December 22nd

Well, they have set a date for the arrival of Baby #4, December 22nd. This baby will come with much fanfare from me, as in the last few weeks I have been labeled as "gestational diabetic" and taking insulin 5 x a day. Not fun at all. But, if in the end we get a healthy, happy (and if you happened to throw cute in there, I wouldn't be offended) baby, I'm good with it.

As for other happenings in our family, Ben and Maddie have been practicing feverishly for their upcoming Christmas shows at school. We recently took them to the store to get items for their preschool rooms from a "Giving Tree", but understood a few minutes into the trip that they do not understand the concept of a giving tree AT ALL. It mostly turned into a crying disaster resulting in babies in bed by 7.

Zach is doing great and trying to keep up with everything the other two do. He is now sharing a room with his "Moo Moo" (Maddie) in order to get him prepared (and an empty room prepared) for the new baby. He gets a kick out of throwing his binky at her and making her fetch it for him.

But, all three are now jockeying for positions on my lap (which is why I don't often try to get on the laptop) so I better tend to my mothering duties.

Halloween is Coming!

Ben is going as Iron Man, Thomas, or a ghost depending on when you ask him and what mood he is in that day. Maddie is leaning towards Minnie Mouse or a Princess, both of which involve pink frilly dresses which are right up her alley. And Matt and I have chosen a pretty cute monkey costume for Zach (if we can get him to put it on...that is TBD).

However, my kids don't eat that much candy (i.e., I don't like them to eat much candy), so does it make me a bad mom that I want them to go out and harvest the candy for me and then take it all away from them and keep it for myself? Anyway, I'll be sure to post some costume pics soon!

Patterns

Okay, I am really behind and I promise some new pics and stories soon, however, I had a quick one to share about Ben. He and Matt got into a bit of a power struggle the other night, with Ben pulling out the "shut up" and "i hate you". I talked to him after he calmed down and said, "Ben, you don't ever tell your dad you hate him. You might be angry with him, but you always love him." And he said, "Well mom, it's a pattern. You see, sometimes I hate him and then sometimes I love him. You know, a pattern". Nice! Stay tuned for more as I promise to be more diligent!!

Mean Eyebrowns

Yesterday Ben asked me why I had mean eyebrowns. (yep, eyebrowns). Apparently I was scowling at him and he didn't like it. How does a four year old not only interpret my body language so correctly and then call me on it? Amazing. For all of you that don't know, we spent last week moving into some new digs, so I will soon have some updates on that for all!

Mommy and Me x4

So, for most of you that still read this, even though I never write, I am sure you have heard that Baby #4 is on the way. Things have been crazy with a capital C. But, I had to take a few minutes to do some updating. We finally decided to tell our little secret when my body decided that instead of being 10 weeks pregnant I should go ahead and look 5 months pregnant. I think my stomach muscles are waving their white flag of surrender. Anyway, I told Matt that I was going to have to start wearing maternity clothes, so we better 'fess up. We started by telling my family. I told Ben to go and tell grandma that mom had a baby in her tummy. I thought he already had come to this conclusion with all the talking that Matt and I had been doing, but apparently I was wrong. He just looks at me and goes "WHAT! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!". So much for delivering my message. Anyway, he was and remains super excited, steadfast in the belief that we are having a girl and determined to name that girl Lexie. Everytime I bring up a different name he says "Mom, how about we use my name this time and your name next time". I keep trying to explain to him that there won't be a next time (this is it folks), but he insists. Maddie is also pretty excited, and has been especially mothering towards Zach. Maybe she is afraid he is going to get lost in the shuffle. Zach continues to be a man of a baby. At his last check up he weighed in at 33 pounds (that is somewhere in the 150th or so percentile) and was 32 inches (not quite square). His head is finally evening out with his body, so we did not have to do an MRI as the doctor had thought we might.

If that weren't enough, Matt and I are preparing to move to a new house. We pretty much figured with baby #4 on the way, we have pretty much officially outgrown our old house. However, our old house remains on the market, so if anyone knows anyone that is interested....it would certainly take a load off my mind:) Keep checking in, I promise I'm going to keep up with this!

Wedding Fever

I have no excuse for not writing for almost a month, except for the fact that I have been living life with my three crazy kids instead of writing about it. Last night, however, was a writing-worthy night. My cousin, Kristen and now my new cousin, Derek were married last night. The kids have been looking forward to the wedding for a long time. Well, mostly to the cupcakes, but the wedding too. So, they had a very nice ceremony and reception, in which the kids fared pretty well. You can tell that they don't go out in public much, but they still did okay. Then came the dance. Holy cow, it was worth two hours of chasing them around, taking them potty and chasing them under tables to see all three of them cut it loose on the dance floor. If only I was one of those good parents who would actually take pictures of cute stuff like that. Ben was playing air guitar and break dancing, Maddie was "putting her hands up" and singing along to Party in the USA and Zach was pretty much winning over every single person on and off the dance floor with his side step, bounce up and down style. To see kids so open and unencumbered on the dance floor is refreshing. No worries about what they looked like or who was watching them, just having fun and lots of it. It makes it a lot easier for me as a mom to do the same thing. I wish that you could bottle up that free spirit and give it back to them when they are teenagers. We have a couple of more weddings this year, so I will try to capture it on film.

Tic Toc

So, if you know the song Tic Toc by Ke$ha and then you stop to realize that yes, this is my kids' favorite song right now, you can go ahead and award me for the "Coolest Mom of the Year Award". Granted, I didn't say "Best Mom of the Year Award" because the song is downright naughty, but you gotta admit I'm pretty cool if my kids are listening to Ke$ha and Lady Gaga as opposed to the Wiggles (Thank God Ben forgot about them) and Barney. I'm being a little sarcastic, but it is pretty funny that all three of them get the biggest kick out of that song. It is pretty catchy and it has a good beat and honestly, you should see Zach get down to it. He would put Michael Jackson to shame. We taped her when she was on SNL so that the kids could dance to it and they absolutely love it. I don't know if you have seen the performance or not, but it is slightly weird and features dancers dressed like spacemen doing all sorts of robotic moves in the background, which Ben then tries to copy. Maddie just dances her little heart out and sings the chorus when it comes on the whole time leading up to that announcing "Tik Tok is coming, Tik Tok is coming". If I did YouTube, a video of the three of them might just be a classic. To add to how cool they are and how wide their little musical minds go, the other day in the car they were arguing over who sang a song "Lady GaGa or Ke$ha". I can't remember what song it was and who was right, but it was pretty funny. Ben also loves the Train song, Hey Soul Sister and whenever it comes on the radio he goes, Mom, it's my favorite ChooChoo Train song. Close enough. Maddie can pipe up that it's "Jason Mraz" with just a few chords of his popular songs, which is pretty impressive as well. I suppose they have their Uncle Jeremy (and if I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Grandma Laura likes to bring up the fact that she was an All-Stater for a couple of years whenever it seems appropriate), so their Uncle Jeremy AND their Grandma Laura to thank for their musical talents. Man, they crack me up.

Kids Don't Slow Down When You Do

Have you ever noticed that you never really get to take a vacation from your kids? Or that if you are sick or down and out, they don't really understand that? That has been on my mind this week as I have been struck by "the gout". It has been an absolutely awful week for me, as every step I take hurts and I can't get comfortable for anything. But, my kids are SO funny and keep me going. Ben told me that if he gives me a big hug it will make me all better so that I won't have to feel sick anymore. So the other night before he went to bed he came and gave me a big hug and said, now mom, if you need a hug later to feel good just say Ben! I need a hug! and I will come right down. I think that was 50% about me feeling better and 50% about a possible chance to get out of bed, but sweet nonetheless. Maddie just keeps asking about the "bandaid" on my foot, like she can't really understand that there could possibly be anything that would slow her mom or dad down and of course, Zach is oblivious to all of it and is his usual eight-meal-a-day, take no prisoners, I will do what Ben and Maddie do even if I end up in the emergency toom kind of guy.

But, the one bright spot in this week has been how AWESOME my husband has been in stepping in and doing whatever needs to be done without asking, complaining or making me feel guilty for just wanting to sit in the recliner with an ice pack on my foot. I am SO lucky to have him.

On a side note, Ben somehow knows what a smart car is and saw one in the Fareway ad the other day. He told me mom, we need to go to this store, because I need to buy this smart car. It is a car for four year olds, you know. I have to say I kind of agree with him.

And, my sweet little Ben got flip flops this week and it might have changed his whole life. I have been on the hunt for crocs (will, generic crocs) in his size with no luck. So, I thought, I will just see if he is big enough to do flip flops yet. I am not kidding, the kid woke up the next morning at 630 and said, mom! I took my socks off so that I can wear my flip flops now. When I picked him up from school he was running down this list of names from the back seat and I couldn't quite get what he was talking about so, I asked him, who are all of those people? And he was like, MOM! Those are all my friends that have flip flops. He apparently thinks that flip flops have catapaulted him to some upper echelon of society and he could not be happier!

I Want to Be Just Like You!

Okay, we are going to have some serious problems with Zach. This weekend he has tried to ride Ben's bike (he did this by going to get the helmet and actually stepping up onto a pedal of the bike before I grabbed him), tried to climb up the ladder of the swingset and last night brought me all of the pieces to Elefun (which if you are not familiar with the sweet children's game involves a fairly heavy base, an obnoxiously long "trunk", about 50 "butterflies" that might as well be colored tissue paper and a net to catch the things by) and grunted until I would turn it on for him. Which brings me to my second problem with Zach, which is that he seems to be 50% caveman. He doesn't really point, he doesn't say mama or more, he just grunts. A lot. Mostly for donuts. Apparently, the strategy works for him, so why give it up? Now, the positive side of wanting to be just like Ben is that maybe one of these days he will walk into the bathroom and go potty on his own. That would be my kind of imitation!

Ben had his first foot xray after he jumped off some playground equipment with good intentions of grabbing the fireman pole and instead just jumped straight to the ground. His first xray should be followed by his first Emmy nomination. So all night that night he flat out refused to walk on his foot. I couldn't see any swelling or bruising and loathe Urgent Care past 6 pm so decided to wait it out for the morning. He still wouldn't really walk on it and when he did, looked pretty gimpy so I went ahead and called his doctor. I couldn't get him in until 1130, so I left him with the babysitter. When I came to pick him up, he literally ran to me and said excitedly "I'm going to get stickers at the doctor!!" So, I asked him if his foot still hurt and it did, so I took him (and Maddie who refused to be left behind) to the doctor's office. I felt like a moron as I walked in behind my son who ran in in front of me straight to the toys and checked him in for his "sore foot". The doctor went ahead and ordered an xray just to be sure, but as you can likely guess, it was just fine. So, at least we know Ben can act.

Maddie has been entertaining anyone who will listen to her lately with her version of Lady Gaga's Paparazzi. It goes something like this: "I hold a ball and follow you until you love me, papa-papa-razzi." Close sweetheart. But she loves it! She can also do a pretty good version of Poker Face. I guess it beats Ben's version of "Do you know the muffin man" which he swears is: "Do you know the Muffin Man? I'm a Dirty Man".

Sleep

I am reading a new book that lists some spiritual disciplines that you can try and sleep is the first chapter. You have to love a book that tells you to sleep! Anyway, that got me wondering about a lot of things...but in relation to my kids, when exactly do they start to realize that sleep is a GOOD thing! And when do adults start wanting the day to end so that they can just go to sleep? It's a funny dynamic. I mean, I get the kids point of view...you are playing and having so much fun, why would you want to interrupt that with sleep? But honestly, you get to take a two-hour nap every day and no one thinks worse of you, in fact they want you to do it. And on top of that, your parents want you to sleep as long as you can in the morning, NOT wake up. I mean, when does that happen in real life? I set my alarm and TRY to get up (it doesn't happen very often) so that I can do some work before I even go to work. It's sad. Now, if I could just get my kids to appreciate what they have!

This weekend I struggled trying to get Ben and Maddie to lay down for naps. Zach is actually in a stage where he kind of enjoys his bed, which is nice. But on Saturday I tried to lay both Ben and Maddie down at the same time and since they share a room with each other and Zach it is like walking a tightrope to not wake anyone up. And if your two older ones act like they are not remotely tired, it usually doesn't end up well. I probably trekked up and down the stairs ten times threatening that if I had to come up "one more time" something bad was going to happen (I didn't really have anything good to hang over their head, so I think that affected my effectiveness). I came up once and they were both in Ben's bed (which admittedly was pretty cute), another time Maddie had out her doctor's kit and had a little Urgent Care set up right there in her bed and Ben was rearranging the letters on his wall that say "Ben" to read "NEB"... he seems to like his name better that way. Eventually Matt had to go upstairs and lay by them and I heard him snoring while the kids continued to play. I don't know how he does that...I struggle to fall asleep anywhere other then my comfy bed (and sometimes there as well).

Speaking of sleep, Maddie just woke up her normal grumpyself at 7 am on the dot (Ben's been up for about 15 minutes watching Playhouse Disney in my room) so I better go. Happy Easter everyone!

You Stink!

You have to love the brutal honesty of a four-year old. Matt and I made it home from our vacation last Friday at about 2 am. I was so anxious to see my kids (believe it or not) that we both went into their room just to see them while they were sleeping. They looked just a tad bit bigger! We resisted waking them up and hit the sack ourselves. So, at about 530 Ben wakes up saying that his sheets are wet (aka he peed the bed). So, I get up to go help him and instead of greeting me with a sweet "oh mom, you are home, I missed you so much" as I planted a kiss on his cheek he goes "oh mom, that kind of stinks. you stink". Nice. Note to self, apparently I have to start brushing my teeth before greeting my children.

But the kids survived. Grandma Laura and Grandpa Dennis had a rough first morning as Ben woke up, discovered we had "left on an airplane" without him and he still had to go to school. He insisted that he would be staying in bed until we got home from vacation. My dad had to physically put him in his car seat and Ben was screaming and fighting so much that my dad couldn't even get the seat belt buckled and instead drove to daycare holding Ben down. He was convinced that they would be pulled over by a SWAT team before they got there and asked why they were abducting this kid or at the very least why they were being so mean to him. But, when I talked to the daycare he apparently got over it pretty quickly and it was smooth sailing from there. Maddie thought the first morning that we were gone that she would probably just go live at the farm with Grandpa for a while and didn't like it when that plan got foiled, but that was her main meltdown. So lesson learned=take more vacations!

Moustache in the House!

So, over the last few days I have been going over this blog in my head, trying to come up with actors who have awesome moustaches. The only one I could come up with is Tom Selleck. Anybody have any ideas? Why, you may ask? Well, Ben's new favorite thing to do is to take is index finger, put it over his top lip (forming a faux moustache) and say "Moustache in the Ho-use, Moustache in the Ho-use". I have no idea where he came up with this, what it means or whether or not he will grow up to crave a sweet 'stache of his own, but it is pretty freaking funny. So, I was going to try to rank him with all of the other sweet 'stache wearers (i.e. Tom Selleck), but I am drawing blanks, and since Matt and I leave for Vegas tomorrow, I figured I better get this posted.

Yes, Matt and I are taking our first vacation sans kids since having kids (so about 5 years). We are going to Vegas for a week and are both pretty excited. Tons of great people have stepped up to help take care of our kids and although I know that they won't do it as good as we do, I think it will be good for all of us. They know we are going on "vacation" and they don't seem too upset by it, but we shall see. Either way, I am having a rip-roaring/relaxing time in Vegas (those might seem like polar opposites, but trust me, I will do both).

And thank God for a beautiful pre-spring day today. Our kids had a BLAST outside reconnecting with their friends the Jeep, the scooter, and the Big Wheel. It was so great to have some fresh air and I hope it pays off with some kids that sleep in for Grandma in the morning. One thing about living in Iowa is that I think that we just may appreciate spring more than anyone else in the Continental United States. Anyway, Matt and I just finished packing (nothing like waiting till the last minute) and are going to try to grab a couple of hours of sleep before we have to get up uber-early to start our vacation. Have a great week everyone!

Top Ten Things I Love About Zach

Zach turned one yesterday. It is hard to believe. I clearly remember a year (and a day) ago going to the hospital being so ready (okay, way past ready) to meet our not-so-little guy. He has been our sweetest baby to date, but probably the most challenging too. He has been kind of sickly (and trust me, I know we are lucky describing the things he has had to go through as sickly...in the grand scheme of things, it hasn't been anything too terrible) and until the last couple of weeks (knock on wood) not the best sleeper. However, in honor of his birthday, I wanted to write about the top ten things I love about my Tank:

10. He is not afraid to give anyone open-mouth kisses

9. He likes to throw his weight around (just ask the little girl in the church nursery that he took out in one fell swoop in order to get the toy she was playing with)

8. He cracks himself up

7. He can walk (thank god, my lower back was really starting to protest)

6. He his going against tradition by deciding to get his two canine teeth before his front two teeth which makes his smile super cute right now (and a little vampirish)

5. He can't talk back (yet)

4. He is always happy to see me

3. He knows when he is being naughty and waits for you to watch him because he thinks it is hilarious (for instance, he knows he isn't supposed to go up the stairs, so he waits at the bottom until he sees that you are looking and then starts racing up laughing all the way)

2. He still cuddles with me cheek to cheek (who can resist that?)

1. He is all ours (until he's 18 that is and by then, I'll probably be ready to kick him out:)

It's been such a fast year! Another big event in the Brogan household last week was Maddie's first trip to Build-a-Bear where she stuffed a bear with her binkies. I wasn't really sure if she got the concept, because she just stuffed them in there and was like, what's next? And I told her again, you know you don't get those back, right? But she has really been pretty good. She whines at night and Matt and I have had to go in there a couple of times, but she has never asked for them back, so I am pretty proud of her.

Ben started in the 4/5 year old room at his "new school". He is now in the Pooh room (not to be confused with the Poop room...it kind of sounds like that when he says what room he is in). So, just when we were doing great getting dropped off, we switch things up. This will only be his third day in there, so it's not like I'm expecting miracles, but it would be nice to drop a kid off without kicking and screaming and crying. That is just not a great way to start the day. They tell me that it doesn't last long and when I pick him up he talks about all of the fun that he had, so I know he is fine, but it would be a lot better without the theatrics. He is starting to work with a speech pathologist who told me he had a lot of "sound errors", but thinks that with time he should be fine.

Anyway, somehow it is 630 and none of my kids are up yet, so I better finish getting ready before I have three kids in the bathroom with me!

I HATE Monday Mornings

Is it wrong that I would rather take ten minutes to blog then to get my three kids (who are locked in their room by a gate and have been up since 6:20) out of bed? I don't know what it is, but Ben wakes up with his usual "Mom, I waked up" and when it used to be cute (like two years ago) now I just want to take him and explain that beings under the age of 12 should not get up before 7 am. There is just no good reason for it. Of course, his whining then wakes up both Maddie and Zach, but somehow Zach manages to fall back asleep. About 6:45 starts the choruses of "Mom, I have to go potty". So what are you supposed to say to that? What I would like to say is, "Well, just pee your pants, its not 7 yet" but instead I get him up to go potty and as soon as we are in the bathroom, starts Maddie "I have to go potty". AAAARRRGGHHH. And this annoys me the most on Monday mornings. It's just not the way I would like to start a week. I would like to start a week with sleeping until about 10 am, and then my three wonderful kids could bring me breakfast in bed while they get themselves dressed, fed and bundled up for daycare. My husband would then come and shuttle them to daycare and I would have the rest of the day in the house by myself. Now, that would be a Monday.

I Would Not Make A Good Single Mother

So Matt has been in Miami since Wednesday. He leads a tough life that one. I have been home with the kids, but thank God for babysitters and Grandmas. I mean seriously, Wednesday night I had them all in bed by 730, mostly because I wanted to catch up on some TV I had missed. Thursday night I had a class that I take at church, so I had our babysitter come over and she had Zach in bed and Ben and Maddie were pretty much ready to go by the time I got home. Tonight Matt's mom came over with pizza and was fully prepared to help watch the non-bathers while I took care of the bathers. Tomorrow I am rewarding myself with a morning off and dropping off Ben and Maddie at another babysitters while Zach stays home with my mom so I can do some shopping before I have to pick Matt up at the airport. I mean seriously, how do single moms do it? Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but man, I'm exhausted. I think Maddie has been sensing my frustration so this morning when Zach woke up at about 5:30 and I groggily got out of bed (probably mumbling a string of not very appropriate words that rhyme with "are you ducking kidding?") she started to sing Zach the ABCs so that he would stop crying. Was it because she wanted to make him happy or because she wanted him to be quiet, I'll never know but I do know she is a whole lot like her momma:)

Oh and I know that you were all probably looking forward to the graphic description of our Pukefest that I promised in my last posting, but I have decided in talking to my little brother that I need to rethink the things that are socially acceptable to talk about. He feels that my perception has been a little skewed since I have had children. He stopped me when I was telling him a story about how Ben's poop got stuck and....oops there I go again. I'll have to censor myself. Just email me if you want the whole story. What is it about kids that has led me to a life where I write about poop, puke and preschool? Maybe I'll have to start branching out but they keep providing me with such good material.

Ben had his 4th birthday party last weekend--his actual birthday was on Tuesday. I am thinking about starting a movement where mom's get the good presents on their kids' birthdays. Let's be honest, Ben didn't have to do a whole lot to be born....I was the one getting cut open. Shouldn't I at least get a pedicure or something? Anyway, he had a great birthday and when he woke up on Tuesday and I told him it was his birthday, you could see the gears just turning in his little head as he said..."I am four now? I am four because it is my birthday? I can't wait for dad to get home from work so I can tell him I am four now". It was like we had been talking about this magical age of four for so long that he couldn't believe it had finally arrived. I'm not sure what he thinks it entails, but it must be pretty special.

Zach is recovering from what seems like a lifetime of illness. All in all, he is doing great. Kids are dropping like flies in his daycare room from RSV, so when his babysitter called and said he was starting to sound congested I of course rushed him to the doctor (overreact much?). I can't find the happy medium between taking your kid to the doctor to early (it's just a virus lady...calm down) and too late (um, your kid is pretty much lethargic...what exactly were you waiting for?). So I erred on the side of too early to be met with the doctor (not my normal doctor mind you) looking at me like I was perhaps a wee bit crazy. Oh well, better safe than sorry. I have to repeat his chest x-ray next week to make sure the pneumonia is gone, and hopefully that will be the end of his crazy sicknesses.

Okay, it's almost 11 and I have got to get to bed. Pretty exciting Friday night in the Brogan household. Before I sign off, I will post some new pictures for all of your viewing pleasure:)

Pukefest 2010

So I haven't blogged for a while because our family has been fighting a rough couple of weeks of sickness. The best (okay, I mean worst) started a week ago Thursday. Matt had just picked Ben up from preschool and was taking him to "new" school and he harfed all over his classroom. Sorry about that. So Matt took him home and called me and said he was pretty iffy. I got an email update at four saying he was joining Ben in the bathroom.

I know this promises to be a wonderful blog post filled with fun and nothing at all disgusting and you are all probably waiting at the edges of your seats for it, but I knew I was pressing my luck by starting after 7 am and of course, now Maddie is awake and yelling for me, so I will have to continue later. It'll be good....

Album 01/23/10, by Matt Brogan

I'd like to share my Walgreens Photo Center photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Newton's Laws of Hotel Physics

We had went to Minneapolis this past weekend to a waterpark/hotel to hang out with some family. I knew we were probably pushing our luck because Ben had puked that week at school, Zach still wasn't recovered from his laringytis and Maddie was starting to get a cough too. But, we thought a change of scenery could do us some good so we all loaded up in the family truckster and headed north. Jeremy stayed at the pool with Abby and Evan and Ben while the rest of us did some shopping and according to him, he has never seen Ben laugh so much or have so much fun. It is amazing to me, the little guy would truck up a LOT of stairs to the top of this waterslide, sit and wait patiently for the poor schmuck who honest to God sat at the top of that waterslide for a good 8 hours with no breaks to tell him he could go and hurtle himself at Jeremy waiting for him at the bottom. Jeremy said it was like trying to catch a medicine ball coming at you all the while trying to keep the medicine ball's head above water. When we arrived, it was Matt's turn to take over medicine ball catching.

Anyway, I don't know if it was the pool water or the flu, but that night both Matt and I got puked on in bed by Zach and Maddie respectively. It was great. Maddie and I stayed up most the night watching DVDs in the hotel bed and I am still waiting to see if we get some sort of credit card charge standard for puke clean up.

But we got home on Sunday and poor Zach was still just struggling. So, I finally took him back to the doctor on Tuesday (I didn't want to be Miss Overreacting Mom who was just there the week before) but it turns out he now as pneumonia and thrush (so now I am the Couldn't You Tell Your Kid Was Sick for God's Sake Mom). Confirmed by an ever fun finger poke and chest xray. He had to get a painful shot of antibiotic in his leg and we had to take him back the next day for followup. On Wednesday I took him back and his white count was down (i.e. the antibiotics were working) so he didn't have to get another shot. However, our doctor decided he wanted to do some bloodwork to make sure there isn't an underlying immunodeficiency problem. The kid has had ear infection after ear infection and then to get pneumonia (oh and did I mention he also has thrush) so soon after getting his tubes is kind of worrisome. I didn't even ask what it would mean if any of the tests came back positive, because I didn't want to worry unless there is something to worry about, but of course, I am worried. The doctor did say that he is obviously growing and thriving, it is just of some concern that he can't seem to beat any little virus on his own. Finally, today, he seems to be doing a little bit better. We won't hear back from the doc for at least a week, but I will let you all know what we find out!

Why a Baby with Laringytis is (Mostly) a Bad Thing

So Zach has laringytis. I know, I know you are all thinking...perfect, a baby with laringytis...what's so wrong with that? Matt and I thought the same thing for the first day. It was both cute and pathetic at the same time when he tried to cry and nothing came out. However, three days later, you can tell that it is really starting to tick him off and I think it hurts quite a bit too. Everytime he tries to utter a sound nothing comes out and he keeps trying until he starts coughing from the effort. It is really quite pathetic. If you were wondering, according to our doctor there isn't much you can do for laringytis besides ibuprofen and a cool mist vaporizer. However, the last two nights Zach has pretty much slept all night (this is a huge relief after a really crappy night of not sleeping much at all...it's funny you can do it when they are a newborn but once you get used to them sleeping most of the night, it really sucks to go backwards) so maybe he is on the mend. He has been gracious enough to pass the cold onto Ben who, for a sick kid, stays surprisingly upbeat.

We have a door in our house that goes into the garage that has a tendency not to shut. You have to really slam it to get it to stay shut and so we call it the "ghost door" and the kids get a kick out of that. Well, yesterday morning was one of those days where nothing was going right, the kids were driving me absolutely nuts and when my mom left she didn't shut the door all the way. This was my breaking point and there was a small crack in my otherwise perfectly serene exterior and I said (in a slightly raised voice) "she can't even shut a god d$%m door!" to which Ben replied, "Mom, it's not a God door, it's a GHOST door". I'm super glad he didn't repeat the cursing part and reminded once again that I need to watch myself around them!

Are Poptarts Healthy?

So Ben has to be the "leader" at preschool when he goes back to school next week. I asked him today what he wanted to take for a snack. He said, "mmmm, how about chocolate chip cookies?" I said, "nope, it has to be something healthy," to which he responded "are poptarts healthy?" I said, "they sure aren't". So he said, "Well, what's healthy? You tell me.". Pretty funny. This from the kid who had a lunch of glazed donut and cheetos on New Year's Day. Wherever would he get the idea that poptarts are healthy? At his "new school" (aka daycare) they have "helpers" for things. He has brought this concept home and is the "helper" for everything including lights, doors, remote controls, phones, toilet paper, flushing, the list goes on and on. He will say "I will open this door because that is what helper I am.". It's great. However, the really, really great part is that I get all the crap helper jobs like taking off his shoes and putting the dishes in the sink. He tells me that's what helper I am. Awesome.

Zach and Maddie are also doing pretty great. We actually moved all three of our kids to one bedroom upstairs, by us, which has its pros and cons. I told Matt that when I originally came up with this concept that hey, the Gosselins had six kids in one bedroom. Later I got to thinking, I should maybe (just maybe) not be taking parenting advice from the Gosselins. Anyway, the kids seem to like it and it hasn't been too bad. It is great having them just across the hall from us instead of down in the basement, however, Zach is still not really sleeping through the night and he will take any excuse to get up.

I did get my Xmas cards printed. If you are lucky, you may just have them in your hands by St. Patrick's Day.