I am not one to publicly call someone out on something I feel is wrong, except when it’s concerning my children. This actually involves my child’s health so it’s even more upsetting to me.

It all started last Thursday. My son started complaining that his chest was hurting. He has asthma so I thought he might be coming down with something and it was hurting his lungs. On Friday morning I brought him into see his pediatrician. Since he had no other symptoms except for chest pain, which was also sensitive to the touch the Dr diagnosed him with costochondritis. We were sent home being told to give motrin as necessary for the pain. When we were leaving to drive my husband to work my son started grabbing his chest and crying out in pain. Let me tell you seeing your child like that is not fun, it was very scary and all I could think about was that something might be wrong with his heart. We immediately turned around and went over to the local ER. Four hours and an xray later we were sent home with the same diagnosis and same treatment plans.

Fast forward to yesterday. He was running a temp of about 102. Not a huge deal. I try to let my childrens fevers run its course and not give meds unless it is over 102. I took him back to see his pediatrician since the fever was a new symptom now. My son sat around all day and you could just tell looking at him that he wasn’t feeling right. I took his temperature around 3:30 and it was 104.6. Holy crap, you could imagine my fear. I was freaking out. I ran and gave him some Motrin and then picked him up and put him in a luke warm bath. While he was in the bath I called Kaiser and left a message asking specifically for our pediatrician to call back. Of course we got a call back from a nurse who screens his messages. I told her what had happened and I took his temperature again and told her that it had lowered to 103.6. She then told me that that is not a high fever for a child his age and that I could bring him into urgent care if I wanted to. I told her no I wanted to speak to his pediatrician. She then hmm’d and haw’d and said well it’s the end of the day but I’ll give him the message. I never received a phone call from his Dr. At 7:30 my son started to complain his heart was feeling weird. Again insert panic. So I grabbed him and off we went to pediatric urgent care.

Three hours, a blood test and another chest x-ray later my son was diagnosed with pneumonia. PNEUMONIA. Here is where I get pissed. This lady I spoke with tried to tell me that my son’s fever wasn’t a big deal. Oh really. I’m sorry you don’t find it a little odd that his temperature spikes to almost 105. What happens if I would have been naive enough to actually trust you, someone who is not a Dr, someone who is not allowed to give medical advice.

I have had issues with this particular person at Kaiser before. In fact I have spoken to my sons Dr about her and apparently he along with the other nurses in his office all have issues with her, for example her not delivering a message from the Dr to me a few weeks ago about not needing to bring my son in since he was seeing a lot of patients with a stomach virus and since he had already seen him earlier that week and knew what was going on with him it wasn’t necessary to bring him back and risk all three of my children getting sick. Of course I didn’t find this out until I was sitting in his office with him.

So I guess that point of this post is/was for me to vent because I am very frustrated at being treated like just an ignorant person. I may not be a Dr or a nurse but I know when something is not right with my child. The other point to my post is to not let yourself be pushed around when it comes to your child’s health. You are the child’s mother and father and NO ONE but you knows your child better. If you know deep down something is off let your voice be heard!

Vent done, off to go cuddle with my little man.

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Growing up I have always been, well not the best “lady”. I burp, a lot. I know it’s a normal thing but it used to drive my Dad nuts that I wouldn’t burp with my mouth closed half the time. Other times we would have burping contests LOL My Dad was always on my case about burping with my mouth closed and having better manners. Of course being young then I blew it off. And then there were the comments from my pares “Oh you just wait until you have kids” and they roll with laughter.

Well my time has come. I know now how he felt. I have three kids, 7, 4, and 2 and the oldest has discovered how he can make himself burp so he does, and quite frequently I might add. And seeing as he’s the oldest and the younger two love to repeat what he does my house is now filled with the wonderful sound of burping throughout the day. Not a huge deal but when we are eating it drives me just a little batty. I have to laugh internally because they might get the wrong idea and think I’m laughing with them and that it’s okay to do that but gosh dang, my parents were right!

The joys of parenting and learning that your parents didn’t just do/say things to torture you.

I am not the most creative person out there so when Samantha got a jewelry kit for her birthday I was just as excited as she was when she opened it. Um why was I excited when I am clearly not the creative type, well because you can’t go wrong with making beaded bracelets and necklaces!
So while Shawn napped earlier I pulled out the little kit and we got to work. Jr saw what were were doing and immediately ran over asking to make some too. My kids are very creative and I try to let them express it in a way I can so those of you who scoff at a boy making bracelets and necklaces can leave.
Now onto the best part, the pictures.

The goodies! Accidentally took a picture of the instructions in another language LOL

Let the fun begin

Jr man showing me his completed bracelet

I love how she just completely dives in to any projects she does

Showing me her finished bracelet

My happy little man 🙂

And of course I had to join in the fun and make myself a bracelet. I will call it pretty and I shall wear my pretty every day

As I was putting away the beads Shawn woke up and came running out heading straight for them. Perfect timing on our part.

I just love when she sticks her tongue out like this

I think she was excited for her boots

My birthday princess

Dear Samantha,

Four years ago you came into this world kicking and screaming and putting on the cutest little pouty face I’ve ever seen. I knew from the time I found out I was pregnant that I was going to have my little girl and I knew from the first time I felt you kick and every time I tried to get you to kick and you flat out refused which resulted in many trips to the Dr and eventually being sent to the hospital and finally getting to go back home after. I knew right then and there you were going to be stubborn a strong independent person who liked to do things her way and in her own time. You continued to prove my theory right when you refused to crawl and then refused to walk. You made up your own little way of getting around that was just hilarious to watch. You are still the same way and I love that about you. You are an individual and even though you are only four I know you are strong willed and strong hearted and wont bend to others demands. It is a great quality to have.
You have so much love for your family. Of course for Mommy and Daddy but for your brothers too. And yes while we all know they tend to drive you nuts you also love to take care of them if they aren’t feeling well or if they have a boo boo. You are a mini mommy. You also have so much love for your extended family and they can see it radiating from you when you see them.
In these past four years I have watched you turn from an itty bitty newborn to my chunky monkey/rolly polly baby girl to my little princess/tomboy who is just the best daughter that I could have ever asked for. I love you so much baby girl (yes I will ALWAYS call you that) and I feel so blessed that you are my daughter. I look forward to watching you grow throughout the years.

I love you princess,

Mommy

p.s. when I say chunky monkey I mean it in the cutest way possible! I LOVED your baby rolls, sooooo cute!

Yesterday my son started singing a song. Not one that’s on the radio but one I’m sure you’ve all heard of. It goes “I love you, you love me, were a happy family, with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, wont you say you love me too” except that wasn’t the version he was singing. His went something like this “I hate you, you hate me, everybody …………”. I don’t know the rest of it because he was mumbling and I really don’t care to hear it but it shocked me to hear him saying such things.

Now I know every mother always wants to think the best of the child(ren) but when it comes to Jr I know my child and he is not one that is violent or full or hate or anything like that. He is actually a very kind soul. So imagine my shock when I heard him say that. I talked to him about saying such things and how hate is a very strong word and we don’t use it in this house. He apologized said he wont sing it again.

And now I’m sitting here thinking how popular the word hate has become. Anytime any dislikes something/anything their first response is to say they hate it. I will admit that when I was growing up it was a word I used frequently for the exact reasons I named above. I don’t want my kids following in my footsteps with using that word.

According to Urban Dictionary the first definition to come up when you search hate is ” a special kind of love given to people who suck”. The second one is “when you dislike someone so much that if you and the other person were in an empty room with a knife in the middle, one or both would be dead”. The only thing I can say is wow and are you serious! This is what our children, the future generations feel hate is?

Now the definition on Dictionary.com in my opinion is more accurate “to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest: to hate the enemy; to hate bigotry”.

How is it that a word so full of negativity can be used in daily life as if it were something normal, and being used to describe another person. It makes me sad that this is the reality today and I know that I am only one person and that I cannot change the way society as a whole thinks, but my goal for my family is to not let my children be influenced by others into thinking that hate is an acceptable word to use unless it is used sincerely and NOT about about person or simply don’t use it at all. It is fine to dislike someone but hate is such a strong word and I would hope and pray that my children never feel extreme hostility towards another human being.

As the year is coming to an end (I can’t believe it’s mid November already!) I wanted to share a few many things I am thankful for. I say many because I just can’t talk about a few, what can I say I like to talk.

Here is my list

My family- every single one of them. Of course my Mom for giving me life, my Dad for being the BEST father I could have ever asked for even while I was growing and was a complete angel terror.My sisters, even though we don’t always see things eye to eye. My husband who I met when I was a mere 15 years old. We have been through a lot and through it all he has loved me and been there for me. He also helped provide me with the three most beautiful, amazing, healthy and loving children. My three babies are the biggest part of my life. Without them I don’t know what kind of person I would be.

My friends-I may not have many friends but the one’s I do have are very special to me. One in particular has let me tell her anything without judging me or getting mad at me. Heck we’ve never disagreed on anything to date. It’s like were two peas in a crazy pod LOL. I am also thankful for my many friendships that I have made online. It’s funny I never would expected to meet so many people through the internet but being a part of many online boards has allowed me to form close bonds with other women. I love you all!

My health-I am a little over weight and I am lazy. Yes I will admit that but even though I am those two things I am still overall healthy. Without my health I wouldn’t be here to watch my babies grow up.

My home-Well it’s not technically ours since we lease but it is were we have lived for over two years now, which by the way is a record for us. It may not be huge, or have more then two rooms, or have new carpet that isn’t stained and pieces of counter top that are falling apart BUT it is our home for the time being and I am grateful to have it over my head. And I am thankful that it does have two rooms as opposed to one so the kids can have a room for themselves.

My husbands job-I am a stay at home mom and living on a single income has it’s rough times, lets face it, most of the time but I am thankful that he has a job at all. With the economy the way it is so many families are struggling worse off then I am because they have lost their jobs. I am thankful that my husbands job is stable.

My husband-I know I already mentioned him earlier but there is just so much thankfulness I have for him. I touched on his job and I wanted to elaborate on that a little bit. He works 40 hours a week. Typical right. But on his days off he goes to school full time. He is furthering his education so he can pursue his dream job in meteorological science. He spends a total of 20 hours in school on his days off. I am so thankful for such a wonderful husband that even though he works full time and attends school full time he still prefers me to be at home raising our children instead of out of the house and having them in someone elses care.

I am thankful for everything listed above and so much more but it’s time for me to run and pick up my baby little man up from school. Please feel free to share some of the things you are thankful for.

EVERYBODY clean up. I try singing this song when it’s time for the kids to clean up their toys. Sometimes it helps other times my kids just flat out refuse to clean. This has been an ongoing struggle for quite some time now. I’m wondering if anyone has any advice or ideas on how to get the kids interested in cleaning up being as it is a daily routine and I want them to get out of the habit of depending on me to do it. Typically it goes like this:

Me: Jr mantha Shawn, please go clean up the toys in your room.
Kids: Okay
An hour later the room looks worse then when I sent them in there.

I turn music on when I clean so sometimes I will do this for the kids. Still nothing. Most of the time they just drag their feet and move stuff around in attempts to make me think they’re cleaning. I’ve done the whole threatening to throw the toys away, I’ve even thrown some away. Samantha, the little stinker gets excited when I tell them I will throw the toys away that they don’t clean up and she asks me if she can pick out the one’s that will go in the trash. Now I know that’s not supposed to happen LOL I used to hate when my parents threatened with that.
So usually I end up getting frustrated after an hour and go in and put all the toys away myself. Now I know my younger two may be a little young to understand the concept of cleaning, well at least the baby is but my daughter should understand by now and I know my oldest knows. So what am I doing wrong? Besides the obvious of doing it myself eventually. Is there a trick of the trade to getting kids to clean their own rooms? I am ALL ears for any ideas!