16 hour bug from H E L L

For those of you not following along on twitter.

Yesterday our day started with Ady crying at 6am. She was throwing up. By 7:30 when Steve left for work she had made about a dozen trips to the bathroom/garbage can.

According to the time on the camera around 9:20 Jaden started in with it.

It was so bad they were able to lay with each other, no fighting!

With in an hour I started in with it. I was forced to call Steve to come home. He was home around 11am. What a waste of a work day!

Jaden kept yelling for a towel. When I finally gave him one he put it over his mouth. Don't think it helped keep anything down but when you are 2 and throwing up every 10 minutes you can't be reasoned with.

There was a lot of ickies going on yesterday. Tears were shed...mainly by me. Jaden had a few moments of tears, though. Up until Steve got home Jaden was handling things well. Bending over the can, letting me help him, etc etc... As soon as he saw daddy was home he lost it. He had to have his daddy right then and he kept him on the living room for most of the day.

This was the worst stomach bug EVER! I spent around 27 hours, in my living room, with my children! My living room isn't large. In fact if you scroll back to the 2nd picture you can see Scarlet(the dog) laying down. She is in the doorway of the living room and toy room. I am standing with my back on the opposite wall to take the picture. See not very big! Anyway worst stomach bug...blah blah blah...kids were puking every 10 minutes. No exaggeration. Steve and I started getting excited about 4pm when Ady had gone 30 minutes! It was bad!

From the kids

For the daddy who lets us fix things

For the daddy who helps us learn

For the daddy who takes an active part in our interests

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Need an ego boost? Go to the eye doctor with 3 kids

The older kids went to the eye doctor today. First visit for both. We only took them because of the new law in IL stating that every child entering kindergarten needs to have an eye exam by a optometrist. I figured since Adylynn had to go it wouldn't hurt for Jonas to get checked too. After the appointment I was planning on going to the library so I took Jaden with us. All 3 kids were beyond excellent.

The exams went really well. Both kids did exactly what they were asked. It seems both Jonas and Adylynn have a slight farsightedness. Nothing to be worried about, most likely it will correct itself.

Ok I am going to start bragging. If you don't want to hear about how perfect my kids are, please turn off your computer.
Don't say I didn't warn you...
So first the individual child compliments I got
1. Wow, he is 2. He is so big(that isn't the compliment and in fact I am really getting sick of hearing this) and such a good boy letting mom fill out papers. My babies never let me get this stuff done ~ from old lady in the waiting area to(about) Jaden
2. He is very informative isn't he? ~ the doctor about Jonas. Jonas must have some sort of nervous talk a mile a minute tick. He did this same thing yesterday. He is asked a question "where do you live in Indiana" and instead of answering the name of his town he goes into this huge story about being a child of divorce, the days of the week, what all the instruments remind him of, all the insects, birds, animals we saw on our walk and how we all think he is very smart.
3. She is the best 4 year old I have ever tested. She is probably better than the 5 year olds too ~ the doctor talking about Adylynn. He wouldn't stop talking about how good she was. she's great. She is so mature. So well behaved. Or the best one, "I bet you are just a little angel at home, a big helper for mom"
I have no idea how why or when Ady managed to wrap this guy around her finger but good golly did she ever have him.

Now onto the group compliments
Look at how good these kids are being ~ receptionist
You really are an awesome mom ~ creepy old guy referring to my ability to juggle 3 kids, stairs, papers, a purse, a stroller, and a doll Jaden insisted on bringing but then I was stuck carrying.
You must be doing everything right with them. I have never had a group of kids behave so well~ the doctor
You walked here? How old are they? How far did you walk? You are lucky, my daughter's kids run all over. ~ the librarian when I asked her for a bag for our books.

I feel so good about the kids and myself. I am considering taking them out everyday.

Overheard this morning

We have already had a rough morning, and it is only 8:30am. I am trying to de-stress over a good cup of coffee, Pandora, and reading blogs but not having much luck.
All 3 kids are playing together. NICELY!
I think they are playing Transformersdoranarnia or maybe Doraformersberrysleepingrapunzel. ANYWAY, whatever it is Ady just said "No Jonas we need to save my friend Billy from the pirate pigs" Jonas said "OK but who's Billy?" Ady, with the same attitude she gave me over getting dressed, responded "MY FRIEND BILLY JOEL. The pirate pigs trapped him. He will never be able to sing again! The whole world will be sad especially Mommy! We have to save him! VAMOS!"

Suddenly I don't feel so stressed and tired.

Pre-recital

Getting ready for the big performance. I would love to take credit for the hair and make-up but my mom did it all.

The finished product! I couldn't get over how beautiful she looked. I have hundreds of pictures of her in various outfits, faces, and hairstyles but I don't know that I have ever seen her look so beautiful.




Not to steal Ady's thunder but look at this kid...

He was such a trooper. Ady's dance recital took 4 hours and Jaden was so good through it all. Granted, he did fall asleep somewhere during the 2nd hour but 2 hours of angel was wonderful. The last 2 hours he was an angel as well. He was a sleeping angel.

School's Out

My music lover has been singing this song for a week. She even gets a cool rock star voice for the chorus.

Favorite Spot

This is where the kids spent most of their rainy Friday.

I don't get it. 3 rooms full of toys. Many places to "hang out" around the house. Why the stairs?

Weirdos! That's all I can figure.
The look from Jonas is because I am interrupting their "important conversation"

tattling vs tattling

You tell me which you prefer

Adylynn, age 4. She likes to tattle old school style. High pitched screaming, running to adult, doing a yell cry "JADEN IS TURNING ON HERMIE'S LIGHT AND IT IS ALL HIS FAULT AND AND AND I AM NOT TATTLING JADEN IS JUST A CHEATER" she points a finger toward Jaden and sniffles back a tear.

Jonas, age 6. He likes to explore different ways to tattle. In this particular instance he crosses his arms over his chest says "FINE JADEN KILL MY FISH SEE IF I CARE" stomps over to the adult and sits with a heavy sigh with arms crossed. Where he will stay until said adult either asks him what's wrong(as if I don't know) or takes the bait and removes Jaden.

Knowing me personally you would probably think I prefer the pouty tattling of the 6 year old. You're wrong! Why? Well, I guess I feel like when you know tattling is wrong you shouldn't try to "work the system" just walk away. Walk away QUIETLY! Not with four thousand, under your breath, comments. Just suck it up and walk away! Now you are thinking I am evil. Poor Jonas thought Jaden was going to kill his fish...boohoo....well what you aren't considering is my 6 year old is exceptionally smart he knows that turning the light on and off on the fish isn't' going to kill it. He also knows that when he stomps off, comments, pouts, and does it RIGHT IN YOUR LINE OF SIGHT that he will win.

Now Adylynn's tattling usually results in more lecture to her and less punishing of Jaden. She knows it is wrong to tattle. She knows she was tattling.

So you see I prefer the more black and white version. The one where the lines are clearly drawn. Lectures are short and sweet. No complications of how there was no difference in what the 4 year old did versus the 6 year old.


~If you are worried about poor Jaden, he is fine. He was removed from the fish tank and then promptly picked up some scissors and cut my table ...and no... that isn't tattling, it immediately hurts someone/thing.

Preschool Graduate

Here she is! Getting her cap and necklace. She is a preschool graduate .



















I didn't get pictures of this preschool graduate during the ceremony

New obsession

I found this cool blog about waste-free lunches via a friend's blog. After reading several posts I started thinking this is a pretty cool idea.
We have been doing several small things this year to make our happy home a little greener. We have stopped using paper plates and paper coffee filters. Not a huge impact on the world, but definitely changing how we look at things.
Just as I am getting into this blog she posts that blogging will be more sporadic over the summer. OH NO! Well at least I can go through archives, and her blog roll. It turns out her blog roll led me to some other waste-free blogs and some great waste-free lunch sites. I have been exploring waste-free lunches and the EPA's pack a waste-free lunch along with the blogs I have found. I think this is something we can do that will have little impact on our finances and a big impact on the family. This is nice. We have looked into several opportunities to be more earth friendly and unfortunately some of them would just have too much of an impact on the family budget and the environment. Living in a small community means we would have drive to larger cities in order to buy better, support our local farmers, and other such avenues. We had to really think about the impact that buying local would have on the environment and our budget.

I might not always pack the most nutritional items in lunchboxes but my goal is to reduce waste, know what is going into my kids' bodies, and save money from school lunches that they wouldn't eat anyway. Just exploring this option has already had a trickle down effect on Steve. He has decided to stop using the plastic utensils they provide at work and start taking his own. I already pack a semi waste-free lunch for him. He takes leftovers for most lunches, in a reusable bowl. He reuses his plastic 20 oz bottles for water. Takes a coffee cup and thermos in the morning, and his breakfast is eaten on real dishes.
Things I will change for Steve's lunches:
-peanut butter crackers, pineapple cups, and other snack items he takes will now be bought in non prepackaged material. Instead I will use containers to send these snacks with him.
-silverware instead of using the provided plastic version
-He does drink 3 cans of soda a day but work has a recycle bin. The Awesome Hubby is an avid recycle-er!
I have all summer to prepare for Adylynn's waste-free lunches. I do plan to practice with picnics and day long outings. Plus I need to find some small reusable containers to send her food in. I haven't decided on cloth napkins as of yet. It will come, eventually, I'm sure.

Any other suggestions I haven't considered or ideas welcome!

Future Jerry Springer Guests

Adylynn and Jaden are playing house. See if you can follow this.

Jaden is the daddy. He has 16 kids. The blue bunny's mom never came home one time so he had to get a new wife and have new kids. The 5 "kids" he had with his next wife were all different and didn't get along so the wife took 2 and left the other 3 with blue bunny. Adylynn is the other 10 kids "we all look the same but we are very different" Adylynn's mom is on an adventure with her monkey friend Boots. Boots' mom is the blue bunny's aunt but not Jaden's sister or the mom's sister. The grandpa is Diego but Jaden calls him Diego not dad because he has no respect for his father EVEN THOUGH Jaden's daddy worked very hard to take care of Jaden's 16 kids.

I don't know where she comes up with this stuff.
Watching them play house was great. Jaden is still too little to play like that so she would start crying "daddy" and he would yell "Daddy at work" She would growl and yell "you are the dad we are pretending!"

"she has no weaknesses"

that is a direct quote from her teacher.

Completely out of the blue. Not tooting my horn. Just a simple statement regarding my daughter.

Of course always being on top of it I controlled my proud, shouting to the blogosphere, self and replied with a sarcastic remark "You should see her at home" Inside I am jumping up and down. "She has no weaknesses" Nothing that her future teachers need to know about. She is 100% on top of things and with it.

This is interesting because just the other night Steve was saying how he was still waiting for her "special thing" meaning the thing she excels at. With Jonas it was writing. He was writing his name legibly at 3. Possibly earlier.
Jaden has this unbelievable gift for puzzles. He can put together a 63 piece puzzle in the time it takes his siblings to do a 24 piece tray puzzle.
Adylynn shows she is smart in several ways but doesn't seem to have a gift for anything in particular. She is at the same spot that Jonas was at this time last year. She is starting to read, do addition and subtraction, and is able to be interested in an activity for more than a milisecond. She is going through the same phases he went through at her age. She isn't behind in anything. She is obsessed with her favorite things, throws fits, and can be the sweetest most wonderful child in the world when she wants too. I think her special gift has always been here and we neglected to see it. She has no weaknesses. So what if she doesn't have 1 thing that she is very good at. She is above average at 95% of what she does. The other 5% is average.

This realization brings me to the answer I have been looking for

She has to go to school.
It is time. I am trying to baby her. Hold her back.
The great school debate that has been going on for a year has been nothing more than a mother not wanting to let go.

I feel confident, finally! When I stopped looking at Ady as my baby and looked at her as just another child, I could see it. She has no weaknesses. Simple. Easy. No questions.

This summer will be full of lots of fun and memories. The school year will come before I am ready for it but when it comes at least I can say, with confidence, she is ready!

More pics

from this shoot




She has more coming too. I believe next week they are shooting promos for "Beach Day" which we did once before.

you heard it here first

the newest, coolest slang term for the kiddies

"sosoakin"(pronounced so so kin)

The following are examples of how to use "sosoakin"

This room in sosoakin messy

Jonas' new dinosaur legos are sosoakin cool

These jewels are sosoakin squishy



Sosoakin has been in Adylynn's vocabulary all day long. Tonight as she was getting ready for bed she actually said "My towel is sosoakin soaking wet" she then explained to me that she says sosoakin because it is cool.

wishing I had something to say

yes it has been a week since I posted anything. No we haven't been sitting around doing nothing. In fact, we have barely had time to sit around. I just don't feel like I have anything to say.

All 3 kids have started swim lessons. Jonas already finished his and might even get to go out for the swim team! Ady and Jaden just started. 2 days a week. The 1st day they both screamed, and screamed, and screamed some more. Then came home and told everyone how much fun swimming is. The 2nd day Ady claimed she was sick but we worked through it and by the end of swim lessons she was going under the water by herself, AND no longer thinking she was drowning when the water hit her face! Jaden's 2nd day was better too.

We interrupt this pointless post to bring you LIVE happenings in the Rigney home...
Jaden: Mommy, pee outside?
Me: Pee outside?
Jaden: Yeah
Me: No, we pee on the potty
Jaden: No potty. Pee outside. Pee on porch.
Me: If you pee outside the neighbors will see you
Jaden: see penissssss. Funny.

I haven't let Jaden pee outside but he spent the weekend with both my mom and Aunt Shel...I have to make a few phone calls.

pictures

sticks and stones

Ady to Jaden: Sit down
Jaden: NOOO
Ady: You're a baby, BABY
Jaden: No, I Jaden
Ady: FINE THEN you are a stinker. I can smell your butt from here.
Jaden: I poop potty
Ady: ARGH!

Punishing a preschooler

Possibly a really dumb move on my part, but considering I seem to be getting sick she needs to be thanking her lucky stars that this was all she got. Well, this, and no family game time, and no more candy for the rest of the day. This is the dreaded multi punishment that I gripe at Steve about. Some of you will think she deserves worse, and some of you will be thinking I am a horrible awful rip of a mom who needs to be strung up by my toes while a troop of good mommies takes turns stuffing raisins up my nose.
Whatever.

So Adylynn wanted to write "letters" this afternoon. Since we have recently added/removed things to the dining room she decided that instead of asking where the paper was or looking for paper she would just write letters ON THE TABLE!

She needs to be super happy that her sick mommy didn't lose her cool and yell. Nor did I scream. Or grunt. Or Curse. Or even stand her in the corner. She was not sent to her room. She wasn't banished from my sight. Heck she was even allowed to still write letters.

She was able to write her first 2 sentences. She is one lucky kid. Writes on the kitchen table and still gets to do what she wants. She wrote 16 letters, 2 times. PENCIL IS FOR PAPER

SO at the age of 4.5 years old my daughter has been assigned her first set of sentences for bad behavior. Some might say I was easy on her and others will say it was wrong of me to punish her in such a way.

One thing I am sure we can agree on...She is darn cute writing them.

*the sentences now have a home on the fridge along side all the other pictures, drawings, letters we get from the kids. It is a nice reminder for us. I also figure she can show this off to Jonas and tell him the horrors that happen when you write on the table.

My words, my mannerisms, but yet something is different....Oh yeah...it's not me

Adylynn: "Hey how old are you again?"
Me: "UH.....UM...."
Adylynn: "mom it is rude not to talk back to someone when they talk to you"
I was still trying to figure out how old I am
Adylynn: "MOM ANSWER ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU"
Me: "Adylynn we are trying not to yell in the house remember"
Adylynn: "yeah yeah I know but how old are you"
Me: "UH.....hold on let me think about it"
Adylynn: "this really isn't something you need to think about you are old right? I am 4, Jaden is 2 and Jonas is 6 so how old are you."
Me: "um I guess I forget how old I am"
Adylynn: "how can you forget I am 4 Jonas is 6 Jaden is 2 Sophie is 8 months old and Num Num and Grandma are older than you. Num Num is your mom so she has to be older than you and I am you daughter so I am littler than you that makes you between 4 years old and old like Num Num. Are you 30?"
Me: "Heck no I'm not 30! Are you insane!"
Adylynn: "mommy we are trying not to yell in the house. jeez I asked a simple question and you insist on throwing a fit NOW PLEASE answer the question nicely"

DYE TIME!

I am giving you the finished eggs and mess first! We had fun. Aunt Shel came over to color with us and (re)taught us how to tye-dye eggs.

Jaden and Daddy stuck to solid colors.

Jonas made some pretty solid colored eggs, but he prefers tye-dying. It is really easy to do. Just wrap a coffee filter around an egg and then dip a spoon into the color you want, let it drop off the spoon onto the egg. You can unwrap and reposition the egg until you get the look you want.

Adylynn like to tye-dye too. She, officially, ate the first Easter egg this morning.

There was a family picture here but something happened in transfer. Not that anyone wants to see me but it was a semi-ok picture so I figured I would share it. DARN!
I'm not sure how crazy this post is going to look. My blogger seems screwy and I don't have time to screw with it.