A week home
The sun had yet to rise the quiet of the house was periodically broken by the slamming of the screen door as those fierce winter winds blew. That is until my resident joker woke up. The sound of a whoopee cushion and the maniacal laughter of a 10 year old was my alarm clock today. A full week of no school or activities and I have an early rising prankster. The whoopee cushion was a gift from Olivia. It was discovered in the dollar store by Leah. She was drawn to the wall of joke stuff and of course the whoopee cushion being the main attraction. What she did appalled me. Taking one off the rack she placed it on the floor and sat on it. There we were in the aisle with frantic shoppers and my daughters laughing uncontrollably. as each took a turn testing the gag out. Leah did not know she was getting that as a gift making it a wonderful surprise. Olivia slipped it in my basket as they prowled around looking for gifts for each other. I knew then it was going to be a troublesome gift but, hey, it's fun I thought, no big deal. I never thought that it would be used early in the morning. Only Leah would think of using it so early. Hilariously she was amusing herself with it. Not only did that moment of fun wake me it woke the little sleepy baby. I must say the sound of a whoopee cushion early in the morning is a very strange noise to hear. Almost startling. I fully expect the cushion to make its dinner appearance as one of us will find it placed on our chair. Usually Daddy is the one to be the target but even the baby is included. Ahh yes, potty jokes and 5th graders, the normal humor they enjoy.
Meanwhile the other two girls are napping. The baby is trying to sleep in her crib. She has been terrified of it for some time now. Not sure why. We need to get her to be unafraid of it soon before she is able to sit up making the bassinet a danger. So far progress is not as quick as we want. She sleeps 2 hours at most but I hope to increase that little by little. She can sleep 5-6 hours straight in her bassinet. Now that is bliss for me. I am thinking a plan of half the night in the crib is a good goal. I think she likes the idea of being able to stretch out but misses the snuggle comfort of the bassinet. So far jamming rolled up receiving blankets next to her has helped. This is going to be a tricky process of missing some sleep for me until she is totally comfortable in the crib. I'm working hard to get over the hardest bump this week since school is out and there is no need to rush in the morning. She did fall asleep on her own in the crib this morning. I put on the music and she wiggled a bit before falling asleep. That's her normal need to nap time which is key for me. I have to make sure she sleeps in the crib then to make it an expected part of her day.
Olivia is ill. The Flu it seems. Unfortunately she was the only one not to get the flu shot. It just slipped past me and now she got hit. Dang. Poor thing. She spends most of her day sleeping and laying on the couch. She has also spent a fair bit of her time in the bathroom. (ick) Which means I've been a busy Mama. Between a hungry clingy baby and a sick kiddo I've been running around most of the night and day. I'm keeping Olivia packed full of fluids. Her appetite is down as expected but it's not so low to give me worry. She asks for carrots and dip. It's her fluid intake that worries me. She has never been one to drink what she needs so this illness has me on alert. I do not want to repeat her experience of an ER visit the last time she had the flu. She became so dehydrated that her fever would not go down. I spent the night in the hospital as bag after bag of fluids were put into her tiny 2 year old body. Terrible. I must say as an 8 year old she is much more willing to drink the Gatorade I give her. She is doing better each day but this flu is really taking its toll on her. I'm not sure she'll be well enough to try out for the travel soccer team. She was selected as one to play for the team, but with tryouts next week she may not feel like going. It's something she really wants to do this spring. I'm hoping she is better in time, I'd hate for her to be disappointed about missing the tryout because of illness.
Like it or not my house is still a disaster. I'm never certain where all the post Christmas stuff should go. I want to say in the basement but that is silly. It will only lay in piles there until March. Which is not problem but for Auntie Sarah coming in 2 days. I'd hate to stack up piles of stuff where we plan to have her stay. What a welcome that would be. So that means I have to think and sort. I've starting putting piles of upstairs and downstairs together. Now if only someone would move them to where they need to be then I'd be making some real progress. My orderly obsessed personality wants those things to be put away. At this point I'm pretty much ok with them being tossed in the girls' rooms to be dealt with later.
Meanwhile the other two girls are napping. The baby is trying to sleep in her crib. She has been terrified of it for some time now. Not sure why. We need to get her to be unafraid of it soon before she is able to sit up making the bassinet a danger. So far progress is not as quick as we want. She sleeps 2 hours at most but I hope to increase that little by little. She can sleep 5-6 hours straight in her bassinet. Now that is bliss for me. I am thinking a plan of half the night in the crib is a good goal. I think she likes the idea of being able to stretch out but misses the snuggle comfort of the bassinet. So far jamming rolled up receiving blankets next to her has helped. This is going to be a tricky process of missing some sleep for me until she is totally comfortable in the crib. I'm working hard to get over the hardest bump this week since school is out and there is no need to rush in the morning. She did fall asleep on her own in the crib this morning. I put on the music and she wiggled a bit before falling asleep. That's her normal need to nap time which is key for me. I have to make sure she sleeps in the crib then to make it an expected part of her day.
Olivia is ill. The Flu it seems. Unfortunately she was the only one not to get the flu shot. It just slipped past me and now she got hit. Dang. Poor thing. She spends most of her day sleeping and laying on the couch. She has also spent a fair bit of her time in the bathroom. (ick) Which means I've been a busy Mama. Between a hungry clingy baby and a sick kiddo I've been running around most of the night and day. I'm keeping Olivia packed full of fluids. Her appetite is down as expected but it's not so low to give me worry. She asks for carrots and dip. It's her fluid intake that worries me. She has never been one to drink what she needs so this illness has me on alert. I do not want to repeat her experience of an ER visit the last time she had the flu. She became so dehydrated that her fever would not go down. I spent the night in the hospital as bag after bag of fluids were put into her tiny 2 year old body. Terrible. I must say as an 8 year old she is much more willing to drink the Gatorade I give her. She is doing better each day but this flu is really taking its toll on her. I'm not sure she'll be well enough to try out for the travel soccer team. She was selected as one to play for the team, but with tryouts next week she may not feel like going. It's something she really wants to do this spring. I'm hoping she is better in time, I'd hate for her to be disappointed about missing the tryout because of illness.
Like it or not my house is still a disaster. I'm never certain where all the post Christmas stuff should go. I want to say in the basement but that is silly. It will only lay in piles there until March. Which is not problem but for Auntie Sarah coming in 2 days. I'd hate to stack up piles of stuff where we plan to have her stay. What a welcome that would be. So that means I have to think and sort. I've starting putting piles of upstairs and downstairs together. Now if only someone would move them to where they need to be then I'd be making some real progress. My orderly obsessed personality wants those things to be put away. At this point I'm pretty much ok with them being tossed in the girls' rooms to be dealt with later.
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