Random Monday - Feb 16, 2015

I had planned to write this post yesterday, but decided it would be more fun to get the flu and be miserable all day instead.  Side note...that was a terrible plan.

Little Dude was not as happy about his new pseudo-personalized outfit as I was. #blogpseudonym #nothisrealname #supermommyornotlittledude #11monthsold #littledude

A photo posted by Hannah (@supermommyornot) on Feb 14, 2015 at 12:05pm PST

Star's bedtime and naptime ritual includes a "huh and a mah." She gives me a big hug (huh) and a kiss (mah) on each cheek. Then she leans back to look at my face, says, "uh-oh!" and, wipes her kisses off my face before laying down to go to sleep.

Tattling is not allowed in my house.  It's okay to tell on someone if they're hurting someone or breaking something.  So, when a child comes to me with that tattling look on their face and starts their sentence with, "So-and-so did...", I cut them off and ask them if someone is hurt.  If the answer to that is no, I ask if someone is breaking something.  Princess came to tattle on Little Man to me the other day so I asked her both questions.  Her first answer was no, but when I asked her if someone was breaking something, she replied, "Just the rules!"
Touche, my dear.

Little Man: Mommy, can I take my sweater to grandma's house?
Me: Sure, I guess.  Why do you need your sweater?
Little Man: In case I get sweaty, then I can put it on.

Watching traffic. #supermommyornotlittleman #4yearsold #supermommyornotstar #2yearsold #kidsinawindow

A photo posted by Hannah (@supermommyornot) on Feb 13, 2015 at 12:39pm PST

Last week was Tube Feeding Awareness Week.  There are so many myths and wrong beliefs about tube feeding that raising awareness is important so kids and adults who are tube fed don't feel ostracized or abnormal.  I shared Little Dude's tube feeding story on the blog and shared posts on Facebook and Instagram to help raise awareness.

Today marks the start of Feeding Tube Awareness week! Do you have a question about tube feeding or Little Dude? Feel free to ask! #feedingtubeawareness #supertubie #tubie #tubiemom #feedingtube #gtube #supermommyornotlittledude #iloveatubie

A photo posted by Hannah (@supermommyornot) on Feb 8, 2015 at 8:04am PST

Can we just take a second to talk about how a certain little guy is only 2 1/2 weeks away from turning ONE?!?!  I've always looked forward to my kiddos going into the toddler stage as it's so much fun (and work!), but it scares me a bit with Little Dude because I have to face the fact that he's slowly growing out of being a baby and that means that we will have new challenges soon.  So far, he's unable to eat any table foods without choking except for gluten-free puffs that I break in half for him, we don't know for sure if he has Celiac's Disease or not, we know he has food sensitivities, but not sure to what, and he is nowhere near ready to drink out of anything other than a bottle.  I'm excited and nervous to see what this next year brings for my sweet little boy.  We'll just take it one step at a time and I'll keep reminding myself that he won't be going off to college getting all of his nutrition from formula in a bottle.


Thank you for stopping by my blog! I appreciate each of my readers and would love to connect with you on Facebook and Instagram!

Random Monday - December 29, 2014

I can't believe that this is my last Random Monday post for 2014!  2015 is just 2 days away and I'm getting my "Goals for 2015" post ready to publish. 

I finally added a Special Needs Parenting page to my blog which includes Little Dude's story, links to posts about him, links to posts I've written about special needs parenting, and links to other websites that I've really found helpful. 

On Christmas Eve night, I made crockpot beef stew for supper.  It was delicious and I certainly didn't mind eating leftovers for several days after that.  The two oldest kids had slightly different opinions though...Little Man would only eat it if he could cover his eyes and pretend it was something else like chocolate chip cookie ice cream cotton candy.  Princess happily ate it, but halfway through she made this comment: "It tastes like dirt but I'm still eating it!"

I spent 6 hours organizing and going through the kids' toys, games, and craft supplies on Saturday night.  Goodwill will be pleased with our generous donation, I think.  I'm planning to buy a lock for the closet where most of the toys are going to be stored from here on out.  #mommastiredofthemess

Hubby's grandma found this hat in her basement while cleaning it out.  It used to be Hubby's dad's hat when he was a baby.

What's something you've done this past week? 

Christmas 2014

This was our year to drive 6 hours to visit Hubby's extended family for Christmas, but Little Dude doesn't do well in the car and is easily over-stimulated so we decided to stay home this year.  It was nice to relax at home with the kids and Hubby and thankfully, no one was sick so we were all able to enjoy the day.

We opened gifts first thing in the morning.  Star loved unwrapping the gifts, but had no interest in actually opening the boxes until Hubby showed her that there were toys inside.  In the afternoon, the two little ones napped while the two big kids played with their new toys.  Hubby and I played John Deere monopoly which he easily won.  Let's just say that I don't have future plans to go into the real estate market.

For dinner that evening, I made a 13 pound ham (not surprisingly, there were a LOT of leftovers), mashed potatoes and ham gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and mince pie.

Princess received a Ramona and Beezus dvd, a Frozen easy reader book, a Tardis ornament, and a personalized ballerina ornament in her stocking.  She also got a wooden sewing machine, an Elsa doll, a stick horse, a set of horse figurines, and a coloring Elsa puzzle.  She loved them all, but was especially excited to open the Elsa doll on Christmas Eve.  Her reaction of, "Mommy!!!  How did you know I wanted this?!?" cracked me up since it's all she's been talking about  for months.


















Little Man got a Rio dvd, a Jake and the Neverland Pirates book, a Handy Manny ornament, and a Dalek ornament in his stocking.  He also got a stick dragon, a wooden combine with two heads, an Olaf beanie baby, an Olaf shirt, and a toolset.  His favorites are definitely the stick dragon and the combine.  While driving his combine yesterday, he turned to me and announced, "I'm going to go harvest some weed!"  Um, buddy, I think you mean "wheat."
















Star received an Ice Age dvd, a Doc McStuffins book, an owl ornament, and a Fisher Price telephone ornament in her stocking.  She also received a stick horse, a wooden camera, an Anna doll, a Leapfrog Scout dog (which she's enamored with since it says her name), and Doc McStuffins hopscotch squares.  Her favorite gift is the stick horse though and she loves riding it around the house.  Despite the look on her face, she was happy about her gifts, she just didn't want to pose with them.   
















I got one picture of her with her gifts and then I got this...






























Little Dude wasn't overly impressed with the whole gift opening thing, but has been having fun playing with his new toys.  In his stocking, he received a Happy Feet dvd, a Brown Bear Brown Bear board book, a First Christmas ornament, and a Sven the Reindeer ornament.  He also received an Infantino elephant, a set of stacking cups, a V Tech Catch Me Kitty (which incidentally, doesn't work on shag carpet with which my entire upstairs is covered), a wooden airplane, and a toy phone.  His favorite gift is the stacking cups, but once he learns to sit up, he'll have more fun with the elephant.



























We have some Christmas traditions that we enjoyed this year...

We hung up a stocking for Jesus and whenever someone did something kind for someone else, we wrote it on a piece of paper and put it in the stocking as a gift for Jesus.  I emptied it out to read the papers with the kids and was blown away by how many papers Princess had added on her own, all addressed, "To God."  She's really been making an effort to show God's love to others.

We had our Christmas Eve reading party sans Hubby who is, sadly, not a book lover.  We read Christmas books together, drank hot chocolate (which Little Man says he doesn't like so we called it cocoa instead), and ate cookies.

I took pictures of each of the kids with their gifts as a record of what they received.  It's fun to look back and remember when they got something or look back and think, "hey, whatever happened to that toy?" 

The kids got a dvd, a book, and a Christmas ornament in their stockings.  Actually, I had a forgetful moment and ended up getting them each two ornaments this year.  Oh well.  Next year, I plan to start a tradition of getting/ them pajamas to open on Christmas Eve.  Obviously, that's a totally original idea, haha.

I made small photo books for each of the grandparents at walmart.com with pictures of the kids from this past year.  Hubby looked through one before I wrapped it and wryly remarked that Little Dude must be my favorite child.  No, but he is the one who stays still for the camera the longest.  Next year, I plan to make custom Chatbooks (look for the app on your smart device) for the grandparents with my Instagram pictures which will over double the amount of pictures I can include plus they will cost less. 


How was your Christmas?  What are some fun traditions you had this year? 

Random Monday - November 17, 2014

Star has never been jealous of Little Dude despite how much time I've spent holding him.  However, I picked Little Man up the other day and she went nuts.  She kept tugging on my leg and yelling "Out, out!" which is her word for "up."  When I finally put him down and picked her up, she snuggled in and looked up at me with a smile, "My spot." she said with satisfaction.

Little Man: "Mommy, can we glue this feather to the front door?"
Me: "Um, why do you want to do that?"
Little Man: "So everyone would know we have a feather!"
I'm not gluing a synthetic blue feather to my front door. So everyone....WE HAVE A FEATHER. Just so you know.

Little Man was digging through the diaper bag and happened to find a *ahem* feminine product that I'd stashed in the deepest pocket.  Holding it up, he yelled across the house, "Mommy, what do you use this for?!?"
I'm not going to have that discussion with my four old son.  Just...no.

It's officially winter here.  We had our first snow and bought our first snowblower.  Personally, I think a shovel works just as well and is a lot cheaper...says the spouse who doesn't do any snow removal around here.

Little Man loved shoveling even though he basically just moved it in front of the garage door.

I'd forgotten how two year olds throw marathon tantrums.  An hour of screaming over the fact that I gave you the blue cup instead of the red one is really pretty ridiculous and it earns you a timeout in your bed.  Not that I'm talking about any one of my children in particular, of course.  Especially, the two year old.

Princess: "Look at those huge ice cubes hanging outside!"

If you don't read the MommyShorts blog or follow her on Instagram, you're missing out on some hilarious stuff.  To up the ante on the hilarity, her two year old now is gramming as well.  

Random Monday - November 3, 2014

If you haven't seen it yet, go read my review on "Their Name is Today" by Johann Christoph Arnold and enter to win a copy of the book for yourself.  But only if you have children.  Or grandchildren.  Or students.  Or nieces or nephews.  Or come in contact with children at all.

I have three of the four kids' winter clothes unpacked.  Little Man will just have to freeze in his short sleeved shirts until I get around to re-working his closet too.  Or he could just listen to his ever-so-smart Mommy and wear a sweatshirt instead of whining about how cold he is.

Speaking of switching out the kids' clothes, Little Dude outgrew his 3-6 month clothes and I had to get the 6-9 month clothes out for him.  I may or may not have cried a little while I was packing away his 3-6 month clothes because first of all, there's this and also because he didn't get to wear a lot of his clothes because they weren't G Tube friendly.  I know it's a small thing, but it still bothered me that he missed out on getting to wear some of the clothes passed down from his big brother because of his G Tube.

If you follow me on Instagram, I apologize for the repeat pictures.  But seriously, these kids are so cute, I don't think it'll kill you to look at them again :)

We don't celebrate Halloween for religious reasons, but we still let the kids dress up for school.  I saw a pizza costume at Target and knew that Little Man had to have it as he's insanely obsessed with pizza (he'd be thrilled if he could have it for all three meals and a snack everyday).  But the price tag made me back away shaking my head.  So instead, I headed over to Hobby Lobby and picked up some felt and made one for him.  It was super fast to sew up and turned out really cute.  He absolutely loves it and begs to wear it everywhere we go.
 

I have a weird sense of humor.  It's genetic.  My whole family is weird.  But even I know it was a little pathetic that I spent several days looking for Little Man's dress-up cowboy hat just so I could get this picture of Little Dude...

Folks, meet Walker Texas Ranger.  Hahahahahahaha!!!!  I slay myself...  *crickets chirping*  Okay, fine.  At least I thought it was funny.

Getting Our Flu Shots

Being the adventurous, fun-loving person that I am, I took all four of the kids to get flu shots today.  I even set a good example by signing up to get the shot for myself too.

What did you say we're doing today?

 
I didn't tell the kids where we were going because I knew mass panic and hysteria would set in.  The kids were generally happy and talkative when we got there, introducing themselves as Elsa, Olaf, Anna, and Sven which the nurses thought was funny.

Then we went back to the room for the shots.  By this time, they knew what was coming and were getting apprehensive, but no screaming or fighting had commenced so I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing.  Little Man was first up.  He got the flu mist and sat perfectly still with a smile on his face while getting it.  Star was going to be next, but they checked her vaccination records right before giving her the shot and saw that she'd received the flu shot at her two year checkup a few weeks ago.  I counted that one as a Mommy Fail, but I was happy that she didn't have to get a shot.  Next was Princess.  Unfortunately, due to her asthma, she couldn't get the flu mist.  She was fine until she heard her name and then she. flipped. out.  She screamed, cried, refused to take her sweatshirt off (I practically had to break her arm to get it out of the sleeve), and fought me like a cat getting a bath.  I held her on my lap and gave her a "bear hug" and one nurse held her legs still while another gave the shot.  I have a tendency to laugh in tense situations so the nurses probably thought I was the meanest mom ever, but oh well.  Thanks to her super tense muscles, Princess bled all over herself and me.  After it was over, she was perfectly fine and even admitted that it barely hurt and wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it was going to be.  Oh look, Mommy was right again... 

I got the shot next.  The kids watched me closely and were very proud of me for not crying, haha.

Last was Little Dude.  He shocked us all by not crying at all when he got the shot.  He was just so thrilled to finally be the center of attention again that he kept smiling at me and the nurses.   

During this whole thing, Star entertained herself by stealing stickers off the desk, sticking them on the linoleum floor, and then stomping on them.  I scraped until my fingernails were toast, but couldn't get them all up.  I apologized several times, but short of sticking around for an hour with a bucket of water, I wasn't going to get them cleaned up off the floor.  I think they were just happy to see us leave at that point so the stickers were small potatoes.  

When we got home, Hubby was there.  The kids were very eager to tell him about our afternoon, and Little Man couldn't stop bragging about how brave he was for not crying when he got his shot (reminder: he got the flu mist).  Princess wanted to know if he could hear her screaming all the way from the doctor's office.

So, really it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I've had worse trips to the store.  All done until next year!  

A Day in My Life

I've had several requests for a "day in the life" post.  Never one to disappoint my many fans (you know, all two of them), I finally buckled down to doing one.  I decided to do it this past Monday which meant writing down what I was doing so I could then type it up in blog form.  Monday started off as a good day and then by mid-morning, it went haywire.  I thought about scratching it and trying again on a more "typical" day, but realized that Monday was a typical day for me.  At least several times a week, my day is thrown out of whack because of doctors' appointments, last minute or scheduled, or other medically related issues.

6:45 am - My alarm goes off.  I think about throwing my phone out of the window, but decide against it.  I hit the dismiss button and drag myself out of bed to wake the two oldest kiddos up for school.  As usual, neither is happy with this.  Princess refuses to pick out her own clothes, but complains about what I pick out for her, Little Man throws several tantrums in the first 10 minutes of waking up because he wants to go back to bed.  He asks if he can pretty please take a nap when he gets home from school because he is sooooooo tired.  I oblige, but know that he'll have changed his mind by then.  Neither one want to eat anything we have in the house for breakfast.  Star wakes up and can't seem to understand why everyone in the house isn't catering to her every whim.  Little Dude also wakes up and is ready for his first feeding.  Hubby and I tag team this whole production.

7:30 am - I prep Little Dude's feeding and meds and make myself a chai latte.

7:40 am - Princess gets on the bus.  I am working with Little Dude to drink his bottle.

8:00 am - Hubby takes Little Man to preschool and then leaves for the farm.

8:30 am - Little Dude is finally done with his feeding.  He ate 4 ounces so I tube fed him the remaining 1.5 ounces along with his meds.  I get some warm soapy water ready for his tube care.  He got another infection around his G Tube on Friday so it's a little more time consuming than usual.  I also change his diaper, do his skin care routine for his eczema, and get him dressed for the day.  Star gets into about a million things while I do all this.

9:00 am - Little Dude eats 2 tablespoons of rice cereal.

9:30 am - I have just laid Little Dude down for a nap when the doorbell rings.  I forgot about the public health nurse coming for his weekly weight check.  Naturally, the house is a disaster, but she is pretty used to the craziness at my house by now and understands.  :)  Little Dude is up to 15 pounds, 13 ounces which is a weight gain we're both happy with.  I discuss his current feeding regimen with her and we agree to continue with it.  Just for fun, Star climbs on the scale too.  She weighs 21 pounds, 10 ounces, less than 6 pounds more than her baby brother.

9:45 am - After the public health nurse leaves, I lay Little Dude back down for a nap.  I have to go in and give him his pacifier several times and he refluxed and choked once, but he eventually falls asleep with a minimum of crying.  I check Facebook and happen to see that the wipes we bought from Sam's Club in July have been recalled for a bacterial contamination.  Immediately, my mind goes to the recurring G Tube infections Little Dude has had since we started using the wipes.  I make a phone call to the doctor to see if they think there might be a connection.  She says she will call back after doing some research.

10:00 am - I change Star's diaper and go in her room to pick out her outfit for the day, but lo and behold, all of her clothes are in the dirty laundry.  I pull out the box of 2T clothes and pick something out for her to wear.  It's way too big.  Oh well.

10:20 am - I log onto Little Dude's online medical portal and check dates on his G Tube infections and then call Sam's Club to determine when exactly I bought the box of wipes.  The dates line up.  Then the doctor calls back and informs me that Little Dude has Strep.  On his G Tube.  Great.  We talk about how I need to disinfect ALL THE THINGS and keep the kids from sharing germs.  I have a mild panic attack just thinking about it.  I call Star's doctor to make an appointment for her because I suspect she has Strep too.  While I am on the phone, Star has dumped out and eaten half a bag of chocolate chips.   

11:00 am - Time to pick Little Man up from preschool so I wake Little Dude up and am putting him in his carseat when I realize that he has soaked through his diaper and all over his outfit.  I change his whole outfit quickly and rush the kids up to the school so we're not late for pickup.  Little Dude is already 30 minutes late for his feeding.

11:20 am - Home with a very talkative Little Man.  I try bottle feeding Little Dude, but he will have nothing to do with it so after working with him for a while, I tube feed him while he cries nonstop.  Little Man and Star are making up for lost time by getting into EVERYTHING together.  I set the alarms on my phone for the rest of the day's feedings so I don't run late on another feeding.  Little Dude is getting very worked up and I'm feeling just slightly extremely overwhelmed.  I vent him through the G Tube mid way through the feeding because his stomach is hard and distended.  I get a lot of air out, but his mood does not improve.  Mine doesn't either.

12:30 pm - Finally done feeding Little Dude so I throw a frozen pizza in the oven for the kids and Hubby.  I call my sister-in-law (kinda handy to have a doctor in the family) to talk about the Strep and wipes fiasco.  I end up venting my frustrations over Little Dude's health to her.  I give her extra points for not hanging up on me.  After I hang up, Hubby comes home for lunch.  I dish food out for everyone (except me) and sit down to feed Little Dude some pureed pears.  I finish my now-cold chai latte.

1:00 pm - Little Dude is in his crib napping and the big kids are eating goofing off at the table.  I clean the kitchen which hasn't been touched since yesterday afternoon.  So. Many. Dirty. Dishes.  I also wash Little Dude's bottles, med syringes, and tube feeding supplies.   When the kitchen is cleaned up, I lay Star down for a nap and do some laundry.  I call the school to arrange for Princess to go home on her cousin's bus today since we probably won't be home when school gets out.  Then I call my sister to let her know that there will be an extra kid at her house today.  Hubby leaves to go back to the farm and I feel a sense of despair as I watch him leave.

1:45 pm - Little Dude is still sleeping so I tube feed him his entire bottle.

2:30 pm - I get Little Dude and Star up from their naps so Star can go to the doctor.  Neither is happy with me.  We make it to the doctor's office in time.

3:40 pm - Finally done at the doctor.  Star does indeed have Strep.  Oh joy.  Like the idiot I am, I decide to run errands with the three younger kids before picking Princess up from my sister's house.  We start at the grocery store where I have exactly three things on my shopping list.

4:25 pm - We leave the grocery store with two things.  I fondly nickname our grocery store visit "The Worst Shopping Trip Ever" and head over to my sister's to drop Star and Little Man off so I can finish running errands with Little Dude (you know, the kid who doesn't whine, argue, throw screaming tantrums in the middle of the aisle, or run away from me).  I stop at the pharmacy which is practically our second home at this point and the library.  I don't need anything at the library, but I'm stalling picking the kids up.

4:45 pm - I pick the kids up from my sister's and we head home.  I get another feeding ready for Little Dude.

5:30 pm - Little Dude happily drank the whole bottle so the feeding went faster than usual.  When he's done, I lay him down for a nap.  I start supper for the kids while they jump off the couch onto the coffee table despite my warning to stop.  A few minutes later, two of them are crying because they got hurt (told you so!)  I pack Hubby's lunchpail for work and fold a load of towels.

7:00 pm - The kids are done eating supper and Hubby is off at work.  Little Dude wakes up fussy and crying just as I start getting the other kids ready for bed.  I rush to put the kids to bed so I can calm Little Dude down before he throws up or chokes.  The kids fight the bedtime routine and naturally, Little Dude starts choking and turning blue midway through Little Man's second tantrum.

7:45 pm - The big kids are in bed, but not sleeping.  I feed Little Dude half a jar of pureed pears and play with him for a while, incorporating some of his physical therapy into the playtime.

8:15 pm - I get Little Dude's bottle and meds ready for his last feeding of the day.  He refuses to drink most of it so I end up tubing it.  I change him into an overnight diaper and his pjs and change the gauze around his G Tube.

9:15 pm - Little Dude is done eating and ready for bed.  I lay him down and check on the other kiddos who are (finally!) all sleeping.  Woohoo!  Freedom at last!  I turn on Netflix and catch up on emails, texts, and Facebook for an hour and half before I go to bed.


Do you have a "day in the life" blog post you've written?  Leave a link in the comments so I can check it out!

Random Monday - August 11, 2014

First of all, today is my dad's birthday!!!  I probably shouldn't say this but he's 55 years old today :)  Hello, Senior Discounts!

Vacation Bible School at our church starts tonight.  My sister is going to come over to my house each evening to watch our younger kids and I'll take the five older ones to VBS.  I'll be helping with the junior high class so will be staying the whole time.  The kids are super psyched about it, but Little Dude has been running fevers, throwing up, and not feeling good periodically the last few days and Princess is starting to complain about not feeling good too so we'll see how they're doing tonight before I decide for sure if they can go.  I'd hate for them to miss it, but you just can't control when they're going to get sick. 

We got our tubie pads from Gotz GPadz today!  I've been looking for some that are thin and don't have tight, rough stitching around the edges and opening in the middle.  These fit the bill plus the price and shipping time were great.  I got an assortment of 10 for Little Dude.  Since my (Whovian) sister has helped me so much with Little Dude since he came home from the hospital in May, I knew I had to get the Tardis ones for him in honor of her.   :)  

Little Dude modeling one of his new tubie pads.

Have a great week, everybody!

Random Monday - July 28, 2014

Princess told Little Man her favorite Bible verse the other day..."Children, obey your parents and your older sister."

Little Man walked by me, sniffing his nose loudly.  "Mommy, I'm snarfing!"

Princess told me that we should give Little Dude away because "he's just too cute and I can't handle how cute he is!!"

Princess and Little Man went outside to play one day, but were back inside within 10 minutes.  I asked Princess why they didn't stay out longer and she replied, "It's just too sweaty out there, Mom."

I've had Little Dude's 4 month update written for about 2 weeks now, but haven't published it yet because my camera cord quit working and I can't add his 4 month picture to the post.  Hopefully I'll get it figured out before it's time to post his 5 month update!

In the meantime, here's a picture I took with my tablet, posted to Facebook, and then stole off of Facebook for my blog.  Princess was making Little Dude smile.

Let me preface this next tidbit by saying that we live in a very small town so for those of you who live in a city and are a bit creeped out by what happened, just remember this is how we roll out here in the boonies  :)
I was outside in the front yard with all four of the kids.  Little Dude was sitting in his bouncy seat in the shade and the other three were "helping" me pull weeds from the landscaping.  A car with two older ladies drove by and then turned around and came back, stopping right in front of our house.  They rolled down the window and proceeded to gush over how absolutely adorable my kids were.  Yup, my kids are so cute that they not only stop traffic, they make it turn around and come back for a second look, lol.  

Star's new favorite word is no.  Or, to be more precise, "Nooo-ooooo."  For a glimpse of her favorite word in action, check out the latest video on my Instagram.
There may or may not also be a heart melting video of Little Dude learning how to laugh right before Star's video.

Random Monday on Wednesday

Yeah, I'm a little off :)  My mind is a jumble of thoughts and I can't seem to get anything straight so I'm turning this into one of my Random Mondays posts even if it is Wednesday today.

Little Man told me that he only eats on Wednesdays now.  That should save some money on the grocery bill, right?

Princess will be done with school next week and I'm really looking forward to it.  It'll be so nice to have her home and not have to get up early every morning (unless Little Dude or Star wake me up, of course).  Right now, I'm up until 12:30-1:30 am with Little Dude, then up around 3 am for up to an hour and a half to feed him again, and then up for the day at 6:30 to get Princess ready for school.  I've had three other newborns, but this is a level of exhaustion that I didn't know was possible.  I actually fell asleep while pushing the stroller to the post office last week and many times, I'm so tired that my legs just give out and I have to hang onto something so I won't fall.  Someone recently complained to me that she was tired because she has to get up for work at 7 am four days a week after staying up late the night before.  This same person also told me that she was too tired and crabby to have any sympathy for anyone-this as we're dealing with unknowns and constant medical issues with our high-needs baby.  I was already having one of those days where Little Dude was being very needy and I was stressing about medical bills and his medical problems and the way she said it pretty much sent me over the edge so I spent the next 45 minutes crying.  But that's fine.  I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm looking for understanding and support and it's become pretty clear in the last few months who can be supportive and who can't.  Thankfully, most of my friends and family have been amazing and have done more to support us in so many ways than I could've ever asked for.     

We're loving our new house.  My mother-in-law and sister-in-law unpacked a lot of boxes and rearranged furniture for me while I was staying in the hospital with Little Dude so when I came home it felt like a home instead of a house filled with boxes and furniture. 

My sister feeding Little Dude.  We've found that, as long as he isn't crying too much, the bouncy seat is a good place to feed him as it puts him in the right position and we don't have to balance him and the tube and syringe at the same time.  Plus, he loves the bouncing motion so that can calm him down if he gets restless.

Little Dude has good days and bad days.  On a good day, he won't cry as much, will nap better, and will take more formula by mouth versus by g-tube.  On a bad day, he'll cry all day and will refuse to eat anything by mouth.  But, at least there are a few good days now and that's what's getting me through this right now.  And as a bonus, we finally got him on our insurance!  There was a problem with some paperwork and all of his medical claims were being denied which was a bit stressful for us.

Finally caught a smile on camera!

We're still waiting for a diagnosis for Little Dude.  Some of the genetics testing that he's having done can take months to come back so we know it could be a while.  In the meantime, his main issue is not eating and with the g-tube, we know we can help him get enough food now so we're focusing on that instead of the unknown.  Last week, he was turning blue when he cried so I took him the ER where they did an extensive echo of his heart to be sure there wasn't something else going on besides the PFO heart murmur.  His heart checked out and his lungs also looked clear on the x-ray so we didn't have to be admitted to the hospital this time.  Little Dude has had problems breathing and has had a cough and constant wheezing since he caught a cold at 3 weeks old (which is what put him in the hospital the first time).  Those issues recently got worse and we've had to do nebtreatments to help him breath.  We'll be looking into that more next week when he has his next doctor's appointment.  

A dear friend of mine sent Little Dude a personalized hospital gown for if he has to go back to the hospital.  She's the founder of Gracie's Gowns, an organization that provides special personalized hospital gowns to children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses at no cost to the family.  It's a wonderful organization that blesses many families and if you are able to, I encourage you to support it by sponsoring a gown for a child. 

Little Dude with his gown from Gracie's Gowns

It's taken me almost 2 hours to write this post thanks to the many interruptions from the kiddos and since it's now time to feed Little Dude again, I better call it good enough, no matter how disjointed and poorly written it is  :)

Random Monday - Feb 17, 2014

Me: "Can you carry that bag all by yourself or is it too heavy for you?"
Little Man *proudly*: "I can do it.  I'm a heavy guy, Mommy!"

We have entered the (expensive) world of orthodontics with Princess.  She has a crossbite that misaligns her jaw and causes her to grind her teeth excessively and will lead to issues with headaches and TMJ as she gets older.  So she's getting an appliance that will correct this before all of her adult teeth come in and make it harder to fix.  Last Thursday, she had the impressions done for the appliance, and we'll go back this Thursday to have it fitted.  The poor thing had a terrible time with the impressions because she's like me with a strong gag reflex and a small mouth.  I had to distract her with a Disney Princess app on my little sister's smart phone to keep her from focusing on the huge metal thing in her mouth, but at least we got it done.

My 3 year old nephew fell out of bed on Valentine's Day and broke his shoulder.  He has to wear a sling for 6 weeks and it's going to be interesting as he's a very active little guy.  Little Man also fell out of bed last night (from the top bunk) and only ended up with a small scrape and bump on his head.  I appreciate the fact that he didn't try to top his cousin's injury.

Valentine's Day...I picked up an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for Hubby and gave that to him since he loves them so much (they're so stinkin' expensive that we rarely buy them).  I had bought the kids some cute character cups for their toothbrushes, but I couldn't remember where I put them so they didn't get them until today when Princess found them in a bag behind the couch and they helped themselves :)  I wasn't expecting anything from Hubby so I was completely surprised when he gave me a bag of dark chocolate and the sweetest card ever.  We didn't do much, but it was a good day nonetheless.   :)  


Princess drew a picture of me the other day.  Let's just say that it's not flattering... 

According to Princess's depiction, I'm bald, HUGE, and am having 13 babies, all girls, of course.  But at least I'm smiling, right?!?! 

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for "The Marriage You Always Wanted" by Gary Chapman!  It ends on February 21st so there's not much time left to enter!

Random Monday - Feb 3, 2014

Best compliment ever...I think.
Princess: "Mama, you used to not be smart, but now you are kind of smart."
Me: "Um, thank you?"
Princess: "I'm just trying to be nice."

Princess to Little Man: "I learned a new sight word at school today.  It's 'what.'"
Little Man: "Well, I learned a new sight word too!  My sight word is 'hmmmmm.'"

It's been the week of no-sleep at our house.  Star and I both started coming down with a cold last Tuesday.  When Star gets a cold, she pretty much stops sleeping until she's 110% over it.  She prefers to sleep laying on my chest (which is really comfortable when you're 8 months pregnant) and wakes easily and often.  I have not slept for more than 3-4 hours a night for 6 days now and it's a bit of an understatement to say that it's starting to wear on me a little.  Little Man came down with the same cold a few days after us, but he's a tough little guy and doesn't let it bother him too much.  The worst part of him having a cold is that he's old enough to blow/wipe his own nose (frequently), but not old enough to figure out how not to go through a box of kleenex a day.

Last week, Hubby suggested that we throw a superbowl party at our place.  In my 8-months-pregnant, sleep-deprived state, I reared back in horror at the idea of cleaning the house and hosting a party.  Then, on Saturday night (yes, that would be the Saturday before Superbowl Sunday), he suggested it again and in my 8-months-pregnant, sleep-deprived state, I said, "Sure!  Let's do it!"  So at church in the morning, we asked Hubby's parents, his brother and his family, and a few friends of ours over to watch the Superbowl and eat pizza with us.  Then, we went home and cleaned like crazy.  Hubby even mopped the kitchen floor for me which was such a beautiful sight that it almost made me bawl like the emotional pregnant lady I am.  Thankfully, I'd been staying on top of my cleaning list the last week and so things weren't too bad (while fighting a nasty cold and taking care of 2 sick kids...can you say SUPERWOMAN?!?!).  We ended up having a total of 4 adults and 2 kids come over in the evening.  It ended up being a really fun, relaxing time since I did absolutely zero cooking for it and we just threw the food on the table and everyone helped themselves buffet style.
 
Since the baby and I will be sleeping in the living room until we get our own house (thanks to a very light-sleeping Star who still shares our room), I was thinking about getting the Tiny Love 3-in-1 Rocker Napper.  We have a cradle, but there's nowhere to put it in the living room and I want something I can set next to the couch while I sleep and that can be easily moved to a different location during the day.  I like that this can be used until 40 pounds as a rocker and the baby can lay flat to sleep in it.  Anyone had any experience with it?

   
    

Random Monday - Jan 13, 2014

Princess informed me that she was pretending to be a princess and Little Man was the prince.  "And you can be the servant, Mommy!"  No, Mommy was not impressed with that role.

January is turning out to be The Month of the Doctor in our house.  I started off the month with an ambulance ride and ER visit (BTW, thank you to all the concern and well wishes!).  Between my OB appointments, my appointment with my asthma and allergy specialist, multiple appointments with neurology for my Vocal Cord Dysfunction, a referral to GI for my severe acid reflux, and Star's 15 month well-child checkup, that adds ups to 1 Er visit and 8 doctor visits during the month of January.  Pardon my Minnesotan, but UFFDA!

There's a stomach bug going around this area right now and so far, two of my kiddos have fallen prey to it.  On Saturday night, I was getting ready for bed when I realized that Star had thrown up all over the pack n' play, her bedding, and herself before falling asleep.  I cleaned her up, threw a load of laundry in and went to bed.  She's been fine ever since with no more throwing up, fevers, etc.  Easy enough!

Except that then Little Man caught the bug on Sunday evening.  He was in the bathroom when he felt the urge to throw up, but instead of STAYING in the bathroom to throw up in the toilet, he walked down the carpeted hallway to the kitchen to tell me that he had to throw up.  Oh, and he threw up all the way from the bathroom until right outside of the kitchen linoleum.  He threw up several more times last night, thankfully in a bucket each time.  This morning, he seemed fine so I took him with me to my friend's house to babysit.  Not 15 minutes after we got there, he yelled out that he had to throw up.  I followed him into the bathroom where he aimed for the toilet and threw up.  He had great aim too, except that the toilet lid was down and so instead of throwing up IN the toilet, he threw up ON the toilet and all over the floor.  I called Hubby and he came to pick up Little Man and take him home instead of going to the farm like he normally would have after getting off work.  Being the awesome friend I am, I bleached my friend's whole bathroom before she got home and washed the towels I used to clean up the mess :)

How was your week?  Hope all of you have been staying healthy!

Random Monday - Jan 6, 2014

Hey, my first Random Monday post of 2014!  And, unfortunately, my first Random Monday post in a while.  I've been slacking off lately.

Yesterday at lunch, the ketchup bottle made an, ahem, rude noise when squeezed.  Without looking up from his plate or missing a beat and in complete seriousness, Little Man said, "That was me."

On Saturday, we braved the cold temps to drive several hours to my brother's house to celebrate our family Christmas.  It was a fun day and the kids really enjoyed playing with their cousins who they don't see very often.  We finally got to meet my brother's 4th baby and first son who was born in July.  Little Man was especially enthralled with the baby and when I called him over to introduce him to his new cousin who was sitting on my lap, he asked, "Is this the baby out of your tummy?"  Oh honey, if only it were that easy!  Later he wanted to know if we could "take that baby home with us."  He's going to be so awesome with his new baby brother or sister :)

Today, it's so cold here in Minnesota that the governor closed all the schools statewide.  Right now, we're showing a temperature of -15 F and -42 F windchills.  Since we're cooped up inside all day, I thought it was the perfect day to put together the kids' new cardboard playhouse they received as a gift from my mom on Saturday.  Princess got one of these for her birthday last year, and it was such a big hit and a perfect way to keep the kids from going stir crazy in the house all winter that I plan to make sure the kids get one every year to play with.  This one is from Hobby Lobby for $16.99, but you can also find a ton of cardboard playhouses that kids can color and play with on Amazon.  

Star's favorite way to get in and out of the house is headfirst through the window, despite the fact that there is a perfectly good door on either end of the house.

I love that mischievous little grin!

What's the weather like in your area today?

Christmas 2013

Between family get-togethers and Christmas programs, I feel like we've been celebrating Christmas all December.  We just have one more family Christmas right after New Years' and then we'll be done until next Christmas.

We went to The Farm for supper with my in-laws on Christmas Eve and the kids got to open their gifts from Great Grandma.  We stayed there way too late talking and eating Christmas goodies while the cousins played, watched movies, and ran around.  Star fell asleep in her great uncle's arms around 9 and slept almost until we were ready to head home.

The next morning, Hubby and I let the kids look in their stockings before we headed back down to The Farm for brunch.  I got each of them a Veggie Tales dvd, a Christmas ornament, a toy camera from the $5 bins at Target, and 1 other thing.  The cameras especially were a huge hit, and the kids just had to take them to The Farm with them to show them off to Grandma and Grandpa.  We stayed at The Farm until 4:30 and then came home to open gifts.  The kids were so excited and that was the fastest they've ever gotten ready to leave Grandma and Grandpa's house :)

Princess and Little Man needed twin size bedding for their bunk bed so I got them each a bedding set for Christmas.  Princess had been sleeping under a worn out unzipped toddler size sleeping bag and Little Man had been sleeping under a crib quilt, neither of which were big enough for them anymore.  I had been thinking about getting cute character bedding sets, but opted for sets that they could use for years to come instead.  Seriously, they were even more excited about the sets than I could have imagined they would be.  When Little Man opened his, he hugged it while screaming, "I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it!!!"  Totally adorable :)  As soon as we got done unwrapping gifts, they begged me to make their beds so they could try out their new bedding and after supper, they wanted to go straight to bed.  Total Mom Win!

Hubby recently started drinking coffee at work and wanted to have the occasional cup at home too so I got him a Hamilton Beach single serve coffee machine with an assortment of K-Cups to try.  After we put the kids to bed, we sat down to eat our dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, and buttered green beans and then finished the evening with a cup of hot chocolate from the new coffee machine.  What a perfect way to end Christmas day :)    

Princess with her new bedding set

Little Man with his new bedding set

Here are the kids with their Christmas gifts and the gifts from their stockings...

In her stocking, Princess received a Doc McStuffins toy camera (Target), a doll ornament (Target), a "puppy in my pocket" marker (Scholastic), and a Veggie Tales dvd (Fleet Farm).  Her wrapped gifts were the bedding set (Walmart), a John Deere shirt (Zulily), and a John Deere backpack (Zulily)

In his stocking, Little Man received a Monsters University toy camera (Target), a hammer ornament (not pictured, Target), a Veggie Tales dvd (Fleet Farm), and First Stencil Cards (Barefoot Books).  His wrapped gifts were the bedding set (Walmart), a John Deere backpack (Zulily), and a tractor shirt (Etsy)

In her stocking, Star received a Disney Princess toy camera (Target), a Veggie Tales Dvd (Fleet Farm), a Princess Carriage book (Scholastic), and a Big Sister ornament (Etsy).  Her wrapped gifts were a John Deere backpack (Zulily), a Disney Princess ball (Target), and a Veggie Tales Christmas book (Sam's Club).

I hope your Christmas was as fun as ours!  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Preparations

As I mentioned in my last Random Monday post, I really just don't feel like decorating for Christmas this year.  First of all, I'm 6 months pregnant and I feel like my body is falling apart.  The short time between Star's birth and getting pregnant again didn't leave me much time to recover from last time so I'm in rough shape.  The idea of dragging the Christmas tree and decorations out is really not appealing.  Secondly, I have a mobile, energetic, curious 14 month old.  'Nuff said.  Thirdly, I really thought that I would be decorating my own house for Christmas this year, but we're still in our cramped apartment which is kind of a downer right now.  But I'm not so Scroogish that I don't want to celebrate at all.  I love listening to Christmas music and seeing Christmas lights when we're out.  I love seeing Christmas decor and drinking eggnog.  I love picking out Christmas gifts and wrapping presents. 

So here's my compromise on the Christmas decorating.  I'm hanging up the stockings, a garland, and lights on the curtain rod above the sliding glass doors.  The wrapped gifts will go on the top of the fireplace (I don't hang our stockings on the fireplace because the kids can reach them to pull them down) and I'm making this Christmas tree to put on our sliding glass door which will double as a fun activity for the kids.  Scrooge or awesome mom?  You decide.

I finally got around to taking a picture for and ordering our Christmas cards yesterday.  This is the best picture I got out of around 20.  Newly walking Star absolutely wouldn't stay put and kept sitting down or walking away.  Hubby finally got her to stay put by distracting her by making silly faces behind me while I snapped pictures, but by that time, the other two kids were done and none of those pictures turned out at. all.  If you recall, last year's Christmas card featured a crying Star so I guess this is an improvement, right?  BTW, Little Man's big cheesy grin totally cracks me up every time I look at him.     

As far as presents go, I'm done shopping.  I got most of the gifts on Zulily in the fall so just had a few left after that.  Pretty painless and I came in under budget thanks to the awesome deals on Zulily.  Christmas baking is coming along pretty well too, especially considering that I didn't do any last year.  Today, I knocked out 2 batches of frosted sugar cookies, 1 batch of fudge, and 1 batch of Mexican Wedding Cakes.  And by knocked out, I mean I made them, not ate them although the temptation was there. 

Just for fun, here are the kids' Christmas wish lists this year.  I gotta be honest with you...I'm done shopping for them and nothing I got them is on their lists, but I know they'll be thrilled with their gifts anyways :)  Besides, as you can see, these kids aim expensive high.

Princess's Christmas Wish List
Pink seahorse (Star has a blue one like this and the 2 older kids swiped it and fight over it all the time, thus Princess wants her own now and she wants a pink one of course, because pink is obviously the best)

Ballet costume with ballet shoes (Obviously, the many ballet costumes and shoes she already owns are no longer good enough)

Unicorns (Ummm....she wouldn't give me clarification on this one, but the answer is no anyways)

A real horse (Hubby calls horses hay burners and there's no way he'd ever buy one in a million years.  Keep dreaming, honey)


Little Man's Christmas Wish List
Combine (Little Man went with Hubby to the John Deere store, saw a huge toy combine and fell in love.  He's been raving about it ever since) 

"Veeler" drive (4 wheel drive tractor.  Also seen at the John Deere store)

A real combine  (HAHAHAHAHA!!!!  No.)


Star's Christmas Wish List
Baby food pouches (seriously, she eats 2 of them in one sitting for a snack and absolutely LOVES them)

More milk.  Always more milk.

For her older siblings to quit stealing her toys (like the aforementioned misappropriated seahorse)


What's on your kids' Christmas wish lists this year?

Random Monday-November 4, 2013

Little Man told me that when he gets hurt, I should give him bacon and a hug.  I'm pretty sure that that combo would fix any owies I get too.

Little Man was asking me questions about the baby in my tummy the other day.  Here are a few of my favorites:
"Is the baby going to fly out of your tummy?" (Ha!  If only it were that easy!)
"Is the baby crying in your tummy?" (Only if you keep poking my stomach.)
"Is there a baby in your leg too?"  (Wait a minute, what are you implying?!?)

Little Man's typical bedtime prayer: "Dear Jesus, thank you for a wonderful day. Thank you for "What Does the Fox Say?' *breaks into an enthusiastic "wa pow pow pa pow pow pow!" and dances crazily mid-prayer before moving on*.  Thank you for the tractor that went in the field with the trailer and it didn't get breaked and Grandpa drived it and I didn't even get to ride along because I want to and Grandpa didn't come get me so I could.  Amen."

BTW, if you've seen the viral song "What Does the Fox Say" on Youtube, you should check out this parody.  If you ask me, it's even better than the original :)



I love this picture that Princess drew of her and Little Man in school.  She wrote their ages and first initials above each one.  I'm not sure, but I think Little Man has a beard and mustache. 

Because my craft room is actually a 2 foot wide area behind the couch in the living room, I have to cut fabric on my living room floor.  Due to having, well, children, I usually do this during nap/rest/ask-every-5-seconds-if-it's-time-to-get-up-yet time, but sometimes, I'm working on something that needs to be done asap.  Such as a dress for Princess to wear to school the next day.  However, this is what happens when I lay my fabric on the floor to cut:

I've been told that I have a very cute fabric weight.  This may be true, but I'd rather have a fabric weight that doesn't wiggle so much.

Random Monday-October 14, 2013

I've been dying to try a pumpkin spice chai latte, but haven't made it to Trader Joe's to buy their mix yet.  However, I was at Target last week and picked up an International Delight Pumpkin Spice creamer.  I added a little to my regular chai that I make from the mix I buy at Sam's Club and it was to die for.  Seriously, go try it.

Star caught a bug last Monday.  By the time we were heading home from Hubby's grandpa's funeral, she had a pretty high fever.  She slept a lot this week, didn't eat much, spiked several high fevers, and cried quite a bit.  Friday was the worst.  She screamed and tried to climb up me if I put her down, but when I held her, she cried and hit me.  She was obviously very miserable, but even Tylenol didn't help.  Thankfully, she woke up on Saturday feeling much better although she was still tired and out-of-sorts all weekend.  

Little Man told my brother-in-law: "I used to have a little mommy, but now I have a biiiig mommy!"  Thanks, Buddy. 

Hubby's grandpa passed away last week and it was hard on our family.  Princess cried off and on for the first few days after we told her.  When we went to visit Hubby's grandma two days after his grandpa died, Princess behaved terribly the whole time we were there, and I think seeing her great grandpa's empty chair and actually realizing that he's not there anymore was hard for her.  We told Little Man that Great Grandpa went to heaven, but he's too young to really understand what we mean.  At the viewing and funeral, Little Man was pretty confused.  Here's a few of the things he said at the viewing:

Little Man: "Why is he sleeping?"
Me: "He's not sleeping, he died, Honey."
Little Man: "Did he walk in here and then lay down?"

"Where's Grandpa's feet?"

Little Man: "Grandma, wake him up!"
Grandma: "Honey, Great Grandpa's gone.  We can't wake him up."
Little Man: "No, he's not.  He's right here!"

"Who will close the lid?  Will Jesus close the lid?  I think God will close the lid."

"Grandpa's in Heaven! Last night, I went to heaven with Jesus too."  (He's confusing sleeping with going to heaven)

"Is that heaven?" (pointing to the coffin)

Princess asked Hubby's mom why Great Grandpa died.  Her answer was that Great Grandpa was very sick, and so God called him home because it was his time to go.  That night, Princess's bedtime prayer went like this: "Dear God, take care of Great Grandma and help her not to get sick and not to go home.  Don't tell her that it's her time."  

Have you had a family member die?  How did you explain it to your young children?

Random Monday - September 23, 2013

It's been over a week since I posted.  Yes, everything's fine, I'm just SO SO SO SO tired.  Too tired to blog or read or watch tv or anything.  Taking care of the kids, taking minimal care of the house, and work is all I can handle right now.  Princess started kindergarten a few weeks ago which means getting up 45 minutes earlier than usual plus I started back to my babysitting job last week.  I've been pregnant before and had newborns before, but I had no idea that this level of sheer exhaustion and fatigue was possible.  I have way too much to do today to take a nap, but when I got home from work, I ate lunch and then sat on the couch and cried because I was just that tired.  I finally decided to quit being an idiot about it and take a quick nap because it was obvious I wasn't going to check anything off my to-do list in that condition anyways.  45 minutes later, I feel a smidge better, but I can already feel the fatigue creeping in again.  By the way, I will be lodging a complaint with my doctor because I still haven't gotten that second trimester energy I was promised...     

Anyway, here are a few random things from the last 10 days...

Walking outside with Little Man on a windy day, he looked up at me and said, "I don't want to 'wind' away!"  (blow away)

Princess found a pair of ear muffs and wore them around the house for a day while proclaiming them her very own "muffins."

Last weekend, Hubby and I visited his younger sister with the kids.  The kids had a blast since she made it her job to spoil them for the weekend :)  We took them to a candy store on Saturday morning, then to Golden Corral buffet for lunch (quite possibly the best buffet ever).  Of course, the dessert counter with its chocolate fountain and cotton candy was what really impressed the kids.    

Princess with her very own cotton candy (that's Little Man covered in chocolate on her left.)

We went back to my sister-in-law's for naps and then finished the day with Chuck E. Cheese.  It was Princess and Little Man's second trips to Chuck E. Cheese and Star's first.

Star loved the pizza and watching all the commotion.

I was working on the computer and listening to Pandora on my tablet when I noticed a cute little someone dancing along so I grabbed my camera.

Random Monday - September 9, 2013

When I say or do something that Little Man doesn't like (i.e. tickle him when he's done playing), he'll cry out, "You hurt my feelings!"

I found a Piddle Pad at Goodwill the other day for a dollar and snatched it up.  I hadn't put it away yet when I saw Princess laying on her stomach on the floor with the Piddle Pad on her head.
"Why are you wearing that on your head?" I asked.
"Because it wanted to be on my head." was her reply.

I almost died laughing when Princess asked if she could watch "Diarrhea Princess".  What she was really asking to watch was Princess Diaries.

Little Man: "Mommy, can I have my scissors?"
Me: "Yes, but before I give them to you, what are you going to cut up?"
Little Man: "Oh, nothing."
Me (instantly suspicious): "Really?  So what are you going to do with them?"
Little Man (nonchalantly): "Just cut the lid off that black thing in the kitchen.  That's all."
Me: "Oh, you mean cut the lid off the canister of raisins I just got done telling you that you couldn't have, right?"
Little Man (still nonchalant): "Yup.  That's all.  Can I have my scissors?"
Me: "I appreciate your honesty, but no."

All the back-to-school pictures I saw from my friends on Facebook had happy, smiling children posing with new backpacks.  This is what I got while we were waiting for the bus.

Way to break your mom's heart, kid...

The bus shed forgot to call us that morning to tell us that they were changing the bus route.  Instead of stopping at 7:10 like we were originally told, the bus came at 7:45.  We spent almost an hour total waiting outside for the bus.  And then, when it finally came, it drove right past us and went to my in-laws' house because most people don't know about that a second family with the same last name lives on our road.  What a wonderful start to the school year...