One of THOSE Weeks...

Yesterday Anna dialed 911. She only had the phone for 30 seconds. They called back right away, and I reassured them that yes, everything was fine, and I confirmed my name and address. Anna had a stinky diaper and I was on my way to change it when the doorbell rang. Of course, it was a sheriff's officer, just wanted to make sure everything's okay. I was in my pajamas with no bra. Jonathan was in his pull up from the night before, with crazy hair and no clothes. Anna was just in a shirt and a diaper, with snot on her face and the same crazy hair as Jonathan. I wanted to say to the very young (and of course, very handsome!) policeman, listen, don't judge me, I know we look really gross, and my unattended 2 year old did dial 911, but I swear I am a good mommy! This morning after Jonathan and Anna had several fights (he calls her a poopy head, she screams and hits him, he cries and calls her a poopy head, she screams and calls him a poopy head and pulls his hair, he screams and cries and calls her a poopy head., and then he slaps her and pulls her hair, then she....), Anna took her peanut butter sandwich apart and wrote on the floor using peanut butter as her media, and I stumbled around forgetting half my stuff and dropping the rest, we finally got in the car to go to our playdate.
We got there a half an hour late, some woman parked in the middle of two spots, making three parking spaces where there should have been four, I backed my car into a wooden post, and said a bad word. Then we got out of the car and started walking towards the entrance and then I realized I forgot my two dollars (for admission) and decided to just call it a day and retreat back to my house.
I was typing this, and I heard Jonathan say, Oh, look, I found some toothpicks with red tops! He had pushed a chair over, and had found some matches on a high shelf in a cabinet.
Omigoodness!!!!!

My Beautiful Brain!

I went to the doctor to follow up on my MRI and blood work. The fantastic news is that my brain is spotless! No lesions, no nothing! I am beyond relieved. The doctor said that my MRI eliminated MS, which is the thing I was most worried (okay, obessessed!) about.
The reason she wanted me to come in is that one of my blood tests was off. I have elevated ANAs with a dual pattern, whatever the hey! that means. I am being referred to a rheumatologist to look into it further. Based on the lab work, we know I don't have rheumatoid arthritis, which is also really good news. The doctor agreed that while I tested positive (based on her physical exam and my symptoms) for fibromyalgia , patients with fibromyalgia normally have "pristine" bloodwork. I am a little concerned that I still have all of these symptoms and no diagnosis.
But all I can hear right now is that my brain is fine. What's a little autoimmune disorder when you have a beautiful, healthy brain, right????
Dave got me a dozen roses today. I met him at home for the appointment and never even walked into the dining room to see them. I guess he was getting them to either celebrate good news or make me feel better after bad news. He is also making me dinner. A pizza with pepperoni, bacon, green peppers and garlic.

Anna wide awake, Jonathan sleeping

NOTE: Scroll down to the bottom and pause the song so you can hear Anna.
Tonight Jonathan was tired and went to bed very early. Anna, on the other hand, got a 4 hour nap this afternoon so she was wired even at 9:3opm. We pulled out the digital camera and got some good clips. In this first video, Anna is coloring with finger paints and shows how she loves talking about the serious work at hand.

There is a funny game I play with Anna every once in a while where I ask Anna whose baby she is. Most of the time she'll say she's Dada's baby which annoys Jamie a little because of the amount of time I spend with Anna is so much less. However, on this unlucky night for me, Anna was Mama's baby.

Anna has been asking for Elmo diapers constantly every time we change her lately. Finally, tonight we broke down and got her some Elmo diapers at the store. Immediately when we returned home carried the bag of diapers to Mama and told her that she had peed and needed Mama to change her. We also noticed yesterday that one of Anna's teeth was chipped. We're not sure how she did it and since she's so rough and tumble it could've been about anything.

In this video we discuss supper and then afterwards we ask Anna about her hair cut. Apparently, one day Jonathan decided to give Anna a hair cut. What surpises us is how accurately he cut her hair considering he just started to cut paper a few months ago. I mean, he was no hair dresser, but he did about as well as I would've done. What also suprises us is how still Anna must've stayed while Buba cut her hair. It shows how she'll do anything to keep his attention.

Considering Anna is only two, she knows an amazing amount of letters. She knows as many letters as Jonathan, really. It all comes down to Anna loves attributing something to a specific person. When she found out that A was for Anna, D was for Dada, J was for Jonathan and M was for Mama, she was in love with letters.

A Fabulous Evening

My Mom kept the kids overnight yesterday. I came down with a bad cold yesterday, so I was a little bummed, but we wound up having a really nice night. I made one of Dave's favorite dinners (BBQ Chicken Potpie) and he made dessert (Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies). He rented The Holiday, which is one of our favorite movies (and if you like romantic comedies, I highly recommend it!). After we watched the movie, we actually had a conversation that lasted an entire hour. Now this may not seem like a big deal, but for us, this has not happened in a long time! The kids are very demanding, especially at night when Dave comes home from work. We went to bed at 9:30! We both actually got to sleep without anyone waking up and needing to nurse or having wet their bed and needing an apple juice cuppy or they lost their boo (pacifier) or misplaced the toy they fell asleep holding and even though it's 3:30 AM it is absolutely essential to their happiness that it be located immediately or they will scream and then have a big fit and wake everyone who is lucky enough to still be asleep up!!!!
Seriously, I love having kids, but having a break was absolutely FABULOUS!

My MRI

Maybe I am just really desperate for some alone time, some rest and some solitude, but I found my MRI today to be really relaxing. I got to wear a fabulous robe that I swear was made from like 600 count sheets! I got to select some nice music and I got to lay completely still for 30 minutes. Maybe it was the Valium they gave me, but I really enjoyed the whole ordeal.
Maybe I had just built it up to be this horrible thing in my mind, and in the end, it really was not that bad (nothing in my life has ever been as awful as I've imagined it would be!).
I spent some time in hysterics tonight (and so did Anna) because I was misinformed by the nurse that I would not be able to nurse for FIVE DAYS. I calmed down recently and did some research (some really reputable medical journals, not just Le Leche League type sites) and was relieved to find out that the normal recommended amount of time is 24 hours. Even in 24 hours, Anna would receive MORE than 100 times LESS than the allowable dose of the dye for a child her age and size. I have already waited almost 15 hours. And most of the research was saying that there was really no need for mothers to abstain for even one feeding. It's not like a radioactive substance or anything.
Apologies to any males who might read this!
PS DAVE COULD YOU PLEASE POST A BLOG? I feel like it's been ALL ABOUT ME LATELY!

I don't even know what to worry about...

I woke up this morning thinking that I should be worried about my health, and about my MRI tomorrow. I worried (no,no, no, I would say I obsessed) about this until about lunchtime today, when my Mom and Ed stopped by to pick the kids up. They got some bad news about Ed's health this morning. I am now very worried about him (he's my stepdad, and the bad news is that his cancer has most likely metastisized).
Up until last week, I thought the thing I should be most worried about is our finances and trying to find a job to help out with that. Then I went to the doctor and promptly started freaking out about my health (except for a 30 hour break where I agonized over possibly taking that full-time teaching job, as mentioned in, "Am I an idiot?"). Now I am very worried about my Mom and about Ed. Why does it seem like life is either easy breezy or nutsy crazy????

Jonathan's Good Deed and his First Solo

Today was a big day for Jonathan! He found a wallet in the doctor's office parking lot and he marched right in and handed it to the front desk lady. She was very charmed and decided he needed a reward! He got this cool bag full of goodies, including a slap bracelet (does anyone remember those? From about 1990?) which he has been completely thrilled with all day long.
At Little House of Music, he sang his first solo! The only other time we have gotten him to sing into the microphone was to be part of a trio. But today he sang all of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I was so proud of him!
Also in music class today Miss Treble and Mr. Bass were joined together in marriage by Brother Brace. It was pretty exciting!
www.littlehouseofmusic.com

Anna Banana

Anna is talking in full sentences now. I am starting to think that maybe, just maybe, it might be time to wean her. This morning she said "I want right booby now, please." Granted, it sounded more like "Iyant yight booboo now, peas." The funny thing is that sometimes I won't understand her, and I have to look at Jonathan and say, "What is Anna saying?" He understands her so much better than I can. Anna is a total daredevil. Like the other day at the park, she was scaling this ridiculously unsafe curved ladder, that had about two feet between each rung. She still wants to be a baby though. She was seriously mad at Poppa Ed the other day because he told her she was a big girl.

JoJo's 10! (Sniff, Sniff!)

I'm sniffling because I can't believe she's 10! I can remember the day she was born so well. I remember her first birthday cake! She was only 3 when Dave and I met! Where, oh where, does the time go? Heck, I can remember my OWN tenth birthday like it was yesterday!

I am so proud of Justine. She is so incredibly beautiful and bright. Watching her grow up has been such a neat thing. I am so glad I've been able to be in her life! She is such a great kid. Happy Birthday Justine!

SNOW DAY!

My Mom and I took Anna, Trystan and Jon to see "snow" in Titusville yesterday. (The blowing snow was actually bubbles, the snow on the ground for them to play was actually crushed ice.) My nephew Trystan (in the spiderman shirt) was the bravest about playing in the snow. He jumped right in and scaled the little hill. They only got to play for 5 minutes, and it took Anna till minute number 4 to even enter!

I got some really cute pictures!

Jonathan's absolute favorite part of the day was the robot! The sheriff's department was there and he got to see a real robot, and it was talking to him and it took a rolled up newspaper from him! For Jonathan, this was probably better than Disney World.

Am I an idiot?

I just walked away from what might have been a really great job opportunity. I dropped a resume off at a really top notch school on Friday and was immediately interviewed by both principals. The principal called me at home today and left a message asking if I would come in and sub in the classroom I would be teaching in to see if I felt comfortable taking over the classes for the rest of the semester (as the actual teacher).
I just left a voice message and e-mailed him back stating that I did not feel the job was the best fit for me. And now I am wondering am I an idiot? Yes, I am taking a poll, feel free to comment!
The job would have been working with some really fantastic teachers, a really positive and supportive administration and faculty, and some of the brightest and best kids in this county.
But then there are some other issues at hand. The kids were all either 10th graders or seniors in high school, and I just feel more comfortable with middle schoolers. The commute (including dropping my kids off at my Mom's) would have added two hours to my day. I have some nagging health issues that need to be resolved (since it seems my normal life is almost overwhelming me right now), and then there is my stepdad's health. I don't want to burden my Mom with taking care of my kids when her first priority should be her husband, and I know she would never be able to say, "No, I really can't do this." And then there is the idea of being away from my kids 40 plus hours a week, having to work on school stuff even when I am at home, and dragging them out of bed at 5:45 in the morning.
So maybe I am a little bit of an idiot. The money would have been nice, the experience would have been great, and who knows when such a good opportunity will come along again. But the thing I do know, is that the opportunity to be with my kids when they are exactly at these ages and stages will NEVER come along again. That is a certainty.

FORTE!!!

Tonight Jonathan made me so proud it literally brought tears to my eyes. I came home from a Game Night and Dave told me that Jonathan had something to show me. He has been taking a Little House of Music course, which is basically a very, very, very basic piano course. One of the concepts they have been stressing is piano ("the little p means soft, like a feather when it drops") vs forte, which means LOUD!
Jonathan has really been learning a lot, and he loves all of the fun songs. Tonight when I got home he brought the MagnaDoodle to the couch, sat down with it in his lap, and very carefully drew an f, for forte. I am so beyond proud! This is the first time he has really been able to reproduce any letter so well. He sort of draws Js but they are usually upside down and backwards.
I leave home for a couple of hours and he just takes this huge leap! How neat is that?