The Longest Sleepless Travel Day Ever

15 hours, 3 flights, 1 horribly long layover, 3 screaming fits, no sleep, plenty of Valium, and lots of patience later, we made it. Thank God!

I will update more later because, even though we have been here for 3 days, I am still severely exhausted (thanks to Sam not sleeping more than 2 hours in a row since we've been here) and can't think straight enough to write, but I will leave you with some funny Bo moments . . .

After we got our luggage off the belt once we got here, I dug into Bo's suitcase to find his coat. One glance inside and his eyebrows completely furrowed. "What happened? Where toys?"

The first morning we were here, Bo woke up and came out into the living room which is floor to ceiling windows, looked up at Grandma and asked, "What's this light?" (Poor deprived Alaskan kid.)

Priorities

I have been looking for a suitcase for Bo for a long time and finally found one. I ordered it quite a while ago and it arrived yesterday. (Just in time for our trip to Nebraska tonight.) Bo was so excited. He loves it.

He pulled it all around the house, played with all the pockets and zippers, and spent the majority of the afternoon packing for Grandma & Grandpa's.

He says he is all ready to go . . .

Another Poop Story

Bo likes his privacy when he is on the potty so I left him in the bathroom as usual this afternoon to take care of his business. A few minutes later he came running out to tell me he pooped and was so excited to show me.

We ran in to the bathroom, he stood there buck naked, pointed down at his poop, and with ear to ear pride said, "like a hot dog!"

It doesn't get much cuter than that, but I really might think twice next time I am offered one.

Life's Not Fair

Sam's first rice cereal - He didn't really dig it

Every bite that went in, came right back out

Sam got cereal, Bo got chocolate pound cake batter


The jealousy begins

Not Quite Getting It

Bo pooped in the potty for the first time today. He came running out of the bathroom. "Poop, Mommy. Poop!" I was so excited. He was catching on. (Or so it seemed.)

Like we have been doing with every potty success, I carried the bowl over to the real potty for him to flush it and what did the little booger do? He stood there along side the toilet and peed on the floor. Come on! Seriously? And then to make things worse, he stepped in it while trying to reach the flusher.

One would think it would be difficult to celebrate using the potty when you're standing in your own pee, but apparently not when you're 2. All you care about is getting your wet socks off and picking out a new car that will match your gray shirt.

Sleep Issues

I have no idea what's going on but Sam's sleep schedule is getting more and more screwed up. He's never been a great sleeper at night but nothing like this. He is 5 months old and is suddenly getting his days and nights mixed up. It sucks and I blame where we live. Damn Alaskan darkness! I need the sun (and a margarita)!

Lately Sam has been waking up every 1 to 2 hours during the night, and yes, I am feeding him each time, or "sticking him on the boob" is more like it, which I know I shouldn't do, but he's been sick and I feel bad making him cry when he's already all stuffed up. And you do the math. Up every 1 to 2 hours, all night, means I am up ALL THE FREAKIN TIME. Oh, but then he sleeps a 3 to 4 hour stretch starting at 6:00am. Uggh. So frustrating. I don't get it.

Last night I was all excited because he fell asleep about 8:30 and I put him in his crib for the night. 45 minutes later he was up and didn't go back to sleep until well after midnight! So, this morning I went in his room at about 8:15 and turned on his light to force the poor guy in to knowing that it's day time and that he needs to get up because the last thing I want to do is be up with him until midnight again tonight. I need to sleep sometime.

Today I even skipped FAME to allow him to take a morning nap. He slept for about 2 hours from 9:30-11:30 and then is down again now, 2:30ish, for an afternoon nap so I am hoping (despite hating the fact that I skipped my workout to do so) that with a more regulated schedule of naps, and night and day (well pseudo-fake-simulated-day), things will get better. They just have to. They do! Right?

Sleep or no sleep, he is still a cutie and I love him . . .

Making Progress

Potty Training:
Bo has had absolutely no interest whatsoever in potty training so I decided to capitalize on his innate love of all things loud and annoying and bought him a musical potty. Now this is not your average, every day musical potty, mind you (if there is such a thing). This one sings, talks, makes noises, lights up. You name it, it does it. It has pressure sensors to detect when you're sitting on it, when you get up, or when something lands in the bowl. With the first two, it sings a song or makes a comment, and with the latter, it congratulates you. It's crazy, but Bo loves it.

He spent over an hour in the bathroom yesterday with his diaper off just playing with the potty, sitting on it, dancing around to the songs, reading books, putting toilet paper on the seat ("like mommy"), trying to go pee-pee. It also helped that I told him he would get a new car (mini hot-wheels car) if he did. There were a few times I tried to get him to come out of the bathroom and put a diaper on but he refused because he wanted the new car. And low and behold . . . he did it. He was so proud of himself. He came running out of the bathroom, "I did it, mommy! I did it!"

We have tried again a few times but nothing. He played in there for about 45 minutes today but the only thing that came of it was an entire roll of toilet paper getting shoved down the real toilet and him trying to fish it out with his hands. Ewwww. Needless to say, that was the end of that.

We will keep trying but I am not pushing the issue. I just want him to start getting interested in the idea and if he catches on, then great, if not, I'm sure he will someday. Otherwise he's going to be a 30 year old who talks in third person and wears a diaper.

Bottle Feeding:
This weekend I started to freak out some more about Sam refusing to take a bottle and the fact that I have no freedom whatsoever. If I ever want to go out for more than 2 hours alone, or go to the Nebraska game when we are home for Thanksgiving, I need to figure this out.

I bought some new bottles with smaller nipples and introduced Sam to formula for the first time on Saturday. He actually didn't fuss as much as I thought he might. The smaller nipples really helped and apparently the formula didn't taste too overly canned. Don't get me wrong, he only drank about 1 oz from me, twice, but it's a start and I am hopeful. My plan is to offer it to him every day this week and see where that gets me.

Keep your fingers crossed because by golly, I need some alone time.

Medicine Giving:
Ok, so this should probably be in a different post because there really isn't any progress being made in this area. Sam hates it and more ends up all over him than in him. His poor little cheeks are stained pink, as is my left index finger from trying to scoop the overflow back in to his mouth. We're turning in to the pink version of the Smurfs. That doesn't even make any sense, but you understand what I'm getting at. Right?

Anyhoo - we only have 3 more days left of the antibiotic to go so I think we're going to make it. I jut hope he's getting enough down to make a difference. The last thing I want is for his sinus infection to come back or never leave in the first place.

Miracle Drug

This stuff is AMAZING!! I have had the worst head cold for a week and have felt like shit the whole time. I have used almost an entire box of Sudafed and at least 2 boxes of tissues this week and nothing has helped relieve the intense pressure behind by ears or horrible block of cement that has so rudely taken up space in my head. Well, nothing until now.

Thanks to advice from my Uncle Doc, I went out tonight and bought some Afrin. 20 minutes and 6 squirts ago, I became a new woman. I can breathe clearly for the first time in days and am loving it. I keep inhaling huge breaths through my nose to feel the cool mouthwashy feel it left behind. It's so great. I'm telling you, if you haven't ever tried it, you need to (if you get a bad head cold that is).

What I don't get though, is why my doctor never suggested it to me. It sure seems simple enough and much cheaper than the drug cocktail of Sudafed, Motrin & Vicodin he prescribed to me. Is this something that lots of other people know about or no? Either way, it is new to me, and believe you me, I am a new fan and will always keep a bottle on hand just in case.

I'm going to go to bed now and enjoy sleeping on 1 pillow instead of having to prop my head up on 3 to try and breathe. I just hope it lasts until morning becuase the bottle says to not use it more than twice in 24 hours. My fingers are crossed.

It's 1:00am

So it's almost 1:00am and I'm sitting up waiting for Sam to go back down. He woke up about 30 minutes ago, I nursed him and put him back in his crib but he's in there making some weird half whining-half grunting noises that I can't sleep through because there's nothing more I hate then to crawl back in bed to only have to get right back up again.

I knew I should have put him back on his stomach. Ugghh. Why didn't I? He hates sleeping on his back.

I already took some Sudafed, an 800mg Motrin, drank a glass of water, had a few bites of a bagel, blew my nose a few times, went to the bathroom, tried to inhale some Eucalyptus oil to open my sinuses (did not work) and put on some chapstick, so now, here I sit, blogging when I should be sleeping, with my head about to explode and my left ear making weird squeaky noises.

Oh, and there it is, the grunting has now turned into more of a cry. I knew it would. I guess I better go, and this time I'm definitely putting him down on his tummy.

Night Night for now.

On The Mend

It looks like we're all going to come out of this yet. Bo is back to his normal self and after just 2 days of antibiotics Sam is already breathing much better which made him sleep better last night which let me get 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep (instead of 1.5) at a time which made me feel better this morning.

It's crazy to me how getting 3 hours, 3 hours, and then 2.5 hours of sleep at a time feels so amazing when pre-kids this would have been hell. But oh, it felt great last night. I actually felt a little rested this morning when Bo woke me up at 7:30. I just hope it continues to get better. Poor Sam really has had a go of it and I'm sure he's ready for some better sleep, because I know I am.

How Not To Win Mother Of The Year

*** Preface ***
The following is not a recommended form of mothering even if you are sick with nasty growths in your throat, a head under severe pressure, and 2 sick kids, but sometimes it's just the way it is . . .

*********************************************

Let your 2.5 year old crawl into bed with you at 7:30 in the morning to watch cartoons because you are too tired to get your ass out of bed.

Get out of bed an hour later and serve him organic cocoa puffs and a granola bar for breakfast in front of the living room tv.

Continue letting him watch tv until 1:00pm. (Don't feed him lunch)

Read him 2 books before nap time.

Leave and take your 4 month old to the doctor (sinus infection) while your friend sits at your house for 2.5 hours without being able to access the Internet.

Come home right when he is waking up at 3:30pm.

Let him watch movies downstairs until 6:00pm.

Ignore the fact that he is eating directly out of a half-gallon tub of frozen yogurt he drug out the freezer, down the stairs, and onto the coffee table all by himself without asking.

Consider the frozen yogurt "dinner" once you take it upstairs to the kitchen, put it in a bowl and continue to let him eat it.

Try to make up for the horrible mothering day by coloring a bit, only to resort back to the tv until bath time.

Again feeling guilty, spell out words on the tub wall in bath letters. S-A-M, F-I-S-H, T-O-Y while you bounce your 4 month old in his bouncy seat with your foot.

Let him watch more tv while drinking hot-milk before brushing his teeth and clipping his finger nails.

Read him 3 books. Well 2 actually. The third was more of a turn 4 pages at once, speed read.

Say goodnight and plop down on the couch to nurse your 4 month old before putting him to bed so you can put your feet up and blog.

Nana, Sick, Snot & Halloween

My mom has been here for 4 days and I have been sick for all 4 (thus the lack of blogging). She flew in Thursday afternoon and I have been running fever ever since. It sucks! And now, she is leaving in the morning, I am still sick, and the boys are snotty nose messes of diarrhea (Bo) and sneezing fits (Sam). What a great visit!

However, we did manage to enjoy Halloween a little bit on Friday by drugging up (me) and going to Gymnastics, Inc for a morning of costumes and fun. Bo, despite his temper tantrum of vocal reluctance to wear the damn thing because it had an "owie zipper", was Curious George. And a cute Curious George at that.

Sam did not dress up (yes, I am a lame mom) but enjoyed watching his brother run and jump and swing on the rings for 2 hours, and not as Curious George, but as Bo, because he stripped down after about 10 minutes. Damn zippers!

Bo loved playing with the parachute. It was his first time and was absolutely giddy. Oh, and don't let my happy face fool you, I am feeling like crap in this picture but was trying hard to "fake-it" for Bo's sake.

Then later that night, Wes and I were supposed to go to a Greater Fairbanks Board of Realtors Halloween Party, but unfortunately my "faking-it" only got me so far. I tried telling myself I felt better than I did (the whole mind-over-matter thing), got all dressed up, and then crashed. I never made it out the door.


Thank goodness I didn't go. Within an hour or so of this photo, I was in bed, shaking uncontrollably with chills and a fever of 102.7. Happy Halloween to me.

So that was Friday. And on Saturday, it continued with more fever, more body aches, my throat feeling like a sharp bowling ball every time I swallowed, my head and ears on the brink of explosion and, as if that wasn't enough, Sam's stuffiness got really bad and Bo started running fever as well. By midnight his had skyrocketed up to 104 degrees. Welcome to Fairbanks, Nana!

Sunday wasn't much better so Mom convinced me to go to the doctor and I think the doc felt sorry for me for not going trick-or-treating this year because he sent me home with a pretty good bag full of goodies. Vicodin, Motrin & Sudafed. I would much rather have had Twix, Kit-Kat, & Reece's, but at least my treats won't turn my thighs into nasty cottage cheese (glass is always half full).

But in between all of Sam's 3 trillion sneezes in Nana's drinks, Bo's diarrhea and fever, and my sick self, we did manage to have some fun.

Bath Time With Nana

Bo & Nana Making Gnocchi

Sam Getting Some Sugar From Nana

And that was our weekend. It wasn't what I had hoped for Mom's visit, but at least we got to see her. I just hope we didn't get her sick, but I'm not holding my breath.