busy times

*sigh* two weeks! where have we been, what have we been doing? to be honest, i've been working on a blog post that involves quotes from a favorite tv show, parks & rec...other than that, we have some serious fashionistas on our hands, adeline had an epic meltdown in front of a team of nurses & all i could do was laugh, amelia is learning to manipulate, the girls are playing either very well together/best friends or resorting to violence towards each other (& it's never in between those two. just one or the other), someone--other than adeline--is sick at all times, adeline still has walking pneumonia, & i actually  made it out of the house with the girls & the nannied baby boy last week.

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there are other interesting things, like me lying to a very polite high school boy. he was selling chocolate bars for a trip to niagara falls. he explained that this was through an after school program for inner city kids. he had all the nice things (not like the last high schooler who shut griswold's face in the door & then called me a bitch for telling her that was not okay). anyway. it was a moment of being flustered...i was trying to bake some cookies (gluten free thin mints!), get dinner started, & keep the crazies at bay, & looking online for another cookie recipe. so you have the scene, now. he gave his schpeel & was very polite & then i said: we have food allergies here. do you have candy bars without wheat & tree nuts? (he nodded yes) so then i added: what about eggs & dairy?

we do not have allergies here to eggs & dairy. i totally pulled that out of my ass & lied to this very polite & eager high schooler.

then he apologised for not having a bar i could eat. i nicely told him that i hope he is able to make it on the trip. he smiled & told me to have a nice evening.

i shut the door & wanted to crumple in a heap. why did i do that?! i confessed it all to wes who laughed & started in on the whole mean-heidi jokes. by this time i was choking back tears (yes, i am severely hormonal this week). this is just weird behavior for me...i am usually not like that (uncaring of others, not willing to help, etc) & there i was, lying & being so rude.

& this is why i love my husband so much, right here: he was outside playing with the girls, saw the boy walking across the street, walked over to him, explained that his wife is just having a rough day & that we would like to buy some chocolate from him.

it was cold outside & he went out waiting for him while the girls played, bundled up (yes, i was still inside making cookies & dinner, lamenting my new mean spirit). so now we have 3 chocolate bars. i haven't tried them yet (what if karma hits & i choke on an almond?!).

i guess that just shows my stress level right now: very high.

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the x ray story

addy spiked another fever after being off antibiotics for 2 days, so yea, off to the medical center to have a chest x ray, as ordered by the *new & improved* doctor (dr. im...she loves that her doctor's name is like a letter) if her fever returned after 10 days on antibiotics. anyway, this child can watch her blood being taken without hardly a flinch. they don't even strap her arm down!

so we explained what an x ray is, just a picture of your bones & inside your bones. we even read a dora book about it! so i went a bit unprepared, maybe, expecting the awesome child to appear.

instead, she totally freaked out. as in screaming as loud as a 4 year old can scream for long periods of time. she threw her gown across the room at a nurse trying to calm her. once i was strapped into the robe to also help calm her she took one look at me & screamed some more. nurses were kicked & hit & screamed at, she was writhing on the floor a few times. at one point i was holding one arm out (she just had to stand with her back to a wall & take a deep breath...that's it!) so yea, i was holding one arm, another nurse holding the other arm & addy suddenly went limp & then began running in air (b/c the nurse & i were holding her arms up).

i was trying my hardest to get her to calm down. i used positive encouragement, threats, reminding her of the simplicity of the x ray...but then i could mostly only laugh. i have no clue why i was laughing--i guess because it was funny in a way. by that time there were about 10 people in the x ray room. they took so, so many x rays. nurses were becoming frustrated & switched, they were asking what else could be done. anytime they tried to talk to addy she would yell back: NNNNOOOO. NOOOOO. & glare at them with piercing eyes.

finally, i told them to just take it right before she started to scream again & two x rays later, they go it.

ugh. so then the dr's office called a few hours later to say that addy needed to be seen ASAP, that dr. im had reviewed the x ray & there was a problem.

wes & i started to freak out ourselves. the last time something like this happened we were told harold was taking up residence in my head. so wes & i both freaked out, my parents came down to help calm us & to watch amelia so we could both go to addy's appointment...but all the doctor needed was to see how adeline was doing & to tell us that she still has walking pneumonia, then gave us antibiotics for another week.

*sigh* of relief.

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here's the newest member of the wee-fashionistas

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my dad's birthday party & cake...count the candles to know his age *smile*

we lit the candles, quickly sang through happy birthday, he & addy blew the candles out & then...

...the smoke alarm went off (not even kidding).

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& because griswold was born on leap day, we are not sure which day (on non-leap years) to celebrate his birthday, february 28th or march 1st. well, to be honest, i usually forget but wes does not.

so happy 7th birthday to griswold!

but somehow the old dog still has the energy to bolt out the door yesterday & run away for 20 minutes of glory. a neighbor brought him back...in her car. i finally had the girls ready to take a walk looking for griswold & up pulled a red mini van with griswold sitting in the front seat & her own two kids in their car seats. when she asked if i had lost our dog i had to restrain myself from denying he was ours. then he tried to run away from me again! that dog...

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she's into coordinating patterns, not colors.

& here is addy's outfit that she's been dying to wear since my mom bought the skirt for her.

she also just had a hair cut...& they shaved the back of her neck! i'm not sure why they did that--but it's totally not even & looks pretty sad. but addy will always look cute in the short bob cut...

& here's just a shot of our girls, as addy's ready to leave for school amelia is ready to play mommy & dolly. all morning. 

& tonight is addy's first ever dance recital! she is beyond excited, as you can imagine. hopefully some pictures & maybe a bit of video to come...

& at first this started as a joke during church, but...what does everyone think about me giving up cleaning of for lent? our church is highlighting lent this year & i am racking my brain thinking of what i can give up. i hardly get to watch tv, i haven't even had time to post a blog for two weeks, haven't read blogs for at least 1 week, don't get time to indulge in lots of chocolate or spare time, & i can't fast because of my daily medicine regime (all my meds need to be taken around meals or else...). the only consistent thing i do all day is take care of kids & clean. obviously i can't stop caring for kids...so, logic points to stop cleaning!

*smile*

really, i'm thinking of saying no tv during the day--the once a week i may get a chance to watch a show for 45 minutes--i dunno. it just doesn't seem like much to give up, you know? hhmm...

hopefully i'll have more time later this week to highlight some recent stories.