What Day Is It?

That's how I felt Wednesday. Well, that's how I felt most of this week. Monday started off with the hubby's car not starting. See, mom had her knee replacement on Tuesday and my Aunt and I promised her we'd spend the night with her in the hospital each night and I was scheduled for Tuesday night, so there was no time for a car to not work, much less a 3 year old car.

So, we called the insurance company and had the car towed to the dealer. A few house later, we left with a new car. The lease was coming up in a couple of months so we just started the new lease a little sooner.

Mom had her surgery on Tuesday and it went well. I got to the hospital Tuesday night and we had a pretty smooth night. It's hard to sleep well in the hospital, even when you're not the patient. Mom's nurses were pretty attentive which was good, especially after how bad my hospital experience was this past summer.

After calling home to wake the family up so they could get out the door and make it to the bus stop on time, I got a call back from them on the way out the door and was instructed to make a doctor's appointment for Bug, his foot was swollen and red again.

I made the appointment and Nate picked him up and brought him to me since I was right by the ped's office and there was no way I could get to Bug and back to town in time for the appointment. The red swollen spot on his foot is a different spot than last time and may be from the crocs we forgot to wash after the first incident; if this issue is in fact from brushing against something in the woods, otherwise we're at a loss. So doctor's appointment done but we have another problem.

To get rid of the celluitis on the foot, oral steroids are needed. Bug's annual food allergy blood work was scheduled for today. Guess what I got to do, yep take him for his blood work. Well, that was a nightmare but we got it done. I will be filing a complaint with Quest though. Their complete lack of compassion for pediatric patients year after year is simply unacceptable. We started the blood work with them and for the sake of consistency we continue to use them for this once a year, and it's always a horrible experience. Any other time we need Bug's or even Roo's blood drawn we go to LabCorp at the hospital and they are far and beyond better. Rant done...lets continue figuring out what day of the week it is.

So, that's done and we go to Toys R Us and get a toy. Then back to the hospital to visit mom. Bug picks out flowers and is beaming ear to ear as we're walking down the hall to visit grandma. We find grandpa in the hallway and he leads the way and tells grandma that he found something in the hallway. Bug is beaming as he enters the room and gives her flowers. Then within 3 minutes, he sees her IV and takes in everything going on and he was done. Like, I have a stomach ache, get me outta here as fast as you can, done. He's going to be my fainter, just like his mama!

After that we went to lunch at Basilico's and had a wonderful time, the staff loved Bug. On the way out the lady at the register said "he's the cutest kid I've ever seen."

Whew, we finally got home and I was able to finally shower and relax.

I think Thursday and Friday were fairly normal, just swim practice and the normal routine. By Friday I had finally figured out what day of the week it was and luckily remembered to update our auto insurance with the new car info. I don't usually take that long to do that, just glad I didn't completely forget!

Today I took Roo to a swim meet in Richmond. He did great. He hasn't been focusing on back stroke as much this year and this past summer his times started getting worse. I was super nervous for him because he had 100 back today. He did great though, just needs to work on his turns. He didn't have any DQ's and he got ribbons in two events including the 100 back, which is great. One benefit of a long race is that there are usually fewer kids his age signed up, so it's very motivating to finish those races. I have no doubt that he would finish any distance his coaches ask him to swim, he's a hard worker and works his tail off in practice. I love his work ethic and hope he keeps it and that it translates to school as he gets older.

After the meet he and I had fun going to Target for his Pokemon cards he earned, going to the Apple store to visit the Apple doctor for my computer and getting a good prognosis, having dinner together and then a quick stop at Trader Joe's before heading home. I think next time I know we're going to Trader Joe's I'm going to ask facebook friends for input on what to get, that would be fun!

Nate spent the day with Bug and took him back to Basilico's. He said everyone remembered Bug and they even offered to bring him a free dessert. He said it was crazy, that the servers were having fun chatting with him and saying what a cute kid Bug is. He also went to Target to get some workout clothes and then they went over to a friends house.

And, we're ending our Saturday watching the Patriots game.

Warm December Day

Today we went hiking at Caledon State Park with our neighbors. It's amazing to have such beautiful state parks so close to home. It ended up being a 3 mile round trip hike. The weather was beautiful and the beach are on the Potomac was fantastic. I even found a sharks tooth.

I loved it and the kids only complained a little bit. Daddy had to go a half mile with Bug on his shoulders on the way back.

Roo had a hurt foot until I distracted him with a cool looking tree. After that he was fine.

Bug said at bedtime "I don't want to go hiking again, it's painful." I think we'll ignore him.

Nice List

The boys got greetings from Santa this morning via Portable North Pole. The look on Roo's face was priceless. He was well aware that he was a good boy this year and very intently listened to what Santa had to say and was very happy to hear that Santa knew so much about him. He was pleased to hear Santa put him on the nice list.

Then in was Bug's turn. Bug was very excited to hear what Santa had to say. He agreed with Santa when he said this year Bug was working on no more temper tantrums. And when Santa said lets see if you're on the nice list, Bug shook his head no, very seriously. With that same seriousness, he turned to Roo and said "you're nicer than me." Imagine his surprise when he found out he made the nice list.

When I got home from work today, I gave the boys letters from Santa that were in the mailbox. They loved them and were happy to hear again how good they've been and how much Santa knows about them.

They're finally in bed now. All night they wanted to go to bed. Now that they're in bed, they can't fall asleep. Love their excitement!

First Day of Winter

Yesterday was the official first day of winter. We had amazing weather, more like summer than winter. I loved wearing flip flops all day. The kids were able to leave the pool without having to change (which means I didn't have to chase them through the women's locker room!). And we had a bonfire and roasted smores (no toes were burned this time)! The one good thing about a winter bonfire is that it's dark early, so the kids can enjoy it at night and still get to bed on time, that's a win all around!

If..

Roo was sick and missed school on Thursday and Friday. I sent his teacher an email to let him know why he was missing school and he replied saying that Roo had made us some gifts and if I could to stop by and pick his stuff up. I did, and as I looked through everything (but the gifts), I found this project and it brought an instant smile and chuckle!

It says "If I lived in a snow globe I would play hide n go seek inside the snow."

The View

Best.Quote.Ever.

From Bug: "Mommy's a princess, Daddy's a terd."

What?

On the way to swimming tonight, I got a phone call from Daddy and Bug wanted to ask a question. As the conversation went on, Bug wanted to speak with Roo. I passed the phone to Roo and the conversation on my end sounded a little bit like this:

Roo: "what?!"
Bug: blah blah blah blah blah
Roo: "what?!"
Bug: blah blah blah blah blah
Roo: "yes you can play with my Cars game, so I'll play with your Pokemon cards"
Bug: blah blah blah blah blah
Roo" "what?!"

You get the idea. I was cracking up. I've always been entertained by their discussions; for two small humans, they talk about some interesting stuff!

Am I Grounded?

The theme tonight was grounding. When I picked Roo up at daycare, he told me that he lost all three of his pennies today. Each day each kid in his class starts off with three pennies. I'm not sure what happens if they keep them for the day, if the add up or something like that but it seems that it's upsetting to lose pennies. He's never lost all three of them. Today he told me as we were leaving that he lost all three. As we were getting in the car he explained that it was from talking when he wasn't supposed to and then something else about a pointer.

He said his friend was using the pointer (like a retractable one) and that they weren't supposed to, so he was telling his friend to put it away. So I asked if his friend also got in trouble, yes. I'm having trouble understanding how Roo got in trouble for trying to do the right thing. So I ask him to explain more about the talking. He doesn't explain this too well. So then I ask him again about the pointer. Roo finally says, "okay, I'll tell you the rest of what happened." And he explained how they had a sword fight with the pointers. Of course, you're only in first grade, and you're boys, what else would you do with the pointers is what I was thinking. So what I actually said was that he knows better and that it's dangerous and not to do it again.

Roo asked if he was grounded. He also asked if he was naughty. No to both. Not grounded, Friday ice cream not taken away, and definitely not a naughty kid. This is the second time he's asked me if he's naughty and both times I have told him that he is absolutely not naughty. He's a very good kid, with a big heart, who likes to follow rules, who occasionally has a quarterly brain fart with his behavior. He asked, "so a naughty kid would have just blamed it all on his friend?" I told him that the naughty kid would have just told me he had a good day at school. He knows and we've repeated that we are always proud of him for telling us when he makes a mistake or gets in trouble. If he continues like this, he should be a well behaved teen!!

And so onto Bug. Later in the evening Bug shared something with us and worried that he would be grounded. We asked him to show us and we told him not to worry that he wouldn't be grounded. We explained how he could fix it the next time and to ask for help if he needs to in the future, but that he wouldn't be grounded even if it happened again. The topic is poop, no further details needed.

Man, it sounds like we do a lot of grounding in this house, but we really don't. It's rare and is only for really serious infractions.