Sickness, BE GONE WITH YOU!!!

What's up everyone?!? No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, and yes, I did survive the 80+ hours I volunteered at the Kidsignments sale! I know some of you who went and experienced the chaos first hand probably wondered...

1) Is Caron completely crazy for voluntarily subjecting herself to this?
2) What time will these people get to go home tonight?
and
3) Will the line ever make it to under4 hours long?

Well...

1) I don't think so... but I'll let you judge for yourself
2) 3:12 a.m. was the latest we got out
and
3) Yes! it took some doing, but we didn't stop 'till the last tag was cut!

So was it worth it? Heck yeah, baby!! I got tons of great deals and lots of adorable things for the kids. Plus, it's always awesome to get to hang out with all my friends I work with twice a year. It was also great to see Andrea and Lara, and finally meet Chris and Tara in person!! I wish I could have seen y'all more... we'll just have to plan it better next sale!!

Unfortunately, working the sale has been the about the most exciting thing that's happened around here lately. It seems that 2008 is turning out to be 'the year of the antibiotic' for us. This is way out of character because generally speaking, we rarely get sick! I don't know... it's like there's some kind of beacon light flashing above our house, just begging the viruses and crap to 'STOP HERE!' Or maybe 2008 just happens to be the year the stars and the planets align just right creating some kind of weird gravitational pull that automatically sucks germs and funky illness towards the kids. I mean really... we have never had as many issues around here as we have had lately.

The year started off with your classic 'mini-flu', which is every bit as bad as the regular flu, but just doesn't last as long. Then came Mr. Cold, which naturally brought his good friends Cough and Wheeze. Ear Infection stopped by for awhile. Even Fever who we rarely see has made a few appearances here lately. Needless to say Sleep took off as soon as he saw those guys coming. Finally Penicillin and Albuterol laid down the law and things quited down. Peace was in sight. That is, until the One Year Molar Twins showed up and interjected their own bit of chaos in to the mix.

So, is it over??? Are we finally getting a break form prescriptions, and Kleenex, and nebulizers? Ummmmm, that would be a big, fat NEGATORY. (sorry, I just had to reference that... the definition #3 was just hilarious!) So where was I?? Ah, yes... so today ole' Stomach Virus found out that he'd been missing out heck of a party at 'Casa De Rich' and was slightly peeved that he hadn't been a part the preceding festivities. So he decided to drop by today and went straight for first victim... Wyatt. Of course Michael was at work, so I had the joy of cleaning up the aftermath all by my lonesome. His crib resembled a scene from the Exorcist. I had no idea one kid could possibly puke that much. And to top it off, Wyatt has recently invented a new game called 'Lets pull the crib sheet off the mattress so mommy has to put it back on'. This great game is played daily now, not just at night, but at naps as well. Well, needless to say the game was over and the sheet had been successfully removed leaving the bare mattress to catch the brunt of it. All in all, I had to wash the mattress, the sheets, the bumper pads, the crib skirt, and scrub the carpet. All of this, of course after I bathed Wyatt. I had to put him in the tub fully clothed and still holding his blanket. After I got him cleaned and dressed, I had to clean the tub, start the nasty load of laundry, and scrub the affected pacifier. I finished all this... washed my hands, and turned around just in time to see round two hit. This time... kitchen floor. At least this was easier to clean.

Fortunately it was gorgeous today so we played on the porch a lot. The warm weather couldn't have come at a better time because Allie got to run around while Wyatt took it easy and enjoyed the fresh air. It took his mind off of how bad he felt. And don't think that I hadn't thought about the fact that you can simply hose off a deck when something nasty happens. Carpet... not so much!! Anyway, after four or five more episodes and a few changes of clothes... I think we are past the worst of it. I am sooooo praying that Allie dodges the barf bullet. (But seeing as how we just aren't that lucky... I must confess that I completely lined the carpet in her bedroom with towels in case we get any action tonight. 'Cuz hey, if there's one thing I hate more than scrubbing barf off a carpet, it's scrubbing barf off a carpet at 3:00 in the morning... ya feel me?!?!

Anyway... sorry to gripe so much! A lot of this 'blog update' (O.K., 'vent'...whatever...) stems off my sheer frustration towards parents who insist on sending their kids to school or church or any place when they know they're sick. I mean, I know we're all bound to get sick sometimes... but if Little Sally has a fever and strep throat, PLEASE... for the love of God, don't take her to the McDonald's playground to 'cheer her up' until she is totally well. (Yes, I actually encountered this last week. And yes, I did refrain from informing that mother that she in fact, was a 'effing idiot who showed blatant disregarded for the health and well being of other people's offspring. Yep, I kept my mouth shut alright. Oh ALRIGHT!! Who am I kidding... y'all know me too well. The fact of the matter is I'm a total wimp who avoids confrontation like the plague. If I had any kahunas at all that day, I would have explained to that dumb woman that she was now responsible for the four insurance co-pays we'd have to fork out at $40 a pop, plus another $20 each for medicine. I would have then handed her a calculator, seeing as how as she probably would have needed one to do the simple addition necessary to calculate how much she owed me for her stupidity. I would have then quickly yanked the calculator back, telling her to allow me being that she was probably not intelligent enough to figure the math out on her own. Because after all... if she had any speck of intelligence or common sense about her she would have NEVER MADE THE DUMB ASS DECISION TO BRING A SICK AND CONTAGIOUS CHILD TO PLAY WITH OTHER KIDS!! Sheesh... I told you I had some frustration. Anyway... it's the same kind of thing at school and church... kids barely get over a virus and boom... parent's bring 'em anyway. I hate to be so grumpy, but sickness has already taken a huge chunk out of our year and I am ready to move on with it!

Anyway, I promise to be back in a better mood and with any luck, some better things to blog about. Until then, here are some of the shots from Wyatt's one year pictures. Naturally, Allie wanted to be in on it too, so I took a few with her.




I hope you all are doing well! I'm off to check in on every one's blog!