Sara is Smiling

House Arrest

It's day 9 of the plague at the H-B household. Charlie started it and Charlie shall finish it. Everyone's been sick and recovered except Charlie. She has yet to recover.
The anti-biotic ointment has worked wonders on her impetigo, but before she was better from that, she came down with the stomach flu that the rest of us have had.
Quinn is still covered in a thick layer of snot, but that's just more a nuisance than anything. She hasn't lost her..umm..spirit shall we say. Still as bossy, demanding and high maintenance than ever.
This afternoon she washed the kitchen floor with the cat's water and her shirt. While it was still on her body.

I'm thinking it's going to be another all-night-puke-a-rama. Oh boy. Get a few winks for me, people.

In quarantine.

It's Friday and this week from hell is (finger's crossed) coming to an end. Ugh.

Let's start with a riddle.
What do colds with coughs and runny noses, fevers with chills and headaches, throats so sore no one will eat, puking and diarrhea (simultaneously), rashes covering tummies arms and legs, puss filled scabs circling the lips and goopy crusty eyes all have in common?

They're all in my house right now. Every person in the house is infected with something right now, and often multiple things at once.
I finally took Charlie to the doctor yesterday (with the rest of the kids in tow) because the rash and scabby face were freaking me out. We waited for 2 hours which was miserable for the kids, but I couldn't leave without an answer. Even when Quinn threw herself down in the middle of the waiting room and rolled around on the floor screaming. Nope, you're not winning. We are staying.
Turns out she had several problems going on which were unrelated.
The rash was likely a viral rash and linked to the 5 day fever fest she just got over.
The crusty, oozy scabs on her face were impetigo. It's bacterial and contagious so she was told to take the rest of the week off school.
She got an oral antibiotic as well as a topical one.

I then tortured my kids further by taking them to the passport office.

Rachel - our nanny who has been an absolute trooper this week - took them home and I went to work...Where I threw up. My project was, unfortunately, urgent so I went back to my desk to finish it. Before too long I was head on desk with my garbage can between my legs. I decided it was time to go home.
I got in my car, laid a garbage bag across the seat (just in case) and started driving. I didn't even make it out of the parking lot before I was pulled over next to a dumpster puking. Quincy called at that moment and said "Good! I need something out of the car! Glad you're here."
He came down and when he saw me he decided that I was not fit to drive the mercedes. I was downgraded to the van with no air that smells like something died in it. Literally. I had to breathe through my mouth with the windows down the whole way home.

Once home, I stumbled through the gate, plopped down in the grass, and vomited like I've never vomited before. The kids who had rushed out the door excitedly squealing "Mommy's home! Mommy's home!" were now screaming "Mommy's puking! Mommy's puking!" and running in circles with hands over mouths gagging.

I went to bed. My stomach issues continued all night just like Eloise's did a few days ago. I got up when Quincey got home to find that the kids had made me some get well cards.
Max's starts with "I wish I was sick not you Mama" which was an eery foreshadowing.

His picture at the bottom is of him bringing the puke bowl to me. :-)

Max and I ended up being puking pals last night. Quincey was a saint scrubbing puke out of carpet and rubbing backs.

Rachel isn't in today - heaven help me. The kids will all be home from school today. I'm feeling much improved this morning. Let's hope it stays that way!

Elly's turn

Eloise has started preschool!
She's very outgoing so that wasn't a concern, but she's a homebody and likes being near me so she had some reservations about going. She was also concerned that all the kids were going to be too shy to play with her which often happens at doctor's offices, the playground and any other place kids convene.
They had little nametags for the kids. Elly walked around to all the little girls pulling her nametag out from her chest saying, "Hi! My name is Eloise! Want to play with me?"
Definitely a success.


In other news:
As Max and Charlie were walking to Tae Kwon Do after school today, Max had an asthma attack. Unfortunately, his puffer which is always in his backpack had been taken out for use during the summer. I forgot to put it back in. Charlie barely got him there. He didn't want to move and just stood on the sidewalk hunched over trying to catch a breath with tears rolling down his cheeks. She literally had to drag him along. The babysitter was waiting for them there with their uniforms as she always is. She rushed home to get the puffer, but couldn't find it so called me at work right away. The bad news was that the puffer was in my car and not at home, the good news was that I had already left work (missing rush hour traffic) and could be there asap.
When I arrived, the tae kwon do teacher gave me a stern talking to. All eyes were on me when I walked through the door. Students, parents and teachers. Their stares boaring holes in me. I felt TERRIBLE and assured him that Max DOES carry his puffer with him at all times...except today. When he needed it. :-(
It's all good. The puffer fixes him right up. No issues..as long as he has it!
He's still wheezy tonight so I'll be keeping a close eye on him.
Why do these things always happen when Quincey is away??

It takes a lot of energy to fix a lazy eye!

Charlie started her Vision Therapy last week for her exotropia.
She has to do her excercises 5 nights a week for 30-40 minutes for it's looking like 18 months or so.
It was fascinating, though. We learned that she's suppressing (suppressing the vision from one eye) way more often than we realized.
Caught it on film recently

It's hard to take a picture of because she has the ability to refocus it when she knows she's doing it. So if I draw her attention to taking a picture she focuses on the camera and it goes away. The vision therapy is teaching her to control it all the time. Her brain shuts the signal off to that eye so that she won't see double. As her doctor explained, though, you don't want your brain shutting off one of your eyes. You want sight from both.
So hopefully she's successful at this.
I feel for her. It's a big time committment, she misses school, and it's hard. She complains of her eyes hurting afterward.

So what's new with Elly today?
I don't know either. She walked up to me with her hands behind her back, looked up at me with big blue eyes and said "I not doing anyfing."
Rrriiiight. Now I have to do a scan of the whole house to find out what she's "not doing".

A vent followed by a funny.

Before school this morning I taught my 6 year old how to administer my 5 year old's asthma medication should he need it while at school.
After they left I had a little mini breakdown.
I'm a little overwhelmed, I guess, with everything. I went in for a meeting with his teacher yesterday. I brought his asthma stuff to show her. She completely brushed it off to the point of where I felt stupid even bringing it up with her.
"Weell.."I said after cutting my demonstration short because it was obvious that she didn't care, "he'll have this in his backpack everyday should he need it."
"Oh no, don't do that," she said "it's too big. Leave it in the classroom somewhere" she said as she waved her hand motioning to "anywhere". This response just proved how blasé she was about the whole thing.
1. I can't leave it at school! He might need it at home..duh.
2. Leave it in the classroom "somewhere" so any child could steal it, lose it, break it, play with it, waste it, MEDICATE THEMSELVES? Ya, I'm sure the other parents would be really glad to hear that Max's prescription medication is laying haphazardly around the classroom. It's a mask ie kid magnet.
3. Should he suddenly need it, where is it? It's been moved, buried, lost...
Maybe I should sneak up behind her next time I see her and hold a plastic bag over her head for a few minutes so she can not only feel what it feels like physically to suddenly not to be able to breathe but also the panic of it.

She was too preoccupied by her amateur diagnosis of ADHD. No, she didn't bring up ADHD specifically, but when a teacher says to you, "You should take him to see his pediatrician because they have medications to help this" you can see the writing on the wall.
What's his crime? LAUGHING.
Max laughs too much. He laughs at "inappropriate" times. And once he starts he gets the giggles and it's hard to stop. Disruptive to the class? Yes. I agree. Should I medicate my child to make your job easier? Not a chance.
So how's his school work? Great. Exactly where he needs to be.
Is he defiant? No.
Does he do what he's asked? Yes.
Does he complete his assignments? Yes.
When you ask him to stop laughing does he disregard you and just do what he pleases? No. He buries his face in his sleeve trying to stifle it. (as per your description) When pressed he says he's coughing.
OK..so he has troubles stopping once he's started, but he's obviously showing that he would like to stop and does not want to have the class focused on him at that moment, but he's having a hard time doing so.
He's a nervous laughter. So am I and so is Quincey. My siblings used to torment me because I would smile or laugh when someone was getting spanked. Either I'm a sociopath or it was a nervous reaction to what was going on! Maybe if you didn't stop the entire class to focus on Max's inability to stop giggling HE WOULD STOP GIGGLING.
And hey..here's a crazy concept..why don't you ALLOW a little silliness into your classroom? They're 5/6 years old! You said that he laughs when you roleplay....newsflash - some people might find roleplaying fun/funny!
Max comes home from school and I can hear him ask Charlie questions like, "Are you allowed to laugh in your class? .. oh. We're not."
After having that meeting yesterday I actually felt guilty for sending my son to school this morning. To school.

I don't know the solution. I do know that he won't be medicated. Not for laughing.

Ok, so when I opened up my blog to write I had NO intention of saying any of that. But the funny Elly quote I was going to share was related to the crying I did this morning (that I referenced in the beginning of the post). I had intended on giving a short history to explain why I was crying and it turned into a vent.
So here's the funny:
I'm in my office crying.
Elly comes in. I'm covering my face.
"You need a hug?" she asks as she approaches me.
I pull my hands from my face and reach them out to her.
She stops abruptly.
"ooooh noooo," she mutters as she slowly backs up "you got da boogies".
I burst out laughing. More therapeutic than a hug. :-)

Get out your reading specs, this here's a long one.

For some reason I've been getting migraines all weekend and again today. It was so bad last night that I couldn't even go to bed because laying down hurt too much. I went downstairs and sat upright on the couch in the dark holding my head up with my hands and convincing myself that I was having an aneurysm or a stroke. We just got life insurance last week and that would've looked awfully suspicious. These were the things I was thinking about.

I finally got to bed and was woken up by the lovely Quinn for one of her midnight snacks. Then later somebody had a dream they were sitting on the toilet..only..they weren't sitting on the toilet. Up again to clean up the mess.
Oops, I just reread that - I wasn't mentioning which child it was so as not to embarrass them, but it kind of sounds like I'm talking about myself. Just to be clear - I am not talking about myself. Although I think we can all relate, am I right??

We woke up this morning to the first snowfall of the season. The kids were excited, but especially Charlie. She's been checking the weather online for weeks waiting to see snow on the horizon. I'd bought them winter jackets last week, but realized this morning that nobody had any boots that fit or matching mitts. I loaded everyone up and headed off to school with the plan of going shopping with the babies this morning to restock our winter gear and also to get some much needed groceries. I just barely scraped up enough stuff to pack their lunches this morning.
Back at home I got wrapped up in a work project. Neither I nor the babies were dressed yet when the school called and said Charlie was sick. I wasn't really buying it, but said I'd come get her. She'd have to come with us to do the shopping, and this might be good because I could use her help.

Nooo way. I don't know how she went from totally normal to looking like death in the matter of an hour or two. We went straight home to begin our marathon of puking, shivers and fever. No boots. No groceries.

And did I mention that we lost our cat today? Percy went outside yesterday - as usual - and never came home. This is very much against his nature and I don't expect he'll be back. Charlie blames me. We ran out of cat food yesterday. We're so low on groceries because when I went to the store this weekend a migraine came on quite suddenly and dramatically. I felt like someone walked up behind me and cracked me over the head with a baseball bat (this seems to be a theme with my migraines..does it happen this way for anyone else??) I had to drop everything and rush out. So the cats went half a day without food while I suffered in misery, and I went to the corner store that evening and grabbed a bag. The last time we saw Percy, was when we were leaving for the store. We opened the door to go and he ran out. Charlie claims he gave her a dirty look as he walked away because he was mad about not being fed.

The kids aren't the only ones upset about losing their kitty. Mickey has been pacing today. She wants out, she wants in, she wants out, she wants in. She's been very clingy with all of us. She hasn't been this way since she was a kitten before we got Percy.

I can't get another cat to keep her company because Max just got diagnosed with asthma last week, but don't worry all you hockey fans he's still on the ice.

I'm getting long winded, but it's been a really full day. I'll wrap it up.

Back to the first snowfall..Max and Elly decided to go out and build a snowman after school. They had so much fun and wanted to come in and tell Charlie all about it. Charlie, who has been waiting and waiting for this day and who was laying on the couch unable to even sit up, was not so thrilled to hear about their snowy fun.


And lastly - to the baby who hasn't slept longer than a 15 minute stretch today and has earned her title of Queen of the Crabby Baby Club a dozen times over, I'm sending you back from whence you came.

Bye bye, baby!

Papa's Birthday

Papa celebrating his birthday with a few of his grandkids. Max, Kenzie, Brooklyn & Charlie.

He and Mum left for Arizona for a week long birthday getaway today, and Quincey left for a weeklong business trip.
Shortly before Quincey left (like..an hour) I suddenly got a migraine. We were sitting at Max's hockey game and it felt like someone picked me up and smashed my head into the cement. I couldn't turn my head or even my eyeballs from side to side. I had a migraine yesterday too.
Please, oh please let this week go by fast!

A Chatty Drunk

Max was on "the gas" at the dentist today. Before the gas he was answering questions with nods and grunts and avoiding eye contact. After the gas he was That Guy at the office christmas party who thinks he's Patrick Swayze on the dance floor and believes asking a girl "can I buy you a drink or do you just want the money?" is charming. Oh wait..no, that's Quincey.

Further into it and he became slower and more loopy.
The dentist asked him, "Do you want some water, Bud?"
He sloowly replies, "Whaaat's...waterbud?"

When it was done he says to me, "My mouf..id..medow."
"It's metal??" I asked.
He grabs his lip, "GASP! It is???"

The dentist told him since he was so good he could pick out two toys. He was still a little loopy so I was going through the toys for him, "Here's a dinosaur..and how about a mini skateboard..a gecko..what do you think?"
He looks down, slowly reaches for a pretty blue ring.
"I'b always wan-id do gib you a wing," and he hands it to me.
awwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Then he takes another. "I'b always wan-id a wing too," and he puts one on his own finger. haha!
I should get my kids drunk more often. It amuses me. :-)

And just for fun...
Have you seen this video? It hilarious! Two teenagers who just had their wisdom teeth out. Too funny.
Favourite part: When he proposes to his mom.

Like a scene out of a bad slapstick movie.

An unleashed dog started running at Elly while we were on a walk. I started to run to grab her, but we were on a slope and the stroller with my newborn started rolling away. I had to stop to put the brakes on. Now I'm running behind the dog.
Elly is running screaming bloody murder, but keeps her head turned back to watch the dog.
She turns around just in time to
WHAM
plow face first at full speed into the side of a parked car and fall over backwards.

Charlie had to push the stroller home because now I had to carry Elly. It took the whole rest of the evening for her to shake it off, and I'm guessing this is not going to help her overcome her fear of dogs.

Popeye

Being the wonderfully loving and sweet as spun sugar mother that I am, I not-so-fondly refer to Charlie as Popeye when we're doing pictures outside.
No matter what the weather it's always a struggle to get a picture of her with both eyes open. I'll be getting frustrated because NOBODY ELSE is squinting. It's not like when I was a kid and my mother would stand us all in direct sunlight with the misguided notion that it was the best light for pictures.

All of our family photos look this way. It's a miracle none of our eyes sustained permanent damage after years of exposure. Actually, come to think of it maybe my brother Rob did...I took pictures of his family a few weeks ago and he could barely give me more than a couple of slits for eyes.

Anyway, getting back to my poor parenting choices..
Years of..ummm..encouraging? suggesting? urging? her to PLEASE open her eyes. Years of..ummm..proving? illustrating? driving home? my point.
"Look! IIIII'm not squinting! Maaaaaax isn't squinting! Whyyyyyy are you squinting???"
Years of both my frustration and hers has made Popeye and I adapt.
I tell her to close her eyes then on the count of three open them. I take the picture before this weird eye anomaly of hers kicks in.
Like this - 1...2...3...OPEN!

Got it!
Then just a moment later...

lost it!

Here are a few other examples. Please notice that the people in the pics with her are NOT squinting...there is no reason for her to squint!!



So what's my point in sharing this with you?

Imagine what a complete SCHMUCK I felt like when I found out today that she has an actual medical condition that causes her to do this.
Yes, yes. She does indeed.
This immediately transformed me from harried mother who just wants to take a picture of her beautiful child who will not co-operate into a CHILD ABUSING MONSTER!

I took them for their annual eye check today. I was hoping to hear that Max had issues. Not because I want Max to need glasses, but the alternative is that he's simply an airhead.
"Max, pick up your shoes."
"Where?"
"Behind you."
"Where?" he says as he turns around and looks right at them.
"On the floor there. Right in front of you now."
"Where?" he says again as he's now spinning like a dog trying to catch his tail.
"On the floor! Right there! You're practically stepping on them!"
"Hunh??"
"Oh nevermind!"

So after getting Max's just-an-airhead diagnosis it was Charlie's turn. She hops up in the chair and the exam starts just like Max's but then I realize that now the doctor is doing tests over and over and over again. Dun, dun, duuuuuuuun.....diagnosis - Intermittent Exotropia.
Was NOT expecting that.
Basically, one eye "wanders off on vacation" he says.
Quincey has noticed this.
You're nuts, I always tell him. My children are perfect.
But as I sat there in the doctor's office and watched him do these tests on Charlie and saw for myself how her left eye hangs to the side and lets the right eye do the work and then "snaps" back into place when the right eye is covered..well, I obviously couldn't deny it.

The good news is that both eyes are 20/20 so no patch therapy and no glasses. My understanding was that patches are for when the "bad" eye is not only lazy but has poor vision.
The suggested treatment is vision therapy. It's like physical therapy for your eyes.

He asked if she had trouble learning to read. She sure did. She's such a bright kid I could never understand why she struggled so much to learn to read. He said kids with this do. She was probably having double vision and it took her awhile to train her eye on what to do. Eventually the brain will ignore the image from one eye, but as the eye gets fatigued it will no longer self correct and she can experience double vision, headaches, etc.

Kids with this also tend to close one eye in outdoor light.

Who knew that her excessive squinting was a symptom that I was ignoring?? I guess I'll lay off the Popeye jokes now, and I'll also cut the poor little girl some slack when we're taking outdoor pics.

Just add it to the list, Charlie, of things to discuss with your future therapist. :-(