anything that fits though. We’ll see. Sometimes these celebrations just make life too complicated. I just need to chill out about it and think of what would be fun for both of us.

Anyway, I wanted to share the link to that article for any of you who might be interested. Have a marvelous Monday!

Ta ta

I think we’re on the mend! Each day feels better though I still don’t want to get up in the mornings. Stu is pretty much all the way better. Qade and I are still coughing, but definitely feeling much better!

Totally random but I haven’t been grocery shopping in 2 weeks and am having to be a bit creative with our meal options.

The other night before bed Qade was telling me he was hungry. This is the new funnest way to bug mom in our house. Complain at every opportunity about being hungry. Myles, in fact, will tell me “I hungry, mom” while he is in the process of stuffing his face with food! What in the world!! Anyway, I was getting ready to put Qade to bed because it was one of his miserably sick days, and he started crying and said, “But if I go to bed my hungry will be wasted!” Ha ha!! Guess he figured he shouldn’t have to “waste” a hungry spell on anything but a snack! Cracked me up for sure!

Our Bella is getting used to her little teeth. She likes to CHOMP on her bottle just because now she can! Kinda glad I’m not nursing! Ha! I did have to go through biting with Myles and that was no fun. Ella is safe though, and it’s funny to watch her experimenting with these new little chompers! She LOVES to be upright now. I still need to assemble her jumper. I started to the other night and my brain just would NOT comprehend the instructions. It’s like they were written in Klingon or something, ha ha! Better try again, cause her legs are getting SO strong and she just loves to be up and looking around. Recently she has become such a squirmy wormy when I try to change her. She just gets the biggest kick out of changing time and will grin and laugh the whole time. Now she’s added squirming like a fish out of water to her list of things to do while being changed! It’s pretty hysterical actually, and we both end up laughing most of the time! Ella’s hand/eye coordination is getting really good as well. She seems to have made a huge leap recently and is becoming a big baby instead of a little baby. I still want her to be itty bitty, but I am getting a kick out of all her new accomplishments as well. She likes to hold onto my fingers while she has a bottle, and that gal has a grip! My fingers will end up numb and purple in no time!

Myles is our “do it myself” boy. He insists on doing most things by himself and if I do it for him for time’s sake or whatever, he can get mighty upset. He is still interested in going potty, so I’ll probably do a test run next week and see if he’s really ready to “get it” or not. I’m not sure I’m ready for it, but here goes nothing. I’ve been having the boys answer me “Yes ma’am” instead of the “yes mommy” they used before. It totally cracks me up to hear Myles say “Yes, mayam!” It’s too cute!! When he knows he has done something wrong, he’ll say “Don’t want time out. I obey you!” One day he’ll figure out that he can skip the time out part if he’ll do the obey part FIRST! Everything is a game to that lad!

So this morning I wanted some yummy creamer for my coffee. We had run out and the powdered stuff just doesn’t do it for me. So I hopped online looking for some homemade creamer ideas. I want to start making ours anyway. It’s ridiculous to spend $3 or whatever it is for a container of flavored creamer when it’s got all kind of bad things for you in it. But I digress… I found one site that said to use sweetened condensed milk mixed with milk and then add flavor which for me was vanilla cause that’s the only thing I have. Sounded simple enough, but for some reason my can openers went all haywire today. BOTH of them! I could not get that wretched can of condensed milk open!! Finally I got a few slashes in one side and I pried that side up with a butter knife. Then I had to set the can in some warming water on the stove because it was too cold and thick to actually get through the space I made. Ugh! I wasn’t very patient through this process either I confess. Finally I plucked it out of it’s bath and squeezed the can as hard as I could to make more space for it to flow through, and then I dumped it into a funnel that was supposed to be helping it get back into the reused creamer container. Well, it took it’s merry time flowing through the funnel as well, I’m sure you can imagine. I tried to help it along a bit with a knife. FINALLY all that could be scraped out of that silly can, was and I added milk and vanilla, and shook my frustrations away! It was actually pretty good! I think I’ll add a splash more vanilla before I use it again, but it was still far superior to the powered stuff. Took me forever to actually get my yummy cup of coffee, but at least now I have it in my bag of tricks for another time and another can opener!

Hope you all have a spectacular weekend! Toodles!

Sounds like it could be the title to a new sit-com, huh? But I doubt it would get the ratings it needs to survive. Especially if it mirrored what was going on at our house today.

I am the zombie mom.

There, I admit it! Last night I took Nyquil. Nyquil is not my friend. I’ve known this for many years now. I used to take it when I was sick in college. I’d take it right before hall meeting and by the end of hall meeting (15min later) I couldn’t even walk in a straight line back to my room!! So I got a little smarter and started taking half doses. That usually works okay. Last night was the second night in a row that I took a ‘half’ dose, so maybe that’s part of the problem. Or maybe the fact that I’m going on day 5 of this nasty flu is the real problem. Either way, this morning I was a zombie.

I somehow managed to get the baby fed, the lads fed, and Ella put back to bed for her morning nap before I put a “show” on for the lads and collapsed in a semi-comatose state on the couch. I dozed on and off, in-between times that the kids commotion demanded my attention till 11 am when I had to get up and feed Ella again. Blah! I feel like I could just “drop off” again at any moment too. In fact I’m quite sure that my body would sleep for a full 12 if not 24 hours and be content to do so. Ahhhhhhh!!!!

Anyway, I’ve sworn off Nyquil from now on. I don’t like feeling all hung over and out of it. And for now I’m a bit dizzy, probably because of all of the nasties swimming around in my head, and I have no appetite, and am still sleepy. So I’m going to do the zombie mom thing and put on a movie to entertain Qade and crash back on the couch for a bit while the other two are sleeping. Call me a bad mom if ya want to.

Toodles!

I remember reading about Fever’n Ague in the “Little House on the Prairie” book. It was their term for what was later known as malaria. Interesting really. It’s hard for my brain to even wrap around the concept that in our not so distant past, malaria was actually a common issue in America. So easy to think that things have always just been smooth sailing, huh?

Anyway, I’m pretty sure we don’t have fever’n ague in our house. But I’m also pretty sure it’s flu of some sort. It’s a tenacious little bug too! Stu came down with it last week and was home sick for 3 school days! We told Qade that Daddy had a “bug” and it made him sick. The morning that Qade began to feel ill he told me, “Why I was coughing in the night? I sink there’s a grasshopper or something in my throat.” Yes, I had to laugh about that! Later he asked Stuart if the “bee” was out of his throat yet. Kids!

The thing with this flu is that it causes this awful fever that likes to hover around 101-102 ish. Ella, thankfully, only seemed to get a touch of this yuck. I was most concerned about her. Flu is awful for poor tiny ones. She had us a bit concerned one evening as her temp kept around 101.8. She’s too young for ibuprofen, which has always worked better on bringing my kids temps down, so we were waiting to be able to give her more tylenol, and hoping it wouldn’t get to 102 which is when they said to take her to the ER. God heard all the prayers though and her temp stayed low enough and then came down to 99 ish with her next dose of tylenol. The ER has got to be one of the most miserable places to go when you’re really sick, ugh! Me and Qade’s fevers keeps coming and going. I can’t remember the last time I actually had a fever, let alone one that lasted on and off for days. It is no fun!

Here’s Qade trying to cool off while watching a “show”

Nothing like a little “bug” to take the edge off a toddler. Still, I’ll be happy to have us all back to our regular old selves. Myles so far hasn’t come down with it, and I’m so hoping it stays that way. Stuart is on the mend, and I do feel somewhat better today. Maybe by week’s end we’ll all be mostly mended! Hope so!

Toodles