We're moving back home. Password is still the same for the time being. I can only handle one big change at a time. ;)

I've been remodeling a little and I'll be blogging on my original site exclusively very soon. I'll also be changing the password because I'm really tired (and a little creeped out) by certain anonymous commenters. (not the ones who just forget to login) I'll give everyone plenty of warning though! :)

This cracked me up.

C'mon. You know your neighborhood has one. Ours moved away, but she sure talked a lot while she was here!

Ben is in the kitchen arguing, I kid you not, with the Leapfrog Word Whammer.

Word Whammer: Find the letter "R"!
Ben: NO! I don't WANT to find the letter R!

Word Whammer: Let's spell the word "Cat"
Ben: NO! I don't WANT to spell the word cat. I want to spell the world Darth Vader!!"

(heavy sigh)

Fever going back up again!!! :( Also, the postpartum bleeding seems to be making a reappearance. Will this ever end?

These are all said in the most WHINY voice you can imagine. If you can't recreate it, just play a tape of fingernails on a chalkboard while you read.

"I don't like getting dressed"

"I don't like oatmeal"

"I don't like chicken"

"I don't like breakfast"

"I don't want to wear clothes"

"I don't like pajamas"

"I don't like taking my temperature"

"I don't want to wear underwear OR a Pullup"

"I don't like red sippy cups!!!"

"Not the blue cup! I want the RED cup!!"

"But I don't LIKE red sippy cups!!!"

"I don't WANT lunch"

"I don't want dinner"

"It's NOT morning, it's NIGHT!" (at 8a.m.)

"I don't WANT to go upstairs"

"I don't want to stay downstairs"

"I don't want to poop HERE, I want to go HOME and poop!!"

You get the point... my patience is being tapped TO THE MAX.

After sweating like CRAZY all night long, my fever FINALLY broke sometime this morning. It's actually a lovely and normal 98.2 after not going below 99.5 for three days. I feel HUMAN!

Today will be spent getting the house back in order (yes, slowly... I'm not going to overdo it) and tending as much as possible to me very neglected three-year-old.
Also, the baby REALLY needs a bath. He is quite stinky-poo and the whole once-over with a baby wipe isn't really working anymore.

In other news, not that you care, but I'M pretty excited. I got on the scale this morning and I'm at my pre-BEN weight. This means I still have about 12-13 pounds to go, but I'll get there eventually! Though the weight is coming off pretty quickly, my hips are taking their time going back into place, so it's still hard to get some of my regular shorts up. Every day, it gets a little better though. I keep reminding myself it took 13 weeks after Ben before everything was back where it should be. (and even then, my stomach was still quite squishy for awhile!)

And with that, I hear that Benjamin is awake, so I'm off to start the day. It will be nice to spend the day somewhere other than on the couch under six blankets. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh... :)

My mom and I managed to work as a team and get the kiddos to the pediatrician successfully this morning. The results:

Ben: Still has a slight fever. Otherwise? He's "fine". She told me to keep giving him Motrin for the fever and keep him on the Claritin for his allergies. He was weighed in at a WHOPPING 30 pounds. Heh. The nurse said, "Your little brother is going to quickly outpace you!"

Simon: My gosh. Could this child BE more laid back? He didn't even cry when I took his clothes off. He cooed and stared at the doctor the whole time she examined him. The only time he really cried was when she pricked his heel and hey, I'd have cried too. :( Ready for this? HE weighs in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces. 10-15th percentile for weight, 50th for height (20 inches still), 50th for head. (we make kids with gigantic heads) Anyway, this means, in the span of a week, he has gained almost a FULL pound. He is almost busting out of the newborn diapers. I told you all the kid can eat! I have to give him iron drops because he is getting mostly breastmilk still... does anyone have any comments on this? I have heard it's controversial and not especially necessary. And at what point is he eating enough formula to be getting the iron he needs? Yeah, I could ask the doctor, but frankly, I think the internet and other mothers are a better resource. So anyway, he is perfect and healthy, other than his freaky deaky belly button and a slight cold, which she just told me to use saline drops for. (He's going to LOVE that) We get to go back in two weeks for his 1-month visit.

Me: My doctor informed me when I got a hold of her today that the antibiotic can take up to 48 hours to start working. That makes me feel a LITTLE better. She said if I still keep spiking a fever by late tomorrow afternoon to call her and we'll try something stronger. I still say there is the distinct possibility that I have whatever Ben has just to a larger degree. Either way, I hope I kick it soon. My house is a total sty, Ben is neglected and Tom is irrated because he has to keep leaving work early. Bleh.

It seems the baby has a cold... he sniffled, gagged and coughed all night long. The only way he could sleep was on his tummy laying on one of us.

(what you didn't expect Simon to get in on the action?)

Also, I STILL have a 103 fever. Motrin brings it down to 99-something temporarily, but as soon as it wears off, it shoots right back up again. I'm starting to think the mastitis diagnosis was wrong, especially since I now have three doses of the antibiotic in me. Anyone who has had mastitis have any thoughts on this?

OH... and Ben had a 99.4 fever last night.

OH... and I have to get both boys to the doctor this morning. (thankfully, my mom is coming to help because I'm pretty sure I'd be a driving hazard right now)

I'm trying to decide if this qualifies as an "emergency" because my doctor's office isn't open yet and my only option is to page her. I'm guessing it's NOT.

Ben just fell asleep sitting up.

He looks sick still... reddish circles under his eyes and just SO not himself. I decided to call the pediatrician and see if I could get a two-for-one deal when I take Simon in tomorrow for his 2-week(almost) checkup. Thankfully, the nurse said it wasn't a problem. I'm starting to get a little worried about him... he usually bounces back so quickly from things.

Here's hoping it's just allergies...
:(

MASTITIS!

Hopefully an antibiotic will have me on the mend soon... but holy heck, what ELSE is going to happen around here?

I woke up this morning with a fever that quickly spiked to 101.5. Of course, to make matters difficult, Ben had his 102 fever two days ago, so now I don't know if I have what HE had or if my right umm.. milk maker is broken. (I woke up to it hurting quite a bit). Sigh.

Waiting impatiently (and freezing cold) until noon when my doctor gets in. :(

My mother-in-law always says how annoyed it made her when people would look at her brood of three boys and make the comments like, "Tried for the girl, huh?" She always said that wasn't the case... but I couldn't help having a bit of doubt about that. What mother wouldn't long for a little girl?

When we first started this whole baby thing back in 2003, I definitely had a preference. I wanted my first to be a girl more than anything. Then we found out he was a boy, and I slowly got used to the idea... then he was BORN and I couldn't even imagine him having been a girl.

When I got pregnant again, I pretty much knew I was having a boy from the start. (though people kept trying to tell me otherwise) When we went to the ultrasound, and she pointed out the boy parts (which I'm getting very good at spotting), I just started laughing. TWO boys... who would have ever thought I'd have TWO boys?! (besides my inlaws) That's when we decided to keep it a surprise. (which was really fun, just by the way)

I won't lie, there was a tiny part of me that was hoping for the little girl this time (at one point, I thought we saw the infamous "three lines" on the screen, but it turned out to be a kidney or something) ;) But once she told us we were having our Simon, I was so excited. Brothers! And they'd be close in age... I couldn't have planned it better! Plus I liked our boy name more than our girl name. ;)

I could never blog about this back when it was going on, for obvious reasons... but I wanted to: One of the best moments after we found out we were having another boy was getting Ben's baby clothes down from the attic. I washed them all and then, as I carefully folded and hung them up one by one, I remembered my first little guy wearing each gown, pair of pajamas and teeny tiny outfit and I cried. For awhile, I was making Tom look at each one and reminisce with me, but he quickly got bored...you know, Y-chromosome defect and all. (and to whoever I stole that term from, thanks!)

So now that I'm carting two boys around town, I'm constantly getting the question, "Soooo... you gonna try for the girl?"

Well, I'm going to try for three children (you'll remember it took us awhile to get Simon!), because that's what I've always wanted. If I "get the girl" next time, I'll be ecstatic. I still say it's natural for a mother to want a daughter. But I'd also LOVE to have three boys; and if that's what I end up with, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life wondering about the daughter I never had.

So now I'm finding myself annoyed at answering this presumptuous question over and over. We'll get whatever we're supposed to have. :) And if that's three boys? Well, then these little clothes are going to get a lot of milage, aren't they? ;)

Leslie had her baby boy, "Baby O", on Saturday! (prayers for a speedy coming home for the little guy, who made his debut a little earlier than scheduled)

And Valis playing the same game I did last week... going to the hospital and getting sent home and whatnot. So it's only a matter of time over there! :)

So exciting!

You can thank me later. ;)

Poor big brudder.

He spent Saturday miserable with a 102 fever.

He spent Sunday morning and afternoon on the couch after throwing up (but just the one time, thank goodness) Though a bit clingy and quiet, he was well enough to go to his uncle's birthday dinner in the evening.

Then, last night, after we put him to bed, he woke up screaming. Turns out his left eye was completely swollen shut. We don't know why. Though he was outside earlier, it was MUCH earlier and he had since had a bath... so whatever it was had to have been in his room/bed. NO CLUE. We put him in our bed to keep an eye on it (heh. no pun intended... really) He was up on and off all night screaming... and then at one point, when Tom had gotten up to get a drink, he rolled off the bed and hit his head on the corner of the nightstand. Really, the child is NOT having a good few days...

Benedryl didn't really bring the swelling down any and it's still pretty badly swollen this morning, though he isn't rubbing it or complaining about it as much. When I called the pediatrician last night, (while I was having an internal struggle as to whether or not we needed to take him, baby brudder and all the baby accoutrements to the emergency room) she said if it was still swollen in the morning, to call. (sigh) So I guess we are going BACK to the doctor today... and then again on Wednesday for Simon's 2-week appointment. I'm going to have to take out a home equity loan just to cover the copays if this keeps up.

During all this last night, I told Simon it was his turn next. What will he come up with to top big brudder? A full-body rash? Projectile vomiting? Crazy high fever? With my luck, probably all three.

One 9-day-old infant.

One puking three-year-old. (who actually seems okay now that he puked.. but he had a 102 fever all day yesterday)

Yeah... you might not hear from me for a little while.

And if *I* get it? Or Tom gets it? Well, let's just not go there. Say some strong immune system prayers for Tom and me!


**update** Ben still has a slight fever, but hasn't thrown up since the one time early this morning. We've given him sips of ginger ale, some Motrin and some crackers and so far, so good. Now... if the rest of us can just stay healthy... SHEESH.