I swear Claire came out the other side of her illness even cuter than before.  She truly lights up the room with her happy personality.  She has developed quite the sense of humor and jabbers all day long.  I could just eat her up, she is so stinking adorable.  I’m sure she’s getting tired of having me kiss her chubby cheeks, but I definitely can’t get enough.

So now it’s back to the daily grind of juggling schedules and racing from one place to the next as we try to go to class and work and fulfill our duties at home.  It is exhausting, but I do feel good knowing we are being productive and filling our time with good things.  Some days I don’t even realize there are people leading lives that allow for leisure time, until I hear someone mention they went shoe shopping or they went out to pick up a new necklace.  Shoe shopping?? I can’t even remember what it is like to browse through a store, looking for something to buy.  Occasionally I will try to squeeze in a few minutes of online shopping, but being able to actually wander around a store, touching and trying on merchandise, sounds like an absolute dream to me.  I’m sure someday we will reach that point again.  For now, it’s best if I just pretend a life like that doesn’t exist and that everyone spends their time either trapped in a classroom or trapped in a cubicle or running somewhere in between.  My alternate reality is quite the sanity-saver.

I tried again on Thursday, but I suppose I was still too exhausted and burned out that I could hardly keep myself from banging my head on the keyboard and then falling asleep.

I guess what I’m saying is, it’s been a rough week.

Since the broccoli barf incident, things went steadily downhill until we reached the point where Claire was vomiting 10+ times a day from coughing so hard, lethargic, burning hot, and just the saddest little girl you’ve ever seen.  I thought my heart couldn’t break any more, until another puking episode required yet another bath.  As I set her down next to the bath to take off her onsie and diaper, her little legs were visibly shaking from being so weak and tears ran down her chubby cheeks.  I tried valiantly to fight back the tears myself, but my heart just couldn’t take it anymore.  Truly, there is nothing worse than seeing your child in pain or discomfort and not being able to do a single thing about it. 

On Sunday we went to the Urgent Care to see if we could get Claire back on the road to recovery, where they took chest x-rays and gave her injections of antibiotics and all sorts of other torturous things, only to discover a couple days later from her regular pediatrician that she was MISDIAGNOSED (AARGH!)  and I now have a several hundred dollar medical bill coming my way and my little girl did not get any better.   

So in the midst of all the not sleeping and barf cleaning and soothing and fretting and whatnot, Brady’s body decides the sinus/cough thing he had been fighting for a while just wasn’t enough.  On Tuesday night he suddenly started experiencing extreme pain in one of his ears, to the point where he was almost in tears.  After a few agonizing hours he felt a pop, some relief, and fluid began draining out.  I sent him to the doctor the next day and sure enough, he had an ear infection.  Later that night, the other ear did the same thing.  You should see his pillow after having fluid draining from both ears all night.  In fact, I could probably post a picture…what?  No?  That’s gross?  Well, that’s no fun.  So anyway, the man can’t hear much but is on the mend at least.

Add to the mix some stressful changes at work, and then summer semester starting for both of us yesterday!

WHEEEE!!!

How’s your week been?  Better, I hope!

In other news, she also came down with a nasty cough a couple nights ago.  The husband has actually been sick for weeks and finally went to the doctor to find out he had RSV, of all things, so there is a good chance that is what she has too.  At 10:00 PM we could hear the dreaded deep, strong, barky cough coming from her room.  It woke her up and caused her to cough so hard that she threw up all over the floor.  Poor girl.

Last night we went in to check on her around midnight and were punched in the face by the smell of vomit as soon as we walked in the room.  It seemed extremely odd, since we never heard anything aside from a little coughing, so there’s no way she actually threw up, right?  Upon closer inspection, we discovered vomit on her sheets.  We rolled her over and lo and behold, there was barf covering her pj’s, blanket, and hair.  It must have been a rather pleasant and peaceful experience for her this time around, because nary a peep did she make.  We woke her up, stripped her and the bed, and discovered chunks of broccoli barf dried in her hair…and on her cheek…and down her neck…and onto her back… and on her hands.

This is the kind of stuff they need to teach to crazy teenagers in sex ed classes.  Are you ready to clean up chunks of broccoli barf at midnight instead of partying with your friends?  ARE YOU? If that doesn’t scare them straight, I don’t know what will.

In the tub she went, the poor little thing bleary eyed and bewildered, wondering why she was woken up from a peaceful sleep and thrown into the water.

I sure do love being a mom and my little girl.  But if there was one thing I could eliminate from motherhood, it just might be cleaning up vomit.

What do you other parents think?  What would be the one gross/onerous task you would eliminate from daily life with kids?

Each new stage brought new questions.  At some point after her teeth started coming in, I realized they wouldn’t just keep themselves healthy.  Do I have to like, CLEAN these things??

I remember reading in a parenting magazine that once there are two teeth that touch, parents should floss their kids’ teeth daily.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Have they met a baby?  Better yet, have they ever met a TODDLER?

Needless to say, the flossing isn’t exactly going as the professionals recommend it should.  However, we have tried to be pretty diligent about brushing my daughter’s teeth.  She’s gone through phases of loving it and not loving it so much, but we’ve almost always been successful by making it a game or showing how daddy does it or something along those lines.  Lately though, she will have none of it.  If we even start to walk into the bathroom to brush her teeth she’ll flail and flop and fuss.  When we try to actually put the toothbrush in her mouth it turns into a full-on meltdown.  Some nights we give up and just let her “brush” her own teeth.  Other nights we beg and try to make it fun.  Last night my husband just held her arms while I tried to brush her little teeth as fast as my hand would go.   Not pretty.

So now what?  I’m hoping this is just a phase.  I don’t want to give up brushing her teeth, because dental care is important.  I want to establish healthy habits with her, and if I just give up because she puts up a fuss that will set a precedent for future tooth brushing and other issues I’m sure.

As a sidenote, some may argue that dental health doesn’t matter for little kids because they will just lose their teeth anyway.  However, that isn’t true.  If kids teeth rot and fall out too early, it could damage the development of their permanent teeth as well as their placement and overall health.  Not to mention the importance of gum health, which they will carry all their lives.

So how do you get your toddlers to brush their teeth?  Do you floss your kids’ teeth?  If so, HOW? (I’m guessing you must be magic to get them to hold still!) What is your philosophy on the whole thing anyway?  Advice is welcome.

CARNIVORE.

And not just as in “oh sure, a little grilled chicken would be nice.”  I mean carnivore as in, “give me the biggest slab of prime rib you’ve got-  and RARE!”  We’re talking about the man that turned to me once and said, “I think ham is my 5th favorite meat.”

“You rank your meats?”  I replied.

“Well, yeah.  Don’t you?” he said innocently, as if it wasn’t bizarre to love meat so much that you classify them.

So when I read that one of the Eleven Miserly Guidelines was to cut back on meat I wanted to laugh.  A big, hearty, YEAH RIGHT kind of laugh.  HAHAHAHAHA!

But I remembered a while back I had proposed that we maybe institute a vegetarian night one night a week for health reasons, and he actually kind of agreed.  It didn’t stick though.  So this time I approached him with the argument that we really should try to be more veggie-lovin’ for the sake of our wallets.  To which he gave a big, hearty laugh.  He didn’t believe that forgoing meat occasionally would be cheaper.  He has been under the incorrect assumption that centering meals around meat is less expensive, as long as you get the meat for a good price.  However, really, meat ain’t cheap folks.  Unless there’s a great sale.  Overall though, cutting back on meats on a regular basis can do a lot for your budget.

I don’t really have anyone that I’m close to that is vegetarian, so I’m really quite stupid when it comes to how to go about this.  One of my concerns was that many meatless dishes were very fattening, usually centering around some sort of cheesy pasta (yummy, but not healthy).  That didn’t exactly seem like the right sort of trade off.

So since then I’ve been on the hunt for healthy, satisfying vegetarian recipes.  Yesterday I made a sweet potato and black bean chili that was fabulous.  Flavorful, filling, and super healthy.  I doubled the recipe so we could have some for dinner, and then I froze the other half for a dinner later on.

Here’s the recipe if you want to give it a go (this is the original recipe.  I doubled mine and made some changes to it which I will explain in just a sec):

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, finely diced

1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground chipotle chili

1/8 tsp salt, or to taste

1 1/3 cups water

1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed

1 cup canned diced tomatoes (I like the petite diced tomatoes)

2 tsp lime juice

2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion and potato and cook, stirring often, until onion is slightly softened, about 4 min.  Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle, and salt and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add water, bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to maintain gentle simmer and cook until potato is tender, 10-12 minutes.  Add beans, tomatoes, and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often.  Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook until slightly reduced, about 4 min.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

So, my version was slightly different.  I realized after I started cooking I didn’t have any chili powder, so I substituted it with some pork rub seasoning and I actually think it turned out better- a little sweeter and smokier, which we like.  I also didn’t have any chipotle seasoning, which was fine.  I added a dash of black pepper and seasoned salt as well as garlic salt, and I didn’t put in any lime (didn’t have any.  I was rather ill-prepared).  I served it with a little dollop of light sour cream.  Delish!  Husband even loved it!

Any vegetarians out there that have some good, healthy recipes?  I’d love to learn more!

*Recipe from www.eatingwell.com

But then…we were struck with the thing that can bring a home with children to its knees:  illness.  With some pretty crappy timing too. Not that any time is particularly convenient to get sick, but still…  The husband and I started school again and in an attempt to make our schedules work, coordinated a baby swap a few times a week with a neighbor also trying to finish school.  In the midst of the craziness the husband and baby were hit with a doozy of a cold.  That’s right, a DOOZY!  Poor little Claire especially, and any parent knows that there is little worse than having a sick child.

My schedule for the last week basically looked like this:

4:02 AM- Baby crying, offer comfort.

4:37 AM- More crying, more bleary-eyed comfort offered.

5:15 AM- Baby too congested to sleep.  Sit in rocking chair with baby to keep her upright and help her breathe.

6:20 AM- Crawl back into bed.

6:35 AM- Baby cries.  Discover diaper leak, urine everywhere.  Awesome.  Baby in tub.

7:55 AM- Leave for school.

10:00 AM- Baby swap so husband can go to school.  Tend to sick child.

10:12 AM- Wipe snot

10:23 AM- Wipe snot

10:37 AM- Restrain child in order to wipe snot

10:42 AM- Give up on keeping snot river under control and accept that everything will be covered in mucous for the next several days.

11:00 AM- Naptime!= homework time for mom

12:45 PM- Baby awake, wipe snot, lunch time, sick and tired husband comes home

1:15 PM- Work, work, work…

8:30 PM- get home, start getting baby ready for bed.  Baby’s coughing fit induces BARFING.  Baby in tub.

9:15 PM- baby finally asleep.  Eat late dinner.

9:35 PM- Lapse into a coma from exhaustion

So!  As you can see, there has been no time for organized spreadsheets or meal planning or even checking my email.  Besides, had I even printed off one of those lovely spreadsheets I’m pretty sure it would be covered in snot.

Let’s hope this week runs a little more smoothly.

Anyway, one of my resolutions is to exercise more.  This is important for a number of reason.  Obviously, I want a long and healthy life and exercise plays a huge part in that.  Secondly, exercise is wonderful stress relief, and I could use a whole lot more of that.  Third, it increases my self-esteem and self-image and I could certainly use more of that too.  Lastly, I need to lose some weight! Not a ton, maybe 10 pounds or so, but this extra jiggle has got to go!

The problem is I need to lose it soon.  Why?  Because I am going on a cruise in two months.  That’s right, a glorious Caribbean cruise.  7 days of fun and relaxation with my man.  And know what’s even better?  It’s FREE!!!  I won it from my work last summer.  How freaking awesome is that?  But if I’m really going to have a good time, I can’t be worrying about how my saddlebags look as I stroll along the beach.

The even bigger problem is that I seem to think that this 2 month time span is not actually two months but is an infinite time frame.  So what if I never made it on the treadmill today,  I have two months still!  But pretty soon that two months will be two weeks and I will really start to panic.  I tend to do this too often.  I set a goal for myself and then give myself too much leeway if I don’t start to execute on it.  This time though, the time frame is set.  I guess it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I don’t reach my goal, but this is something I really want to do.

Last night, finally, I spent some time on the treadmill I got for Christmas.  (See?  I have my own treadmill, now I really don’t have any excuses!).  And you know what?  It felt great!  I’m not in fantastic shape, but it felt so good to just be active.  A lot of times I put off exercise because I’m too exhausted.  Last night was another one of those nights.  I was completely drained, achy, grumpy, and a little queasy.  I thought there was no way I could find the strength to do anything but loaf on the couch.  But you know, it’s true that exercise actually gives you more energy.  Afterwards I felt great, no aches, no queasiness.  I could feel the blood running through my veins and it felt good to be alive.

So why, after such an enlightening experience, is it so hard to get myself to do it again today???

Last weekend I got a flat tire that couldn’t be fixed, and since my car needed new tires anyway we had to deal with the whole rigmarole of arranging driving and all that fun stuff until we could finally take my car in on Tuesday, which also happened to be the day that I was irrational and emotional, probably due to lack of sleep and hormones, and the hubby was the same way so that equaled out to some marital discord.

The previous night, Monday, all was going fairly well (except the car thing) and since the hubby had to pick me up from work he thought it would be nice for us to go out for a family dinner to my favorite restaurant.  We didn’t have a baby-sitter or anything, but figured Claire would be just fine and would enjoy getting out for a bit.  Everything started off great- Claire was happy watching all the people and playing with crayons and we were enjoying our salads and bread.  I look up from my salad to glance at Claire in her high chair and HOLY CRAP!  She’s spewing vomit everywhere! Not a sound did she make, nor was there any inclination whatsoever of her not feeling good.  But out of the blue she starts barfing copious amounts,which is a mystery to me, since she was still avoiding eating that day.

I grabbed all the napkins I could find, including ones off of other peoples’ tables in an attempt to catch/clean up some of the mess.  The poor girl is crying pretty hard now and we’re trying to figure out a way to get her to the bathroom without smearing puke all over ourselves, all the while pretending that all the other diners aren’t staring at us in horror.  I finally managed to escape to the restroom, strip her down, clean her up, and put her in the spare onesie in the diaper bag.  We hung out in there for a little while, just in case, and when I felt the coast was clear we headed back to the table.  However, the second I rounded the corner and approached our table…

“BLEEEEEHHHHH!!   WAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

She barfed again.  Back to the restroom we went, leaving the hubby to get everything boxed up and in the car.  So much for the nice evening.  One of those things you put under the “WHY DO WE EVEN TRY?” category.

I do have to pause for a second though and mention that while I was in the restroom with my crying, half-naked, smelly child that I felt very grateful for the sense of camaraderie I felt with the other women in there.  None of them stared, none of the pretended to ignore us in the hopes of avoiding something unpleasant and uncomfortable.  Each woman that came through offered her sympathies and help and shared stories of when their child had done something similar.  It made me feel as though I was part of this network of mothers that understood and cared.  We didn’t really know each other, but we had an understanding of what the other had been through.  For some odd reason feeling as though I wasn’t alone in my struggles made everything easier.

So with Monday and Tuesday both in the crapper, the week was off to a pretty un-promising start.  More to come of the remainder of the week’s events…

A couple of days ago I came down with a bladder infection.  Nothing major, but unpleasant nonetheless.  I figured I could just flush it out with some cranberry juice and water.  No big deal.  Things didn’t really improve over the next couple of days, but I figured it would pass in time.

Then, last night I’m woken up at about 2:35 AM, wondering what that awful sensation in my back is.  I’ve had lower back problems for years, and they have been aggravated recently by all the bending, twisting, and lifting that I’ve discovered motherhood requires.  So I wake up thinking ugh, my back is really giving me troubles tonight. I tried changing positions over and over, and rather than it getting better, the pain kept getting worse and worse.  It was so intense that it was shooting down my legs and my whole lower back felt like it was a big red, radiating ball of pain (you know, like you see on the commercials).  I rolled over and got up on my knees, my face smashed into the pillow, hoping that would stretch things out.  Nothing.  Before I knew it I was rocking back and fourth on all fours and breathing raggedly.  I felt like I was in labor, except this time my back was intending to deliver…something, I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a baby.

Eventually I woke up the hubby, gasping for breath between the shots of pain that were now stabbing through each side of my back.  He tried massaging it, thinking maybe I had really pulled my muscles or something.  Again, no relief.  At this point I realized that it wasn’t my run of the mill back problems.  Nope, it was my kidneys, and apparently someone had set fire to them while I was sleeping.  Seriously, the only thing I could compare it to was labor… and I experienced some pretty intense labor.

Brady was kind enough to get me a handful of ibuprofen and some water, and soothed me until I was no longer shaking and and moaning in pain.  I didn’t know if I should go to the ER or wait it out or what to do, so I laid down to see if the pain meds would kick in.  Fortunately they did, and somehow I managed to drift off to sleep.

I woke up in the morning feeling almost back to normal, but over time the stabbing, searing, throbbing pain in my back returned, and has been alternating between sharp pain and a dull ache all day.  I went to my doctor to get some antibiotics, so hopefully they will do the trick soon.

So all this time I’ve totally been taking my hardworking, dependable kidneys for granted.  I rarely give them a thought or even notice that they are even there.  But WOW, do they have a way of making themselves known when something goes wrong!