Friday, June 17, 2011

Two Things...

Ok, I have two things to discuss:

1. Bug has Hand, Foot & Mouth disease.  I'm not convinced that the last time he was diagnosed with it he actually had it.  This time, I'm convinced, as he has a fever of 103 and sores in his mouth and on his hand.  I've seen these sores (unlike last time, when I didn't see them), so I believe it.  And he is miserable.  I can't wait for Saturday so Mr. can spend a little time with him!

2. Munkin Man has been absolutely terrible lately and I think it's because I've been slacking.  Time to toughen up again!  What really drives me nuts is when he commands (in a very whiny voice) me to do something.  My policy is that you ask politely in a big person voice if you want something.

 Right now it's "MooommmmmEEEEEEE!  I. Want. BWEAKfast!  MOMMMmmmmmmEEEEEEEEEEEEE! BWEAKFAST! AHHHAAHHHH!  BWEAKFAST!!!"

What I need to hear is, "Mommy, can I have breakfast please?"

So much simpler.  So much less effort to say.  So much nicer.

He's also quite bossy with his brother, and has been taking toys away from him.  It is not smart to take toys from a sick baby.  Sick Baby's mama will be all over you in a second!  Keep Sick Baby happy at all costs, because he's Sick Baby!

So, Operation Straighten Up is in full effect.  I am rewarding and praising good behavior like crazy, and even the tiniest of infractions will land a boy in either time out or in his room.  And I'm not above taking away cars and trucks if it comes down to it.

Yes, I am that tough!

Monday, March 14, 2011

A Charmer

Lately, my Munkin Man has been quite the charmer.  For example, when he woke up this morning he came downstairs, marched right up to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said "Cute jammers you have there, Mom.  Could I have some bwreakfwist, puh-LEEEEZE?"

Who taught him this?  I would like to know so I can appropriately thank and/or pay that person.  I have gotten more compliments from my son in the past week than I have from my husband in the past year.  I'm almost considering dating my son because he makes me feel that good about myself.

Tonight, as he was getting in the tub, he made it a point to come over to me to tell me "Mom, what cute glasses you have.  And nice eyes, too!"  He then threw his arms around my neck, gave me a huge peck on the cheek, and told me "I love you, but I have to go take a bath now.  Bye!"

Moments like these are what makes this motherhood thing totally worth it.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Raw Meat

As wonderful of a mother as I am, I do admit there are times when I just don't have all the answers (hard to believe, right?).  And, believe it or not, I even panic a little bit sometimes.  Like last night.

After tucking in a couple of very sleepy little boys, Mr. and I decided to watch a movie together.   We popped the corn, got our drinks, and had just settled in to watch The Proposal (which, by the way, was just ok), when we heard wailing coming from upstairs.  Both of our eyes flicked over to the monitor, trying to process why we could hear the crying upstairs but not on the monitor.  It hit us both at the same time: Munkin Man was the one crying, not Bug.

Mr. dashed upstairs as I tried to figure out how to pause the movie.  A few seconds later I had a revelation: Munkin Man had a bloody nose earlier in the day that took quite a while to alleviate.  I was pretty sure he had one again.

Sure enough, when I got upstairs to check things out, I found Mr. up to his elbows in blood, as a wailing Munkin Man was pleading with him to make it stop.  I grabbed an old towel out of the bathroom and shoved it in my eldest son's face.  By this time there was blood all over his blood, clothes, body, and my husband.  I picked up my Munkin and sat him in my lap on the floor, as I pressed the towel to his nose and pinched the bridge to try to stem the blood.

Have you ever seen in the movies when someone gets stabbed or something and the blood just spurts forth, maybe even pulsing a little with each heartbeat?  That's what was happening with Munkin's nose.  His bedroom looked like a murder scene, and I was sure that soon he was going to pass out with all the blood loss.  I'm sure it was in the thousands of gallons.  I was pretty positive he had leukemia or some bleeding disorder.

After about 40 minutes of the bloody mess, I called the doctor, who said to pinch his nostrils shut and if the bleeding didn't stop in 5 minutes we'd have to take him to the ER.  Sure enough, 10 minutes passed and he was still spouting blood like Mt. Vesuvius so we made plans to take him in.  When we called the neighbor and found out she could NOT come over, I panicked a little.  How in the world was I going to take this bloody mess in all by myself?  We couldn't just leave Bug home alone and I was surely not going to wake up him.

After several agonizing minutes of trying to decide what we were going to do, I noticed that Munkin was fast asleep and Mr. had taken the towel off of his face.  No more blood! 

This morning we went to the doctor, who looked up his nose and told me it looked like "raw meat".  After vomiting a little in my mouth, I listened to the doctor as he reassured me my oldest son did not, in fact, have leukemia or a bleeding disorder.  He has a sensitive nose, and needs nose spray and saline.

That I can handle!