Day "Off"

Looking back, I would classify Thursday as an overall success.



Let me begin by explaining about the unholy amounts of rain that we have been receiving. Animals are pairing up and searching for the ark. Our yard (5 acres) became super saturated a week or two ago and it has continued to rain. There is water running everywhere. I feel that I should hang on to the kids anytime we walk out the door due to the fear of them being swept away by the running water. Wait, did I say fear? I must have meant due to the parental, protective responsibility I feel.



M was apparently was feeling pressure from the previous blog's mention of his "helpfulness" because he was a new man bordering on the helpfulness of a wo'man'. It was pouring down rain when I packed the fosters up in the Tahoe to head to the doctor and M fought the C man into the RX-8. When I say fought, boy was it a fight! He was screaming and crying and reaching for me. He in no way shape or form wanted dad to take him to school. I just blew him a kiss, reminded him I loved him, and told him to have a GREAT day at school. M looked thrilled about being so helpful.



Got to the doctor and managed to get the fosters into the building dry (them, not me because I was soaked from my toes to just above the knee) and signed in first on the list. Woo Hoo! This is going to be a great rainy day. M shows up and tells me about how the C man never calmed down and the teacher rescued him by prying C off of him at the school. "welcome to my world buddy" I think, but respond with,"oh gosh, I'm so sorry he was having such a rough morning".



Got the scripts I wanted for the fosters, they got the candy they wanted and we all head for the door. It is now crazy pouring and lightening. While M waits with R, I run W to the truck with the umbrella and climb in to strap him into the car seat that is in the middle of the backseat. Just after I shut the door to the truck behind me it dawns on me that I have that stupid little child lock switch flipped on so the doors in the back won't open from the inside. Great for the kids, but not so great for the out of shape, inflexible, soaking wet mom who now has to climb over the kid in the car seat and maneuver herself over the seat to get into the front. All I can say is thank God it is pouring outside and all anyone could see is a dark shadow moving around in the vehicle. "Let's make this look planned" I think to myself and start the truck and pull up to pick up R from M. Wasn't that so thoughtful of me???



Drop R at day care (who whines that her jacket is wet on the outside - oh please, I'm wet up to my belt) and head with W to the health department for shots. M meets us there to do his duty of holding the poor victim. Go back to get the shots and find out he needs to get 4 of them and that they do it in his arms one at a time. OMG!!!! Let me just tell you something, I cried more about it than he did even when they sunk those 2" needles into his two little arms four times. He was so tough! I guess all of that fighting with R has paid off. Now W has his second piece of candy and it's not even 10:00 in the morning. That's more candy than he has had on my watch in 6 weeks. Oh, who cares? He's going to be at day care for the rest of the day.



Speaking of 10:00, we have 10 minutes to get across town and sign him into daycare or we have to feed him lunch before dropping him off. I also need to get to work because I only have 1 hour to make up if I hurry. I run W to daycare and sign him in at 9:58. Run home to get Motrin for him (yes I forgot he needed it before the shots). Run back to day care, drug W, make R go to the potty, and kiss them both goodbye and get signed back into work by 10:15.



Now, sometime between the health department and the daycare my mother-in-law calls to say she is planning to come stay for a few days and should be at the house around noon. Most would normally not be too happy about something like this, but I am THRILLED!!! The crazy rain has driven her work inside and she is coming to work on my house!!!! Our hall bath has been out of commission because of a leak since before New Year's. We have had all 5 of us using my bathroom the whole time the fosters have been here. Let me tell you that boys and toddlers have made it seem like a truck stop in there.



M finishes out his helpfulness for the day and everyone shows up at home at their respective times, dinner is eaten, dishwasher is loaded and running, baths and showers are given, and all under the age of 6 are put to bed by 8:30. It is still raining, flooding, and begins storming sometime after 9:00. Tornadoes and crazy rain and wind start up and move across the state in our direction. The kids and puppy all sleep through it and M decides to go to bed around 10:15 because after all, "it's just another tornado or two." What a crazy man! Mom-in-law and I stay up watching the weather coverage until it passes around 1:00 in the morning.



Why would any of this be considered worthy of calling Thursday a success? The success is that we were not blown away by a tornado, I lost no children to the running yard waters, I'm getting a second bathroom back, and no one from DCFS (DHS) in any county called wanting to place another child in our home. The biggest success is that my husband spent the majority of this one day "off" much the same way I spend all of my days "off."

It's Raining Kids

Let me start by saying that M thinks I am a complete loser for doing this blog. I have to admit that his disapproval of me doing it probably fueled a desire to do it. Can you feel the love? :)


This morning's chaos began with having more children needing to go to school and day care than I have seats in the car (thanks to the stupid front seat airbags). We had one of the neighbor's kids spend the night so she could make it to her appointment first thing this morning. This extra kid presented the problem of 4 kids (2 foster, C man, and the neighbor) and 3 available children seats. Turns out that the 2 year male foster kid, we will call "W", needed to go to the ENT at 9:30 so I decided to keep him home from day care until the appointment time to resolve the car problem. M was home since he didn't go into work until 11:00. You would think that would mean he was a wonderful help getting all 4 kids up, fed, dressed, and out the door. Well, he did finaly get up and put socks on W before I left with the other 3. What did I expect, he is male after all. I so want to come back as a male when I die. It would be like being on vacation all of the time! Upon my return, I found M and W on my bed. W was wearing his coat zipped up to his neck and smelled strongly of a poopy diaper. When I asked about the poopies, M looked surprised (like you couldn't smell it from the back door) and W nodded yes. I explained that the "present" was made on his watch for him and left M to change W. The ENT trip went fine, another drop off at the day care and then back home to work some more.

It's month end, so work is crazy this week. Even crazy work is often a nice relief from even more crazy kids. How sick is that? Speaking of more crazy kids....Took a quick break from work to pick up the two big boys from school and then the 2 foster kids when M came home for his dinner break. A little after 5:00, the four kids and puppy started getting hyped up running up and down the hall screaming while I was fixing dinner when the other lady helping the neighbor showed up at the door with the neighbor's one year old. SO now it's 5:30, M is at work, and I by myself have 5 hungry children ages 1, 2, 3, 5, and almost 6 running crazy in my house. UGH!!!! Calgon take me, never mind just shoot me!

The next 2 solid hours are spent feeding, bathing, disciplining, refereeing, wiping noses, butts, etc. and fixing a dinner plate for the neighbor's husband who picked up their 2 children at 7:30. By 8:30, my three brats are bathed and in bed, the dishwasher is loaded and running, and I fix myself a dinner plate and sit down to begin the thought process of planning out tomorrow's schedule which along with the normal work, school dropoffs, laundry, meals, baths, etc. has to include

1. a trip to the health dept for shots for W (M is off and wins this trip by default),
2. a trip to the Dr office with both W & R (the 3 year old female foster child) for new allergy prescriptions because both weigh around 30 pounds each and I truly believe 25 pounds has to be snot. (this one I win because M might not get it right),
3. a trip to Walgreen's to pick up the scripts, (perhaps M gets this one)
4. a trip to the school for lunch with C man who is feeling neglected because of the foster kids(M wins again!)
5. try to make arrangements for the brats for next Tuesday night when I am supposed to be an hour away for a work meeting and M has to work.

Just another typical day in paradise. Great news is that after 6 weeks of having these two children, R reached an affection milestone tonight and gave me an unsolicited hug AND kiss at bedtime. That's the first kiss she has given me without first being prompted by receiving one. One small baby step in a wild day of chaos, that my friends makes most days worth it.

As I close to go to bed, I noticed that Max, the 6 month old Yorkie puppy, has drug out his favorite pillow and is getting very friendly with it until he can't walk straight. So much for his neutering slowing that habit down! You can't help but laugh at him.

Hug your babies big and small and someone else's too! They all need to be loved.