Well Round Three was me...

I had just told a couple people yesterday that a miracle had happened and Elvi, Jamie and I had been spared the stomach bug.  But at around 10PM last night I started feeling funny.  By 11PM I knew what was coming, and by midnight was in the bathroom, where I basically spent the whole night.  Why do these kinds of things have to happen at that hour?  So now am exhausted....

It's still raining here, waiting for Noah to go floating by my bedroom window any moment now... But should be stopping today.  Carver has a basketball game tomorrow morning, then two soccer games, one on Sat,  one on Sunday... the beginning of a post-season 'Grad Series' for boys who will be moving up to U-10 next Fall.  He's excited to find out a few of our friends are also on the team.

I don' t know if I'll go to my sil's party tomorrow night, will play it by ear, and then this fun "Snow Day" that we always attend is supposed to be tomorrow, but am guessing it will be canceled since it's so wet.  Should be a nice low-key weekend...  Still haven't solved the smell problem in the little spare room, though... worries me...

Oh and just a little cute thing...  In this rain Jamie has become completely enamored with umbrellas. Big ones, little ones, travel size, etc.  Not a moment in the past four days has he not had one by his side, including in bed.   :-)

Seeing buckets...

And will likely be seeing them for a while in my mind.  John is great, btw, at hitting the bucket.  :-)  Great basketball player too, maybe a correlation?  We've finished round two of the throw-ups around here, and waiting for round three... four... and five.  Am sure they're coming, just as sure as I was this rain was coming...  and raining it is.  On round three of it, and supposedly tonight will be the worst.  Praying the hillsides stay relatively intact above our local communities.

Even with the rain and the throwing up we had a very nice weekend.  This visit from my best friend was the nicest we've had in a while.  The twins are older so they can now join in on activities.  Plus,  we had no real agenda since Carver's birthday stuff was all canceled, and it's just plain less crazy around here since John and Jamie will actually sit down sometimes.  :-)  It was nice to watch Vicki get to know them as children, not just crazy toddlers, but more importantly as unique individuals.  There is still plenty of crazy going on, just much more manageable and fun...

Poor Carver spent one day of it on the couch, but at least surrounded by all the rest of us who were basically trapped in the house due to the rains.

 

Must be what it's like to have children in a place that snows.  :-)  We played a LOT of hide and seek, some indoor (and outdoor when the rain would stop) T-ball and just wrestled around.

Instead of the big plan to take Carver and his friends to see IMAX Avatar and out to dinner, Vicki and I took the twins to see Alvin and the Chipmunks, which they loved.  They sat still through the whole thing until John got antsy in only the last five minutes.

They also went along with all of us, plus Elvi, out to a restaurant and AGAIN behaved beautifully.  I can finally see a light at the end of a long tunnel.  Maybe once I am working again we will really be able to go out to restaurants, movies, events etc, all of us together.

We took the boys to buy baseball supplies, though we had no idea Carver was on the verge of being so sick... He wanted to come along, but threw up all over the parking lot the minute he got out of the car.  Then wanted to come in the store, only to have to run out and do it in a little dirt area around a tree, poor bub.  Got home, got him situated on the couch and Vicki took the twins outside to give the baseball T a try.  They'd never done it before, but from their first swings were wacking balls across the street.  Ah the skills of  second children,  they seem to know how to do almost everything like this much earlier...

 

I also had an 'adult' night out, which I think was much deserved. :-)  We had dinner at a very cool, stylish Argentinian restaurant with delicious food.  But most of all I just enjoyed having another adult in my house who loves my children.  Vicki really adores them, and they can feel it.  Everything felt calmer and more manageable, maybe just because the ratio of adults to children was just that little bit more even.  :-)

These pictures are from her camera, btw... She took one of her 'roommate' Carver while still asleep the morning after being sick.  I love the light... but mostly that he still looks exactly like several sleeping pictures I took from the same angle when he was just a month old.

She left Tuesday after helping with some stuff that needed doing around here - including getting two new tires for the mini-van.  Then probably before her plane landed, it was John's turn to start getting sick.  No sleep last night for Elvi or I, as then Jamie woke up around 3AM and wanted to know where John was... and had trouble settling back down.  John's bout was much worse than Carver's.  He lay there without speaking and kept throwing up and throwing up...  the littlest sips of pedialyte would come back up so we finally stopped giving him anything and he was finally done by the wee hours of the morning.  Carver was exhausted the day after his bout, even though he only threw up maybe four times, but John is bright and active today...  Maybe a miracle will happen and Jamie, Elvi and I won't get it.

I'm stressed cuz have missed two days of work, (one last week cuz of me being sick, and one this week cuz of the boys) but couldn't be helped and it really is mine to come and go... I just need to get my hours.  But what worries me is getting 'id'd' as a mom with little kids, meaning someone who will have this kind of thing happen frequently.  Other interns have absolutely no responsibilities but to themselves... those of us starting over with new careers have nothing but other responsibilities.

And then after putting in a new electrical panel last month, thinking my electrical problems were solved, Elvi saw a tiny waft of smoke come from a kitchen outlet yesterday.  Not good.  :(  And now maybe from the rain, I'm not sure, there is a bad sort of chemical smell in what I call the 'sunrise' room.  This little room addition my father and a handyman built about two years ago.  The smell seems to have come from another outlet on an exterior wall.  It's never been there before, does not smell like burning, does not smell like mold.  Smells kind of like wet leather with a chemical aftertaste.  Called the electrical company and they say they don't have people who will come to work in this kind of rain.  Both are grounded outlets, and have turned them 'off' and not plugging anything in to them, but probably won't have anyone seeing them till Friday...  I hate that there is always something around here.  Need a new oven, frig is leaking, have two older cars... Not a good combination with no paycheck, and now this.  :-(

Doesn't help that I am always kind of blue whenever Vicki leaves.  For a couple of days I see what it's like to do this whole parenting gig, run a small plantation thing kind of with someone else.  I do have Elvi, but it's different.  But then a few days pass,  I get my mojo back, and I'm fine again doing it by myself.  So that will come... it always does.   :-)

Oh and forgot... also in a blech mood because I have to go to a dressy 50th birthday party for my middle sil this Saturday night, and all my plans to try to lose this X-mas weight and bloated feeling have again fallen by the wayside as they always do because of Carver's Birthday and Vicki's visit...  Have no idea what I am going to wear and always feel so overweight and dowdy with this group of the beautiful people... all very thin and toned and monied...  But I have to go, have to hold my head up high.  Just no idea what to wear and no ability to buy anything new. :-(  ugh.

If they'd only go to sleep

I would actually have maybe three hours to myself tonight.  Carver is at his first birthday party sleepover so I am down to only two children, which makes things feel so quick and easy.  He was so cute, btw, packing up his stuff... his DS, his camera and his Mp3 player.  Hope he gets a little sleep as he has a basketball game at 1PM tomorrow.

I've got another thirty minutes of chatter before I have that glorious sense of freedom that comes with the sound of my children sleeping.  Have a bottle of red wine and some Chinese food for Elvi and I, and a good movie to watch.  Happy tonight as my best friend flies down from Portland tomorrow for a three-day visit to continue the Carver birthday festivities.

Elvi is having a good day, after a really hard one yesterday.  Her oldest son's restaurant had its big opening night last night and of course she missed it.  Her whole family turned out to celebrate.   Elvi has been involved with so much of it, can't believe she can't snap her fingers and just be able to be there.  But at least tonight there are many happy phone calls and FB pictures to look at, all pointing to a very successful night.

Jamie went on his very first 'field trip' today.   His morning class went on a bus to the Long Beach Aquarium, with Elvi tagging along...  (the distraction was good for her, I think.)   Below is actually her very first time taking pictures.  She used Carver's little inexpensive camera he got for Christmas... guess he'd been playing around with it and turned on the date stamp thingie.

Jamie loved the sharks and the sting rays and smelled like a little fish factory when he got home.  He became enamored with the little sister of one of his classmates and followed her around all morning, ignoring his more steady girlfriend.  Poor thing, look at the look on her face as he leans in for the picture.

This is his usual love...

 

 

John's class gets to go next week...

Ok, they're asleep!  Twenty minutes earlier than expected.  8:06 and an evening to myself... 

Eight

I already can tell I love eight. Yesterday this eight year old boy came home from school, gave me a hug, (thank god he still does this) asked if he could take his bike out for a ride, found his helmet, realized it needed some adjusting, and then found the tool to do it. Adjusted it, then went out for a ride on his own. Came back in, washed his hands, made himself a snack, got himself something to drink with no spillage, and with only one prompt went outside and cleaned up the dog poop, fed the dog and changed the water. Then asked if he could shoot some hoops for a few more minutes before starting his homework. Came back in, washed his hands *again* and happily finished his homework on his own. Found his basketball practice clothes, changed into them, and with only two requests, put his dirty clothes in the basket. Ate dinner, filled up his canteen with water, because now of course, he's learned about protecting the earth, so only wants to use a canteen. Asks to go outside and practice some more before heading to basketball. Comes home, gives himself a bath, finds and puts on his pajamas and meets me in the family room to practice his science presentation for the next day. Prepares his index cards and does a couple run thrus perfectly, makes himself another snack and then goes off to bed with no complaints. Not every day will be like this, but if even half of them are, then I really love eight. :-)