Clairol Take Me Away

Last night I had my nose to the mirror... as I do every night... examining every bump and blemish and freckle of my face. I get a sick twisted pleasure of seeing my face magnified times 20. I love seeing all the flaws I have managed to disguise with makeup all day long!!

That was until my super-duper magnification revealed something at my hair line. Sitting quietly among the red and brown strands was a clever little gray hair. I've been lucky at my ripe old age of not-yet-thirty to avoid all shades of gray on my crown. But I have a feeling that the sneaky little devil I found last night will be the first of many.

Not that he stuck around for very long - with tweezers in hand I plucked any evidence that I am inching my way closer to my thirties. And then I promptly went and bought a box of Clairol... just in case his friends decide to come to his defense.

At least his appetite is back...

The last few days have been quite a challenge...

I've gone from worried sick about my baby boy's health, to utterly exhausted from sleep deprivation, to trying to find the strength to deal with one mean drugged-up little boy...

But at least today his appetite (and his tenacity) is back...

"Ryker, what are you doing?"

"What Mommy? I thirsty"

Ninja Balloons

I was attacked last night.

Don't worry, I will be ok. My attacker and the weapon, not so much.

Monday evening Ryker sounded like he was getting a cold and by Tuesday afternoon he sounded like an 80 year old man running a marathon. I got him to the doc's quickly who took one listen to his chest and started a nebulizer treatment, a dose of steroids and antibiotics and ordered a chest X-ray for the following morning. Pneumonia... randomly and rapidly.

Tuesday night was a rough one - Ken and I took shifts, but it was impossible to sleep watching your baby's ribs suck in with every breath. He was restless and thrashing and never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time. Wednesday morning we were back at the doc's for the X-ray and another round of meds.

By Wednesday night, the hubs and I were walking zombies. Ryker only napped for brief intervals and life still goes on when you have other kids. The girls didn't take too kindly to the idea of Popsicles for dinner (thats all Ryker would eat) so I still had to feed them and get them to cheer practice. It was exhausting!

So it was almost midnight last night... Ryker was wide awake and running around like a Tasmania devil. His nebulizer meds made him jittery and unable to rest... and as I would soon find out, the steroids made him raging mad.

I was standing in front of the fridge, absent-mindedly pouring another cup of juice to add to the collection Ryker already had dispersed about the house. Ryker innocently walked up to me with the "Get Well" balloons his Nana had left him... and then the 'roid rage overcame him.

Bam.... bam... pow.... pow... gotchu.... pow... bam.... die.... pow.... bam....

In a wild fit like I had never seen, Ryker pummeled me with his balloons like they were deadly ninjas. I tried to recover from the sudden shock of Mylar beating against me to escape his wrath. When I finally freed myself and told him to stop... he did... took a deep breath and said, "I go get my gun."

Lord help me... and thank you for giving me the foresight not to fill his water gun when he asked me to yesterday!

Leave it to my vanity

So what would make Mother of Mayhem come out of her six month hiatus?

Her vanity of course...

Have you heard the news? I am a ROCK STAR again!! And this time I even got my kiddies mentioned in the article. The local paper, The Culpeper Times did a story on Green Nest. And obviously I didn't mind posing for EVERY shot! And this time I was even smiling! Check out the article here...

So whats been going on in the last six months you wonder? Well its been non stop as usual! There have been so many times in the last couple of months where things have happened and I thought to myself "I should blog about that".. and yet I never get around to it. So today I begin again... I've got a lot to talk about, so prepare for frequent blogs. I've had some great moments since last March!

My little Man turned two for starters... and the last six months of the terrible two's have been quite interesting. We have been potty training, drinking out of big boy cups, going to preschool and throwing temper tantrums that rival world wars! It has been a lot of fun to see my baby growing up and becoming his own (stubborn as hell) person!

It pulls on the heartstrings though - I no longer have a baby, but a big boy. Those thoughts of having one more have started to creep into my mind.. that is of course until they are interrupted by the terodactyl screams of my little monster.

My sister and I went and got tattoos this summer. We thought it would be a great idea to get matching tattoos to honor my father who passed away in 2004. The hubs came up with a fantastic design that incorporated the Chinese symbol for father and my dad's initials... and we headed out one night to get them.

No one bothered to tell us how excruciatingly painful a tattoo on your foot might be. I barely made it through, and my sister had to stop mid-ink to hurl in the trashcan. But we did it and have Twinkie-Twin tattoos to show for it. Pops would be proud... but I think we will have to do rub-on's for Mom when she goes - I ain't going through that again - sorry MOM!

Ken and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary with a quick trip to Williamsburg. It was so nice to get away for a few days and just enjoy ourselves, sans kids. The day we were leaving their was a beautiful horse across the road that I became great friends with- I ended up getting a lot of lip action that weekend!!

My best bud and I got away to Ocean City for a short weekend trip. We had a blast and acted like teenagers for two days... and in the grand spirit of stupid things teenagers do, I got my nosed pierced. It last for about a month and then I got sick of trying to pick a metal booger out of my nose!

The kids have all grown up so much in the last couple of months - I hardly recognize the little girls I use to know. This year they started 6th, 4th, and 3rd grade... and looked like little fashion divas on the first day of school!

And of course we can't leave Ryker out. He started preschool two days a week in September as my work schedule changed. He has not taken to it too well and has trouble with the separation. Yesterday morning when he found out he was going to school he lost it in a fit of tears. As I was trying to calm him down, he looked at me and pointed to his cheek where a fresh tear was streaming down, "See my tears Mommy, see my tears" Enough to break a Mommy's heart... but he still had to go to school and he was fine once he got over the initial goodbye.

So that's a quick run down - my new goal is to blog at least once a week. It makes me happy and I've heard it makes a few others smile too!

A ROCK STARcan only do so much though...