Moving out

So I am sitting at work this morning, sick as a dog I might add, when I get a fairly frantic phone call from D. Usually when a phone call starts out "thats it I am done with this" you know the kids have once again proved to be their terrible selfs. So it seems that while he was cleaning downstairs he sent them upstairs to clean up. Hailey decided, withouth permission, that she no longer wanted to share a room with her sister. She then proceeded to move all her stuff from their room into Rileys room. D was fruious. He was even more angry when I laughed. I think its hilarious. I can't believe that she actually had the will to move all her stuff by herself . So I am sure D is at home ripping his hair out over the mess. I wil, of course, go home and fix it as usual. Those kids never cease to amaze me.

It's like this

Well, everything that could possibly go wrong in the last few days has. I am slowly getting what seems to be the worst chest cold ever, and I feel horrible. With that all of the kids seem to be getting it too. My grandmother is in the hospital, they have no idea what is wrong. My cousin gave away from changing table, without my permission and my van is back in the shop. I got a new laptop and D has been having a fit about it ever since. Who knew one small computer could cause such a big ruckus. So, I have a loaner car, which sucks since although it is a van, it is small, and is not my van which I hate. Plus, Sunday is my birthday and low and behold I will be spending it alone, again. OF course the kids will be there and I will most certainly get my fair share of bithday kisses and an occasional song, which is as good as anything I suppose.
Riley is starting to feel much better, he goes back to the dr next week. The other two are as bad as ever. They fight about everything. I don't think that a minute ever goes by without them fighting. Someone is always hitting someone, or biting, or kicking, or teasing. You name it. Drives me crazy. Last night when i got home they were fighting about this little container of bubbles that Olivia brought home from school. Well, I found out later that Olivia had used all the bubbles. Hailey stole the empty bubble container and proceeded to use the entire bottle of shampoo to fill it back up. They were caught because the bubble smelled exactly like watermelon baby shampoo. They of course denied it.. and then stood in the corner, until Hailey finally confessed. I would seriously love to go one minute without drama from anyone..

Bandit the spotted dog, relaxing on a pillow..
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Olivia and her missing teeth
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Hailey hamming it up for the camera, as usual
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The Birthday Boy covered in icing and finally smiling!
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Two is a great age!

Well Sunday was Riley's 2nd Birthday. He was miserable for the majority of the day, we did manage to get a few smiles out of him, but other then that he ran fever and slept. He was very happy with his Wiggles cake which prompted him to an impromptu Wiggles dance. Everyone else had a fantastic time celebrating his birthday. My mom, stepdad and brother Tyler, D's mom, Dad, sister kim, her husband Karl and their Brady Bunch of kids, Amanda, Allison, Nathan and Kolton were all there. The kids of course had a hayday running throught the house and playing. Most people didn't stay long because of the 'big snow' we were expecting that afternoon. I was sorely disappointed when I got up this morning to nothing but a light dusting. I was expected a blizzard or something. I was thinking yesterday as I was holding Riley when he was sleeping, I cannot believe that he is two already. It just seems like yesterday that I had him. They are all growing up so fast. Livi losing teeth. Hailey ready for school.. and now Riley. Boy, I am getting old.

Birthday Boy!

Ok .. So it seems like I have been talking about birthdays forever now. Well, this is the last one. Riley's birthday is on Sunday and he will be two. Its amazing to watch how much he has grown just even in the last 6 months. He talks a ton better now. He will listen when you tell him to do something and tell you what he wants and needs. Now if we could just get him to behave we would well be on our way to getting the children under control. He still isn't feeling 100% but seems to be on his way to recovery. the kids were excited this morning to wake up and see snow. And olivia has finally two teeth, both in the front on the bottom. She looks hilarious. I have got to get a picture of her and get it on here. Other then working, sleeping, eating and occasionally getting a chance to sit down and relax there is not much going on in our life right now. No drama nothing. I should be happy about that!

Picture Below

Below is a picture that bares explaining. The three children in the very front are mine. Riley is the cutie in the stripped sweater, Olivia is beside him with the shawl on, and the little red head is Hailey. They are being help by my grandparent, their great grandparents. The starting left to right. The little girl beside my grandma (to the left) is Makenna, who is my cousins daughter. Behind her is Allison, beside her Matthew and behind him Scotty, who are all my cousins. The extremely short person in the center is my cousin Heahter (Makenna's mom) and she is holding her daughter Gabby. Gabby and Makenna are the same age as Olivia and Hailey, which is super nice when they get together to play. Beside heather, and much much taller, is me then my 14 year old brother Tyler. Heather obviously has size issues, as do most of the woman in my family. That is three generations of our family.

Olivia, Hailey, Riley with their great grandparents, uncle, cousins, second cousins and me 

Everyone is sick

Ok, so not everyone is sick, but Riley is. And really sick at that. Last night his fever was up to 105.5. I called D at work and was told to immediately take him to the hospital, which I did. We were there for what seemed like forever. Riley laid, lathargic, and slept, while I watch endless reruns of Law and Order on USA. The doctors were able to finally get his fever down to about 101, although it was still not as low as they would have liked it. They did endless tests, including a chest xray, but they couldn't technically find anything wrong. They observed him for a while, gave me strict instructions and finally at 330 this morning sent us home. Of course, by 330 am he was feeling much better and was wide awake, not wanting to go to sleep like he needed too.
So this morning he was grouchy, and honestly I am not sure grouchy is even the right word for it. Extremely grouchy, crying, whining, wanting to be help. He was running a slight fever but I gave him some tylenol, per the dr, and sent him to the babysitters. An hour later she called me and his fever was right back up. So D took him to the drs, and is currently at the hershey medical center getting more tests done. They aren't entirely sure what is making him run such a high fever. but the fever is making him unresponsive (to a point). They aren't very happy about that. I am not either and I am very happy that we have drs who are doing something about it.
Olivia had her RIF parade today, which D was supposed to attend. She is going to be extremely upset that he wasnt there, but what could he do. I could't leave work with all the stuff I have to get done. If that was the case then i would have to be here half the night getting it all done, which I can't do again.
I hate letting the kids down, but sometimes there are priorities. I am sure that we will not be the only parents that aren't there.
Hopefully tonight will be much better and maybe I will finally be able to get some sleep.

More Drama

It seems that this whole blog is filled with my families drama. And trust me, we are a dramatic family. Well, last night just reiterated the whole "drama" thing to everyone. I got home from work shortly after 5 as usual. Not being an avid 'cooker' we decided to go out to eat. We were getting everyone ready, shoes, coats etc. and I was changing my clothes. Riley went into the bathroom and shut the door. Not a problem, usually. So, about 5 minutes later Olivia came over and said that Riley locked himself in the bathroom. Again, I didn't panick thinking that he would just unlock the door and come out. By the time we were already by calls to him of "we are leaving to eat now" hadn't brought him out of the bathroom. So I went to the door and was talking to him, trying to explain how to unlock the door. He didn't get it. Now I was starting to panick (its something that moms do quite frequently and quite well) We took the door knob apart and off the door. Didn't work. Our house is old and the lock is only on the inside of the door and didn't go through to the outside. The hinges also, were on the inside of the door. So logically there was no way to get in, other than getting him to unlock the door. After about 30 minutes or so he started to cry. Let me out.. I was at this time completely on the verge of calling 911 and having the fire department come. D, calm as always, was even starting to panic. He didn't want to have to bust the door down knowing it was antique and irreplacable. But what's a man to do. I mentioned calling the fire department. He ask me what they would do to help. I said get riley out. He said Yeah by kicking the door down. His sarcasm was not amusing at the time.
So, the short of it all is that D kicked the door down. It splintered around the knob. We are having a wood restoration guy come in and look at it in vain hopes that it can be fixed. If not, we would have to repalce all four doors in the upstairs for it to look right at all.
Riley was ok when he came wandering out, although he will not go back into the bathroom. This morning he refused to step one foot in the door, even with coaxing from his sisters. This ought to get interesting.

New Van

Well, we have officially welcomed a new member into our family. Our new van. And boy has it been a long time coming. No more cramped family vacations, or switching of cars. I am so excited. On another note we had to speak to Olivias teacher today because she did not want to go to school. At first she wouldn't tell us why bu eventually told us that the class was having a party today and that they were bringing in a clown. You previously read about her reaction to Coco the bear. Her reaction to clowns is worse. She literally shakes in fear. So they teacher will be sending her to the office during the party. Hopefully it works out. I havent gotten a call from the school yet so hopefully that means all is well. The kids were absolute devils at the car dealership last night. Riley kept playing with the water cooler and making a huge mess. They were running around. Just remembering it gives me a headache. Hopefully this weekend will be better, and calmer.

Birthday Pary

Well ... the party is over and honestly I will have to say it was a huge success. Things went extremely well minus all the yelling, confusion and disorganization.. The kids had fun though and thats what counts. Everything else is going well the kids are getting settled and happy as usual. We are starting to van shop, which is always a chore. I hate car shopping, but am super excited to get a van again. Olivia is doing well in school and did super good on her report card. The only thing that she failed was throwing in gym? throwing? First of all, what gym has throwing as a subject for kindergardeners? also what 6 year old can't throw a ball? who knows. So we are working on it with her.
Riley's birthday is next, its hard to believe he is going to be two already. Seems like just yesterday he was born. They grow up to fast.

Friday

Well this morning was the start of something.. hell maybe. It all started with Riley being up all night not wanting to sleep, but wanting to watch TV. Beyond that, the dogs were restless and everyone was just not sleeping. D and I were taking turns trying to get everyone to sleep, but to no avail. At 6:15 I was still awake. Finally at around 20 after 6 Riley finally laid down and went to sleep. So, of course, so did I. And then I overslept. I didn't get up until 7:30 and unfortunately that gave me thrity minutes to get showered, dressed, ready and to work. Which isn't going to happen. But I tried. So then I wanted to take the blazer to work so I had to drop the kids off. Olivia wouldn't get dressed. When I was all ready to leave, everyone else was ready she was still sitting on the floor in her night clothes. She didn't want to get dressed. Her jeans and shirt didn't match, she didn't like her socks, her shoes were to small. Why did she have to wear her hair up.. etc etc.. on and on. needless to say, I was late for work. I suppose thats just the way it goes sometimes. Tomorrow is the big bowling party. SHould be interesting to say the least. There are actually about 8 kids coming which will be a nice crowd. I am interested to meet some of the parents as well. So, we'll see.

Coco the Bear

Well two nights ago we were once again reminded of a fear that we thought had long ago been forgotten. For some strange unknown reason Olivia is scared of dressed up characters. Like the Hersheypark characters, or Mickey and minnie at Disney World. I have never quite gotten to the bottom of it, there has never been a 'character incident' or anything that might indicate why she is so scared, but she is. We have been to numerous places where there are characters in the last few years and nothing has ever really been said. There has been no crying or screaming, no looks of terror, she just avoids them. So two nights ago we went to Barnes and Noble to see the Hershey Bears hockey team read books to the kids. Olivia and Hailey were intently listening to the stories, Riley was playing with the trainset and all was well. That is until Coco the Bear decided to join the party. Riley was scared but other then clinging to me with a death grip, he was okay. Hailey was just fine with him even going so far as to run up and hug him. So, we assumed all was well. Well you know what they say about assuming anything.. As soon as Olivia saw the bear there was a look of shear terror on her face. She immediately started to cry. I was trying to be patient as the entire room of kids and parents were watching us. I took her aside and explained to her that it was just a person dressed up, yada yada yada.. She calmed down and we went to stand in line to get autographs from the players. As soon as the line started to move closer to the bear, all bets were out the window. She immediately started to cry again, although louder this time. So we gathered up the kids and were preparing to leave. I wasn't going to put any of us in that situation. As soon as she realized we were leaving she started screaming and stomping her feet. (yes, she is the kid at the mall who throws herself on the floor and kicks and screams). So we drug her out of the store crying.. another wonderful end to a family trip.. Needless to say she went straight to bed with no TV.
Hailey was a little upset that she didn't get to stay and get a book. Olivia and I had a nice long talk about characters and hopefully the situation is over.

Another Day in the Life

So I was informed yesterday that I forgot to mention the inpromptu birthday party that we had for Olivia on saturday night. her nanny and pappy and her uncle bubba came down, they had baked her a cake and everything. It was very nice. She was excited.
Everything is falling into place nicely for saturday although it looks like there may only be about 6 kids there, which is a shame I think. But that is how the cookie crumbles so to speak. We will make it fun for the ones there.
Hailey spent the night at my moms last night so that she could have her speech therapy this morning. She was super excited about that. As well, since her vomiting has been getting progressively worse and more frequent they have referred us to a gastroentorologist at the Hershey medical center. I am looking forward to getting to the bottom of all this.
Riley fell out of bed again last night. Honestly I am not sure how he does it We have put enough railings and pillows around to make it vitually inpossible for him to get out of his bed, althoug somehow someway he manages, everytime.
I noticed last night that when I left work at 5 it was still light out. I am really excited about spring coming. The new house and the park up the street. It will be a lot of fun this summer.