Common Sense

Owen has had a fever for five days now.  He is a little tired and not too hungry, and not quite himself.  But he still plays and reads and laughs so I haven’t been too worried about him.  He does not complain of any pain (unless I ask him to bring his toys upstairs…)

Whenever I call the nurse-line for our pediatrician's office, they always remind me to check the website for the clinic.  The website has a “pediatric advisor” which has a large database of information on medical topics for kids.  You find your topic and it gives you an overview of how you should treat the symptoms that your monkey has, and whether or not you should see a doctor.

So, when Owen’s fever didn’t disappear quickly, like it usually does, I went to the pediatric advisor.  For fever, it suggests that you bring in a child who has had a fever for longer than 3 days.  As Owen’s fever had been going down on the third and forth day, I thought he would be fine, so I waited.  But, when he still had a fever today, I felt a little nervous and made an appointment for him.

At the office, Owen saw a doctor that we had never met before.  He asked what my concerns were and I got a vibe that he thought I was wasting his time.  I explained Owen’s fever pattern.  I said that I was wondering if Owen was contagious and…  “Yes.”  he stated, and stared at me with a smile.  “Well,” I stammered, “I checked the website and it suggested that we see a doctor for a fever that lasts longer than three days.  So, the fever has been there five days so I just…” His smile did not wane as he stated (something to the effect of ), “The site says ‘three days’ to cover very rare chances of something much more serious, but common sense tells you that this kind of case is not that.  Next time you don’t need to come in for something like this.”  He went on to explain much more about fevers, but I can’t say that I heard much of it.

This is the kind of thing that makes me hope that the doctors say something is wrong with me (or my kids) when I go in for a visit.  It is a terrible thing to hope – it is not that I wish sickness on us, or that taking medicine makes me feel better -  I just hate to feel like such an idiot.  

I want to say something really mean to that doctor about common sense, but I can’t think of anything really good to say.  And I don’t plan to have an appointment with him again anyway.  So there!

Love the Love

Owen and Jack were cuddled together on the couch this afternoon.

Owen: Jack, I wouldn’t trade you for a big box of Legos.

Mama: You are great brothers, aren’t you?

Jack: I want a big box of Legos.

Owen: No.  What that means is, if someone said that they would give me a box of Legos and take you away, then I would say no.  I wouldn’t trade you.

Jack: Oh. We’re great brothers!

Bad Habits and Tough Owen

First I was too tired.  Then Jack got sick.  Then I had too much to do.  Now Owen has a crazy fever and I am sick too – and there I go with another excuse… but a blog is here nonetheless.

Owen is in heaven staying home sick.  He really hated hearing that Jack stayed home from school last week and spent more time with me alone.  Owen beamed on Sunday night when I told him he had a fever and and wasn’t going to school on Monday.  I gave him Tylenol at about 10Pm because his fever was 104 and I was worried.  It was a dumb idea to wake a sleeping kid for that and he just threw-up the medicine anyway.  He didn’t seem to mind at all.  He just put a smile on his red-cheeked face and went back to bed.   He had asked me to sleep on his floor “just like you do for Jack” so I did.  But my little trooper didn’t bother to wake me up the few times he got up to be sick.   I woke up when I heard him get out of bed, and figured he was just going to the bathroom.  He would be sick, but not call me for help.  I came in anyway and took care of him, of course.  My Owen is so matter-of-fact about life sometimes.      Today he kept telling me he loves me and ‘thank-you’ for letting him stay home from school.

His fever has been going down all day, but it is a long way down from so high up.  When I told him that he is staying home from school again on Tuesday, he was very concerned for Jack and that Jack make it to school.  I am keeping Jack home too – it is just easier to stay home with them both rather than drive Jack to school with Owen since I have to walk Jack into the building.  Owen tried to assure me that he was too sick to go to his school, but that he could walk in to drop off and pick up Jack.  He finally admitted, “I just want to have you to myself!”  My sweet boy.

Pet Update

Another reason why a plastic fish is the pet to have…

This is Jack giving our fish a bath.

He is also helpfully “cleaning” the “fishtank.” 

Our New Pet

The boys “caught” this little fish yesterday.

They are quite pleased with it.

It is definitely the kind of pet I can handle.

Thus, I am quite pleased with it as well.

Organizational Issues

With our weekend of organization, I felt inspired…  I organized tons of stuff last night until midnight and this morning I decided to tackle the main closet.  This is what it looked like early on…

Unfortunately, it didn’t look much better at the end of the day.  I did actually organize quite a bit:  I removed a boxful of snow clothes, and about 8 coats and sweatshirts that were 3t or 4t – too small for the monkeys… games were organized.

But, a mess remained.

How is it that organization is o messy!!

Get It Done

This weekend Eric and I were all about getting projects done.  We put pictures on the walls, organized, drilled a hole in a cabinet so we could “hide” cords through the back.  Our biggest project was  the garage.  We delved into the chaos and actually put away all of the Christmas items into their bins.  We put almost everything into it’s proper place, swept and cleaned and selected a few items for permanent removal. 

Good-bye to the old tent that only held two adults…

Good-bye to the hiking backpack that held our monkeys…

Good-bye to the double stroller…

Good-bye to Thomas the ride-on train…

We will miss you all (when we can actually get you out of the house since you have only moved into our dining room…)

Grease Lightning

Owen’s school show was last night held at a local theatre.  He was very excited and walked into the back theatre door with hardly a backwards glance.  He was so confident that everything was going to go great.

Owen and his class danced to Grease Lightning and We Go Together (part of each song put together to make one song).  It went off without a hitch – including all of the boys taking their coats off, swinging them wildly around, and throwing them over the heads of the girl-dancers standing behind them.  Too funny.

I only got this photo of Owen and it was after the show (at 9:30!)

I am dying to share the video, but since no cameras or camcorders were allowed in the theatre we had to buy the “official” one from the company that the school hired.  I am not sure how long it will take to get.

Owen is happy to dance live for anyone who is willing to watch, however – so feel free to ask him.

St. Patrick's Day Lunch

A leprechaun got into Owen’s lunch today and turned everything green! 

Green hummus and green tortilla chips shaped like shamrocks; green peanut butter on his celery, green cream cheese on his bagel and even green milk! (the pistachios, kiwi and grapes were already green, but I am sure those would have been changed too if they had started out in another color.)

Owen thought it was funny and liked trying to see how foods tasted when they have turned green.  “I thought I wouldn’t like it, so I just tried a tiny bit.  But it tasted the same!”

Of course, Owen must also consider all events in his serious way…

Owen: “But actually mom, how did you get all of those things green?”

Mama: “Are you kidding me?  Do you know what kind of mess I had to clean up this morning before you got up?  Green mess everywhere!”

Owen furrowed his eyebrows.  He had some seen some evidence of this at his class today when he and his schoolmates found all of their carefully built leprechaun traps smashed to bits.  No leprechauns were caught, and the words “ha ha!” were written on the whiteboard.  (Luckily the leprechaun left some chocolates to console the  students.)

Owen: “Really mom, he made a mess just like in my classroom?  Man, I guess on St. Patrick's day there must be a lot of really messy houses in the morning.  Well in all of the houses that celebrate St. Patrick’s day…”

Sleep Ghost

There is some kind of sleep issue on the second floor of our house.  Jack has had a difficult time sleeping over the last couple of nights and has been up several times each night.  Owen has been up a few times too - which is unusual for him. (The night-wakings by the monkeys mean I am also up several times a night - despite the fact that my bed is on the safety of the first floor…) 

Even my brother Bobby, who has been visiting here for the last week, has said that he is having a terrible time getting to sleep and staying asleep.  He has never had this problem before when he has slept at our house so I have come to the conclusion that there must be a ghost who thinks that interrupting sleep is fun…

Anyone have any ideas on how to get rid of a Sleep Ghost? 

Our Grady Visit

Tonight we had a Grady visit.  It is fun to see how excited my monkeys get at the new things Grady has learned.  I am always proud, but it is funny to see a four and five-year old impressed with their little friend.   Tonight they were impressed with how much Grady talks.  Grady has said a few words at our house before, but tonight he would copy anything we would say ( I said, “Julie” a LOT…)

“Mom, he can talk now!  I didn’t know he could do that!”

Kris and Grady gave the monkeys a set of Lego style silverware that they both fell in love with.  Owen declared them the best gift EVER!   He kept thanking Kris and Grady over and over (I love those moments when my kids are super polite and honestly grateful for a gift!)     Jack was quite pleased that he had is own knife and carefully scooped each bite of dinner onto his fork with the knife.  Such a big boy!

I wanted Kris to show me how to fix Owen’s hair in a Pompadour style for his school show on Thursday.   He is supposed to be a greaser.   I practiced doing is hair with a lot of hair gel and it needed to be washed out.  Since the monkeys needed a bath we threw Grady in the mix as well.

The monkeys shared their toys (better than they usually share them with each other) and showed Grady their goggles that they rediscovered last week. 

I can’t believe how fast our little Grady is growing!

Lint Dilemma

Today while I was emptying the lint from the dryer filter, a large amount dropped back into the dryer and went down into the filter chamber where I could not see it. 

I have heard about some house fires due to lint in the dryer “pipes”  and have been a little paranoid as of late.  I did not want the lint to be sitting in there so I tried the various vacuum attachments I have to get at the lint, but it didn’t work.  I saw two screws holding the filter in place, so I thought I could easily take it off. 

Once I had the filter off I had to reach my hand down into the hole to feel if I could find the big ball of lint.  My imagination suddenly went haywire and I just knew various ugly creatures were centimeters away from my hand  -waiting to pounce.  When I did find the fuzzy ball, I didn’t know whether I should grab it or scream that I had come in contact with one of the creatures…

Notes:  Where there are two visible screws, there are probably three more not-so-visible screws that hold the thing that you are trying to remove in place…

It is not a good idea to mess with the lint part of the dryer if you are trying to dry a delicate white sweater on top of the dryer.

Oh, and While the Cat is away, the mice will play…you may have a bigger dilemma after your first project is done if you are too absorbed in it. (My mouse just played nicely in the water though…)

“Something”

Maumau came for a visit today and as Owen and Jack ran up to give her hugs, Jack stopped short and accused, “You forgot something!”

Mamau assured him that she had “something” in the car and she would go back down and get it after she  put down the things she carried up first.  I believe Jack gave her a hug after he was satisfied with her answer…

The “something” is Mamau’s milk frother and special chocolate  to make blender hot chocolate for the monkeys. The special chocolate she brings is a Mexican chocolate that has cinnamon and a strange gritty texture (it is yummy).  I find it quite funny that this hot chocolate has become a special drink my mom makes with the boys since Eric’s family lived (for 10 years) in the region where this specialty Ibarra chocolate is made.

Today Jack was the lone helper as Owen was caught up in the X-box Risk game that never seems to turn off when Uncle Bobby is here for a visit. (My brother will not like that I posted a photo of him, but I don’t think he reads my blog – so keep it under your hats people!)

The milk gets warmed and fluffy in the frother while the chocolate gets chopped up (and Jack tries to con as many of the pieces as he can from Mamau .)  The milk and chocolate go into the blender (Jack’s favorite – buttons and loud noise),

and into cups for the boys to drink.Us “big kids” are not forgotten as Mamau brings her espresso machine too.  Jack finds the tiny cups of espresso adorable (and I am sure that said tiny cups would disappear into Jack’s room if my mom was not so good at cleaning them and popping them into her bag as soon as the libations are served…).

Way better than Starbucks!

Second Tooth

Owen’s first tooth came out just two days after it became loose.  His second tooth has been loose for over 7 weeks and Owen has been wondering what is wrong.  (I think it is because the new tooth is growing in behind the loose one so there is nothing pushing the old one out. ) This morning the loose tooth began to bleed and Owen was so excited to see little spots of blood dripping on the bathroom counter.  (That was not my favorite part)  This afternoon Owen twisted the tooth out – and he was jumping with excitement.

Eric put the boys to bed while I picked my brother up at the airport.  Owen got his tooth all ready for the fairy.

Tired Firefighter

Jack has recently re-discovered his firefighter costume that he got from Mamau for his birthday.  He has been on duty for several days now.  When we have to go somewhere in the car, Jack takes off the costume and lays it out neatly on the floor – I guess so that he can quickly put it on when he returns… Today he finally  tuckered himself out with all of his firefighting duties…

Little Joys

I made Tyler laugh today.

There is something about holding a four-month-old baby and making him laugh.  It is so pure.  And so simple.  And so pleasurable.  And somehow, so powerful.

As Jack and I talked about the events of the day, it is one of the moments that he included.  He felt it too.

Pretty

Jack tells me I am pretty almost every day.

It doesn’t matter what I am wearing or how my hair looks or if I have make-up on.  Just sometime in the day he looks up at me and smiles and says, “You look pretty, Mama.”

It melts my heart every time.

Hand Me Downs???

One  [supposed] benefit of having two children of the same gender is the ability of using hand-me-downs.  Somehow this does not work well in our family...  Jack was born very small, and needed preemie size clothes, so, right off the bat, I had to go out and get new clothes despite the closet-full that we already had for Owen.  When Jack grew into bigger sized clothes, he was apparently making up for lost time, and wore each of the sizes  “newborn”, 0-3 months,and  3-6 months clothes for only a few weeks each.  It went by so quickly that he didn’t wear all of the outfits that we had.  When Jack finally hit the 6-12 month clothes he did slow down his rapid growth – but not before his little belly had grown enough to make it impossible for him to fit into any of the little jeans and cords that Owen wore when he was that age.  Out I went again to buy little sweat pants and one piece outfits.  The next snag was the fact that Owen and Jack are 18 months apart, which makes the clothes Owen wore in the summer fit Jack in the winter, and the winter clothes fit Jack in the summer…

This past year Jack has finally been able to wear all of Owen’s old clothes – and I have been glad that things are finally working out in my [financial] favo.r  But I guess that is going to be a very short-lived satisfaction on my part because Jack now outweighs Owen, and since Owen is taller, they have completely different body types.  They now wear the same size in most clothes, which you would think would be good because they could share – but I am not so lucky… While Owen loves the idea that Jack wears his old clothes, he doesn’t like the idea of sharing.  And while Jack loves the idea of wearing Owen’s old clothes, he can’t share either because once he has worn something, he wants to be the only one who owns it.   They agree to share socks – something that I don’t’ mind having an over-abundance of (if you know me at all, this will not be a surprise to you…) – and they have agreed to share pants.  But, of course, that won’t work out because   Owen needs a very skinny waist, and long legs.  Jack needs a regular size waist and legs.  So when Owen is done with his pants – they are too tight on Jack!

Today I went to buy some new shoes for Owen.  He measured a size 12.  Just to make sure I was not squeezing Jack into shoes that were too tight, I had Jack’s shoes checked as well.

“He is measuring at an 11 and a half,” the sales lady said, and I breathed a sigh of relief, until she finished.  “on the left.  And his right foot measures at a 12.”

Great.

Anyone have 4 pair of rainboots in size 1 that they want to pass our way???

Felt Fun

I have been looking at some felt craft projects and have a big-ish project in mind, but want to start smaller.  I just want to try something to see if I am any good and decide if I want to make a purchase of some higher quality felt.  I got some new Gingher scissors from my grandma for my birthday and a pair of pinking sheers from Eric’s mom, Mary.  I needed to make something today.

I was looking as some projects on different blogs , and decided to try this blogger’s flower idea.  Most of the felt that I had was left over from making Jack’s Capt’n Sharky Pirate hats, so my colors are black, grey, and cream, but it was just for fun anyway.

I wanted to see if they would stand up, and added some stiffened felt for the stem.  Super cute – if not super useful…

The monkeys saw me sewing and wanted to try their hand at it. 

Owen sewed a flower similar to the ones I was making.  He took the project quite seriously.

Jack mostly just cut the felt into little pieces with my scissors.  He did want to sew too. I put a tiny piece of felt to one end of his thread (so that it wouldn’t pull through whatever he was sewing) and tied the other end to the needle. 

He had a ball sewing random pieces together. 

And stayed with me long after Owen had moved on to bigger and better things.  Jack left for a few minutes and when he came back he showed me his stuffed dog’s new ear decoration…

And was thrilled when he asked to also sew “wings” on his dog – and I said yes.  Whatever, it is his toy…  Jack cut out the shape of his wings.  I attached the string onto the wings with a little x, and Jack went to town.  It cracked me up when I saw that the dog’s tail was caught up in between the wings and the dog’s back!

Are we not a creative family?!?!

Week-In-The-Life: Saturday

I woke up sometime after 8 then fell asleep until sometime after 9.  Eric was in the living room and the monkeys were playing upstairs.  Eric had taken care of breakfast monkey entertainment.  Coffee was ready.  A good morning!

I said good morning to all my men, then played on the computer for awhile.  Owen and Jack joined me and we watched some you-tube videos – mostly music and dancing stuff.

We did some little chores, just hangin’ out.

I can’t believe my little guys are serving themselves without much input from me…

Today was Quinn and Penn’s birthday party.  They monkeys wanted to wear fancy clothes, so I ironed shirts for them – and one for Eric while I was at it.

I asked the monkeys if they wanted to wear “very fancy” clothes or “modern fancy”.  Owen chose “modern” so we picked out a tie to go with his shirt, a pair of jeans with sewed on rips and patches, and his pair of high-top converse (actually these are the only shoes that fit him right now, so I am glad that the “went” with the outfit…).  Jack wanted to be “very fancy” so we found dress pants and formal shoes for him.  He was excited to wear his bowtie that he got in his Christmas stocking.  I spent 15 minutes going through all of his dress-up clothes and hiding places for precious items in his room before I found it…

I threw in a load of laundry so that I can wear my favorite jeans to the party (really the one pair of jeans that I wear pretty much every day.  I should branch out…)

The monkeys and I got dressed and went to the bookstore to get some books for the birthday boys.  We chose 4 of the boys’ favorite books from when they were little.

Owen and Jack decorated some paper with watercolor,

and I dried it with the hairdryer so that we could use it right away for wrapping paper.

I took a shower and got ready while Eric did the monkeys’ hair (Eric really really loves that I am taking tons of photos this week, can you tell? – you’re a trooper, baby!)

I cannot believe that I didn’t take a final photo of us before the party!  Inspired by my 4 and 5-year-olds, I decided to dress up a little.   It will be a shock to many to know that I wore (um…some of you may need to sit down before you read these next sentences)…makeup, silver shoes, a pink shirt and a white sweater!! (no black t-shirt, no Converse shoes, no Smartwool socks!)  Eric and Tina had a photographer at the party who took a picture of our family.  If it t is comes out we will get one – and post it.

I had read the invitation wrong and we arrived a half-hour too early – totally embarrassing.  Tina, always the gracious hostess, didn’t bat an eye.  I helped finish setting up, Eric took a walk around the neighborhood with Jack, and Owen played with the twin’s toys.   The monkeys loved the party.  Tina always has amazing food(including adorable individual cups of blueberries and crackers for the kids), and there was a clown and balloon animals and other kids to play with.  Owen was especially happy to see Charlotte – who he really misses now that she is not in class with him.

During the party, a loud quick banging noise came from near the r hard-wood staircase.  I look over and Owen was crying.  His feet has slipped while he was walking down, and he slid on his back down several stairs.  It is so awful to have your child get hurt.  I know it is not reasonable (or healthy for their independence)  to follow their every step in order to prevent any injury to your children.  It isn’t even possible, but man I hate when they get hurt!  Poor O had a red stain right through his little white shirt.

One awesome tradition at the party is that each child gets their own candle in their own cupcake so that they can blow out a candle at the same time as the birthday boys.  So cute!

It was after 6 by the time we left and Jack was drifting off to sleep in the car.  We didn’t want the monkeys to fall asleep in the car, and thought they might need a little more food before bed.  So, we stopped at Burger Master, an old-fashioned outdoor restaurant where you stay in your car and they serve you on the trays that attach to your windows.  Owen, as usual, had a million questions about what was going on, and how everything worked, and why everything was done the way it was done.  Jack just wanted to know when the food was going to be served…

At home we all changed.  I read books with the monkeys and put them to bed.  I love that they both want to read each night.  Owen is not so thrilled now that Jack is reading because Jack is still horrendously slow – sounding out each three-letter word slowly and then saying it fast.  He never says anything to Jack though.  Today is just looked at me with a pained face and laid down on the bed.  I scratched his back while Jack read his book.

I made tea, downloaded photos and blogged.  I will most likely go downstairs and read a book on my Kindle or watch something with Eric.