Squeaky’s Blog

As you all know we just moved and with that, we have to unpack and put everything back together.  Well the movers do all of that for us.  So, I let them.  This is where I made my mistake.  They took our furniture the beds and a few other items apart and put screws in a box labeled hardware.  I thought that the hardware was labeled with what it belonged too.  NO!  They just threw it taped together in a ball into a box and then one tube that was from the garage.  Here is the problem.  They took Giggles crib apart and handed me a taped ball of screws and said this is to the bed.  I asked which bed and they clarified that it was the crib.  So, thinking I would need that right away I kept it with me.  When the movers had finished unloading everything all I asked for them to do was put the beds together and my TV because it is too heavy for me and D.P. to lift.  I thought that when I handed them the screws to the crib and everything that they would let me know if there were any problems.  NO!  I forgot to tell them that the crib mattress had to be on the lowest setting and they put it in the middle.  Well, I wasn’t taking a chance and Giggles has been sleeping in his Pac N Play or with me.  I even moved the crib and thought that it seemed wobbly but that it didn’t matter since he wasn’t going in it and D.P. would fix it.  Yesterday D.P. finally moved the crib back down to the correct slot meaning all he had to do was unscrew the inside slot that held the mattress.  So, today I thought I would put the crib bedding on and Giggles can go back in his bed.  Hell NO!  Those JOKERS didn’t bother to tell me that they were missing a screw and the back frame wasn’t connected on one side of the crib.  All they did was slide a screw in but it didn’t have the adjoining screw to clamp it in place.  So it’s like a pin that is just slid in but not doing anything.  If you push on that side the whole frame comes off the rest of the crib.  This is how a lot of babies have been trapped and strangled in their cribs.  So, you can see my frustration.  Never again!  The next move we have I will make it very clear that nothing is to be taken apart without me present and that I will get the hardware for every item!  It will travel with me and when things are put back together I will be there to watch and check if they have to do it one item at a time!  I have just learnt a hard lesson to learn and the “what ifs” going through my head are too scary.  I will not be making this mistake again and I hope that this keeps it from happening to anyone else.

It’s getting close for my husband to come home now.  I can’t wait.  I am so worn out mentally from the kids and the house.  Every day is a disaster lately.  I am fixing things like crazy wondering what is going to break next.  I have fixed two things this week and now my vacuum seems to be broke.  It is making this awful sound.  I am thinking of taking it apart to see if something is stuck.  I don’t know though because I am afraid I won’t be able to get it back together.  Then there are the kids.  I love them to death but wow are they wearing me down.  The baby has his moments where he just wants constant attention, to be held, and won’t let me get anything done.  Then there is W.C. who is on this mission to disobey every little thing he can.  It starts every morning with him.  I ask what he wants for breakfast and most days we argue for a while about what he can or can’t have.  Some days I will make muffins and he will refuse to eat them.  Then when I am not looking he will steal them off the counter.  I have come to learn that.  So those mornings I don’t ask, I just tell him they are there.  Then like today at lunch I offered him food and he refused anything I said, wanting pancakes.  This after he had pancakes for breakfast that he never finished eating so I threw them away.  Then an hour before dinner he was hungry.  After telling him we were getting ready to eat dinner he decided he wasn’t eating.  He told me that chicken was not boy food and he couldn’t eat it.  Then tonight for dinner he refused to eat got up to use the bathroom and refused to pull his pants up saying he needed help.  He did this for 10 minutes until he striped his pants, underwear and socks off.  Then he got a ball and started playing.  It was one of the ones you sit on with handles and bounce around the house with.  So, I took it and took the plug out of it.  That is when he put his underwear back on.  Then he remembered that he had a second one and said “Fine, I get my other one.”  I took that one too and he amazingly put his pants back on and sat down to eat his chicken.  He took a few bites and by then it had been 30 minutes.  Both boys were done and I was too.  So, they got baths and PJ’s.  It’s now been 4 hours since it started at dinner and over two hours since I read him a few stories.   He is in his bed and isn’t letting up.  He has lost his two bouncing balls, his backpack, his watch, a ton of toys and still gets up every few seconds to get a tissue for his crocodile tears and snotty nose, or whatever excuse he can think of.  He is now at the point he is staying in his room trying to read his books but not go to sleep.  I can only hope it will end soon and he will fall asleep.  The baby is in here with me passed out on the futon.  I can’t put him in his crib until W.C. stops screaming, which has slowed down a lot.  

Well I took a break from writing this while I was on the phone.  It has been a little over 3 hours and I won!  W.C. is asleep in his bed.  He just fell out of it.  It woke him up and he got right back in it.  I won!  That’s round 1.  I just hope tomorrow is easier.  Now I can go put the baby in his crib and go to bed.   I am so happy it’s over for tonight.  I never yelled, or spanked him.  I just talked calm all night and kept putting him back in his bed.  It was like watching Super Nanny at times.  I had to hold back laughter a few times.  But it’s over for now and I am headed to bed. 

Buck and Abby are the new additions to my ever growing family.  W.C. has an extremely large imagination.  Buck is his new police car doggie.  Abby is his new wife.  Abby has been around for a few weeks now.  Buck is new.  He became part of the family this week.  They are keeping me busy and I am always getting an earful on the two of them.  Abby has bought W.C. a new Power Ranger T.V., a Power Ranger house, a Power Ranger motorcycle and I forget the rest.  The list grows daily and those are the main things that W.C. always says.  He is constantly talking about her and is finally starting to get the wife part right.  He gets the whole husband and wife confused and sometimes calls her his husband.  It’s amusing most of the time to listen to but at times it can get annoying.  That is usually when I have to figure out where Buck is.  Then sometimes I have to go search the house for Buck’s blue leash.  So, now I try to just say the leash is by the front door.  Buck is usually where ever pops in my mind first that wasn’t the same place I told him the last time he asked.  He even comes with us when we go out.  I have to make sure he has his leash and gets in and out of the car with us.  It is cute at times but then it can become a pain at times.  That all being said, I love that W.C. has such a great imagination and will continue to encourage him and go where ever it takes us.    

It’s been a while since I blogged.  I have been busy with things and trying to spend some time with the family.  My husband is leaving in a few days for school.  Which, we are both still not happy about.  But, that is the Army life.  You take the good with the bad and make the best out of it.  So, over the next two months I will be trying to get our house sold and packed up to move.  I will also be busy with the boys being the only parent.  I am really glad that my mother in law takes W.C. for their time.  I will be counting on that small break.  W.C. has only spent the night away from us once when we/I had the baby.  It was a time I was too preoccupied to think about it.  Now, I worry about cutting the cord with W.C. since, he is stuck to me at the hip.  He is also a handful.  I keep imagining all the things he could do when he is up to his normal no good self.  I can picture all the things he does here when no one is watching his every move and then the dangerous things he can get into.  I worry he will wake up in the middle of the night and god only knows what he will get into.  If he will decide he is ready to go home and just walk out the front door.  There are so many things, and I know it’s not going to be easy.  I know I need to bite the bullet and let him do it.  The first time is always the hardest right? 

After a week of nasty diapers and rashes the baby seems to be allergic to something.  I took him in to the doctors again today.  It was a nice visit.  I knew the pediatrician from when I had him.  She is also the lactation consultant and I have talked to her a few times now about nursing and breast pumps.  She was glad that we/I was still nursing and said to keep it up for as long as I can.  It was one of the few times that I could just stop and ask and talk about what was going on and didn’t feel like I was being rushed out the door.  So, for now we are going to stop giving the baby squash and anything from that family for the next month.  I also got the okay to give him formula again and see how it goes.  We are also going to watch everything he eats including what he gets off our plates, which is going to be very limited if at all.  He can’t eat anything that has eggs in it for now.  I am glad that the visit went so well.  I feel like I got a lot of answers and this weight off my shoulders.  I also got to talk to her about his sleep habits.  I am glad because after reading that he should be sleeping through the night at this age that he is normal for a nursing baby.  The day time naps though, she said are a little too short and to try to work on him getting more.  I think that is going to be hard though since he is so finicky during the day.  I am not sure how we are going to do the day time naps since the only time he has slept longer is if we lay with him.  I have another week or two of my husband being home so, maybe we can lay with him to get it started.  I am not sure though.  I don’t want him getting used to sleeping with someone.  That is how they end up in your bed like W.C. did.  Now it’s a fight to get W.C. to sleep in his room.  We are working on it and will be working on it for a while I think.  It’s a slow transition but we will get there.  I just don’t want to start any more bad habits if it can be helped, plus there isn’t enough room in the bed for all 4 of us.  Oh well, we will see what happens and how it goes for a while. 

I have been running around the last few days to make sure everything was ready for my oldest birthday.  The Wild Child (W.C.) I am going to call him that from now on.  He turned 4 on Friday and we had his first real party for him on Saturday.  We had a party when he turned 1, but it was a combined welcome home (husband had been deployed in Afghanistan) and house warming party (I had moved us the week prior).  Then for his second birthday we had just moved here so we didn’t know anyone and it was just us.  Then when he was turned 3 my mother in law was here and we had just moved, yet again, it was family.  So, this is the first time he has had a party dedicated to him.  I must say as stressed about everything coming together right and on time that it went really well.  The kids that came and played all seemed to play really well together.  There wasn’t any he hit me or screaming and fighting over toys.  I never noticed any but was told they were getting tired after a while.  So, we presented the cake and had him open presents.  I have great friends.  My kid made out.  I told them all that presents weren’t needed since he has so many.  I think I wasted my breath.  He got all kinds of things and has really enjoyed them all.  We played with them all day today.  He even slept with a truck he got that night.  It was too cute.  One of the things he got was play dough.  I have to admit he has some shoved in the back of a cabinet with some paints that I have never let him have.  Then this morning he wanted to play with his play dough that he can’t say so he calls it “tomato”.  It was so nice.  We played at the table with it for a long time.  He was so well behaved and when he was done he asked if he could go watch cartoons.  There was no real mess to clean after and it was a relief.  We had a stress free day and totally enjoyed it.  I am going to let him play with his play dough more and even try paints soon.  I can’t believe I am saying that but I haven’t been that relaxed with him in such a long time.  I think it did us both some good.  Now, I think we are going to make some thank you cards this week instead of just the normal ones.  It should be fun.  I have faith that we can have a lot more days like today.  It was the perfect end to a great weekend.

Well, the oldest is about to be 4 and I can’t believe it.  This is partly due to time flying.  It has been a long 2 years here.  It doesn’t seem like it’s time to move yet, but we are soon.  Though, it has been an eventful 2 years I still can’t believe he is going to be 4.  When we got here he wasn’t even 2 yet.  He was still in diapers (still is at night) and he barely talked.  The most talking he did was a tiny bit of English and I think more butchered baby German.  He had a German sitter from 10months up until we moved here.  He used to be so good and well behaved.  I miss those days.  He is wild and out of control most of the time now.  This I blame a lot on his old daycare teacher that let him do what he wanted all day.  But now, my child is a terror.  I swear there are days that it’s only because of our self control and good grace he survives.  Then there is the part where the child has no fear!  I mean no fear at all when it comes to climbing, jumping, running and sticking his fingers or limbs in places.  Yes, I said limbs.  I think it was just two weeks ago and the child got his arm stuck in a shopping cart, while he was sitting in it.  I had to take a deep breath and stay calm while we were trying to get his arm out.  There was a minute that I wasn’t sure it was going to come back out on its own.  I had this picture of firemen and metal cutters going through my head.  Wondering how I was going to explain this to my husband (who I still don’t think I have told) and store.  This is part of why I hate to go shopping with the kids.  He will climb out of the carts in a heartbeat.  I know everyone thinks I didn’t buckle him in and that I am a bad mom when they see it.  Well, buckles are good and do help keep them safe.  But, there comes a point when they learn how to undo the buckles.  His new thing is when you put a harness on him that buckles in the back, he will wiggle and wiggle until he can get his arms out, slide it down and step out of it.  I get dirty looks for the harness a lot and I don’t care.  He is a runner!  The last time we went to the mall I put the harness on him and as soon as we got in the mall he took off for a photo booth.  He forgot that he had the harness on and jerked me and the baby with him.  It was like pulling a dog into a vet clinic that doesn’t want to go.  I must say it was one of the few times that I got smiles and sympathetic looks.  I smiled back and said “And that’s why we have a harness.”  Then I think about all the other close calls we had and am amazed that we haven’t had an ER trip for some kind of injury yet.  So, yes my baby is the oldest now and isn’t a baby anymore and is going to be 4.  I still can’t believe it.   

The baby actually slept through most of the night last night.  He woke up once for a feeding around 1:30 and then slept until 6:30.  I couldn’t believe it when I saw the time.  He has also started sleeping for longer amounts of time during the day.  Could this be the start of a beautiful thing?  I am hoping because the 2 or 3 thirty minute naps he has been taking are just not long enough.  Then the constant every 2 hours at night he wakes up is tiring.  I am hoping this is the start to a more peaceful night’s sleep and real breaks in the day.  I am ready for both and will be crossing my fingers for the next few days. 

I am sure most of you know by now of the scare from contaminated baby formula in China.  I feel for the parents that lost their babies and the ones that are sick.  What I don’t understand is how it got this far?  I mean who would do this and why?  How could someone do this?  I think everyone that had a part should all be strung out and shot after they get food contaminated with melamine and are sick and suffering.  I have no sympathy for anyone involved!  Here is my problem now.  It’s October and Halloween is right around the corner.  Now the scare is how much candy and other things were affected?  It took a while for me in this small Oklahoma town to find out about it.  If it wasn’t for my mom telling me it might have been longer.  So, with all the families around the world in a small town that buys things in oriental markets how do they know? How do they become informed?  Since, now the scare is not just formula but other things as well?  It is supposedly illegal to sell baby formula from China in the US, but does that mean it doesn’t happen?  It’s not illegal to sell the other things that are now being called “possibly contaminated.”  The news is reporting that the Hershey Company (Cadbury), Kraft foods (who make Oreo’s) and Mars (M&M’s and Snickers) Company are all pulling products.  I am glad that they are pulling products but I think that they shouldn’t have taken so long.  One news report on CNN stated that one company may have know of the issue as early as August 2nd while others may have know for months or years, saying that the product Melamine was used to boost the protein levels.  The Chinese government is now saying that they are correcting the problem and that the milk now on the shelves should be safe.  Should be safe?  How can they say should, it’s a simple question.  It either is or it isn’t.  I do not find any comfort in that statement.  I will not be intrusting the candy handed out by strangers on Halloween this year.  I may be over reacting with the whole thing, but as a mom that is my right.  There are over 54,000 sick babies in China and at least 4 dead from this.  The only good thing out of this is that the government is offering free health care at the moment.  This is one time I think they should give free medical care.  This is in no way the fault of the parents or some disease but a lack of control of a government and regulations set up to protect the people they serve.  

These are some sites that you can find more information on the topic:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/09/29/candy.milk.ap/index.html#cnnSTCVideo    this is a set of videos from CNN.com/asia  

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jL7mHkJcSHVOLlejms7eQS2xXDiwD93GL2SG0     This is an article from the associated press

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/09/29/candy.milk.ap/index.html        This another article from CNN.com/asia

My day started out good.  I thought it was going to be just another ordinary day of trying to clean and keeping up with the boys.  Little did I know when it started that I was going to end up in the local lake?  My husband had to work today.  It was so nice out that I wanted to go outside with them and play.  I knew if we went into the back yard I would want to do yard work.  The oldest would end up riding around on his gator by himself in his own world and the baby in his little bouncer.  So, I decided to go for a walk with them.  If I had only just gone around the block things would have turned out different.  Instead, we went to the local lake/park with a walking trail.  Which I never realized until today it was an 18 hole golf course.  I think we walked at least two miles and then some.  It wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t bring the oldest boys bike, which I ended up pulling after half way.  When we got there we fed the ducks and had a blast.  Then it was time for the walk that I thought its only 3 miles how bad could it be right?  Wow!  It was up and down hill and the oldest needed help with the bike.  I am so glad I let him bring along a bungee cord (his lasso at the time that he couldn’t manage without.)  I had to wrap the cord around the handle bars of the bike and hook it to the stroller.  I had taken the jogging stroller which made it a lot easier for me in the end.  It was a disaster though.  Every time we would get going something would happen and then the bike would fall over and we would have to stop and start all over again.  It will be a long time before we try that again.  We had to stop and get off the trail and cut through the grass and having the bike made it so much worse.  There was no way the oldest would have made it the whole way.  At one point he rode on the foot rest of the stroller, which the front wheel doesn’t turn.  So, every time we had to turn he had to get off and then the bike issue again.  I thought it was never going to end for a while.  We finally made it back to the truck cutting through the main street and the grass avoiding the play ground.  Once, the bike was put back up in the truck and I wanted to go home the oldest remembered we brought his fishing pole.  Thanks to my mom’s great idea of letting him fish with only a bobber and no hook since I don’t have a license.  We can’t get a ticket if we aren’t really fishing.  That was when I should of said no let’s come back another day.  Again, I said okay and we down the little concrete slab in front of the truck that led to the water and sat down to fish.  I was telling the oldest how to do it and not to let go when he was casting off.  The baby was just hanging out in the stroller.  Then the oldest decided to sit in my lap while he was fishing so I could help him.  After a few minutes he wanted to cast the line far out in the water.  That was when it all went bad.  We took the rod and tried to cast it out and both of us let it go somehow.  I don’t know how but it just flew out of our hands and in the water.  Now, he is still on my lap and I wanted to jump up to get it and he wasn’t going fast enough.  I then tried to step on the green algae; duck pooped covered edge of concrete slab and bam!  I slid in the lake.  I freaked out!  I grabbed the pole and stood there busting up laughing and grossed out.  I was done!  I grabbed the stroller and was going back to the truck when, my son decided he wasn’t done.  He was going to fish some more and tried to cast the line again.  Yes, again the pole went in the water and I had to fish it out a second time!  Thankfully, I didn’t fall in this time.  I got the pole and the stroller with my oldest crying behind me trying to get back up to the truck.  Finally, I got the baby in his seat who was now screaming too and then had to chase the other one around the car to get him in his seat.  They both cried the whole way home, me trying to explain that my pants were wet and I wanted to go home and take a shower.  The oldest going on about how he didn’t get a fish, wanting to know where all the fish were.  He needed a big fish and was still balling and going on when we got home.  I carried the baby in the house in his car seat sat him down in the bathroom and got in the shower, with them both still screaming.  Once, I was good and clean we all sat down and ate.  They both passed out really easy tonight though, and that was nice.  After everything I am glad, I actually have had some peace and quiet to myself.  I think I will leave the fishing to the boys from now on.  The walks we will keep short around the block for a while too.  I still can’t believe everything that happened today.  It’s so amazing the things I will do for my kids.  After tonight I almost want to make a list of you owe me for the time I.  But, then I don’t want to be that mom that we all know and don’t always like because they tell us how we owe them for whatever we did as kids.  Oh, the joys of motherhood.  I love it!