your friendly wisner neighborhood pharmacy

to begin on a positive note, here is how i started my morning yesterday...

note: who's standing in her crib. (sorry, weentrab, i had to use the flash. you know...the goo's room is a deep, dark cave, too, just like big brother's.)

of note: big h's sock that mysteriously appeared in her chair on the left??

sadly enough, the day just slowly went down hill from there. thankfully, buz got the goo up and fed her, so that i could get up with big h and "feed" him his medicine.

let's talk for a minute about my oldest child. since before he was born, he has been a challenge. i was in labor for 2 days. yeah, i said DAYS. every time i would have a contraction, his heart rate would drop. twice it dropped into the "danger zone." the 2nd time, doc said, "out he comes." and he has cried ever since. not really. but close.

so to say that he doesn't take medicine so well would just be a poor excuse for an understatement.

i feel confident that i have secured him a spot in adult therapy due to the torture and trauma i put him through yesterday. scarred for life, people. him and me.

buz finally went to work around 8:30. maybe you don't realize what that statement means. my husband has always been gone before either child has ever gotten up in the morning. and that's not saying that i have late sleepers. i have one of those husbands who makes you sick by his morning energy. my son has inherited that morning energy. heaven help us. so i can only imagine what his co-workers had to say about his time of arrival yesterday morning.

since we were scheduled to leave yesterday late morning, i had scheduled doctor's appointments for both of them yesterday morning. i took big h knowing he had HFMD. i brought the goo along because, well we didn't know what else to do with her. plus, i hadn't canceled her appointment within 24 hours.

so he took one look at big h and told me that it was "just" a strand of HFMD, but that thankfully he hadn't developed any blisters or sores on his hands or feet, just his mouth. oh, that's a relief. (there's sarcasm in that sentence.) he went ahead and took a look at the goo. looked in the first ear and informed me that my daughter had an ear infection. nice. oh, and by the way, she put up quite a fight to let him look in her ears. i was impressed. you go, goo.of course, i'm sure she's starting to realize that you have to be REALLY! LOUD! to get attention around our house.

we saw a different pediatrician because ours was out for the day. now, we, meaning big h, LOVE our pediatrician. scratch that. let's just say we because i too love this man. he LOVES my kid and big h has never cried in his presence. in fact, last Christmas when we were picking items out for grandparents, cousins, etc., he asked what we were going to get for dr. g. we pray for him regularly. and one time at MDO, they had them color a picture of their family.

guess who was part of our family in that picture?

anyway, i was so nervous about this doc as we had never seen him before. and big h does NOT LIKE CHANGE.

we LOVED this guy. we meaning WE, except for the goo when he looked in her ears. big h really liked him. i liked him. and the goo liked him for the most part. he told us to continue alternating Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours. and to have him continue to drink what we around our house call MB (maalox benadryl blend). but he said to up the amount of the MB.

have i mentioned my child does NOT like to take medicine? well to serve as reminder, big h does NOT like medicine.

we stopped to get some chocolate milk because he told us to keep him hydrated. i was so impressed because that was also the advice of dr. big mama. we got him home, and i instantly began bribing him. he got some miniature mr. potato heads (bought off ebay about a year ago) after the first big dose of torture, i mean, medicine. we watched madagascar and laid on the couch while baby napped. thankfully, a gift came from grandma ever so timely. a very cool space helmet. thank you, grandma. so he got that after the second round of trauma.

oh, and i should mention, big h was speechless, totally mute, the entire day. those of you with 3- and 4-year-old boys with any amount of energy should understand the magnitude of this. mute, people. meaning, not talking a word the entire day. some of you may think that would be heaven. not around these parts. we went for SO LONG without big h speaking that we LOVE that he never stops. we love it. it was so insanely quiet around here yesterday. even the goo kept looking at him for entertainment. and he just couldn't provide.

finally, around 5, i had to get out of the house so we went on a walk. big h didn't speak, and the goo just munched on some yogurt cheerios. thank you, Jesus, for some time alone with you.

round 4 of torture came at bedtime. he had his bath and his jammies on and he was going to get to watch madagascar again before bedtime. that is huge. normally, he takes his bath and we read stories. but he was going to get to watch a show before going to sleep and "stay up late." so in order to do that, medicine would have to be taken. no problem.

i am scarred for life.

oh, and did i mention that my daughter? the goo? CRAWLED FOR THE FIRST TIME YESTERDAY!!!!! right, so she's only 10 months old. but she did it. and as with big h, she accomplishes milestones in the midst of something else so that i can't be nearly as excited as i want to be.

case in point, the doorbell rang (even though the sign on the door says, "shhh...baby sleeping. please knock.") and it was this kid, probably 15 or so, conducting a survey of families in my area. would it be ok if he came in and spent 15 minutes of my time with me? sure, if you want to leave with sores in your mouth. i explained to him ever so sweetly that my children were sick and that he would probably leave here sick. and as i am doing so, i am looking over only to see my daughter on both knees. something i have never seen before. he's just trying to talk to me, and i didn't know how he wasn't getting the message that this mama simply was. not. listening.

finally, i see the goo move one knee in front of the other 4 times. 4 times! and then...

big h pummeled her to the ground.

because, you see, she was getting too close to his train track, which, by the way, takes up 1/2 of our living room.

so she is crying, and i say in my oh-so-stern voice (i think buz is secretly turned by this stern mommy voice), "big h, go sit on the couch. please go SIT ON THE COUCH." he has never done timeout so well, but for some reason it worked yesterday. thank you, Jesus. of course, it made him start to cry. so i have 2 crying children. and the 15-year-old is still there.

"you know, i would rather you not come in. it's just a hard time for us right now."

"oh, that's ok. we can just conduct this on the porch then."

naive soul that hasn't had children yet. one day. one day.

so i said in the nicest way possible, "GET THE HE-- OUTTA HERE!" ok, no i didn't. i just politely said, "honestly, i don't want to be rude but it is not a good time. i have a lot going on here, and it's just not a good time."

"ok, well, would tomorrow be better?"

seriously? are you kidding me?

frankly, i shut the door on him. i know. i couldn't help it. had to be done.

so big h and i had a talk about mauling over his sister and how that's not ok. and what would be a way to do that differently and better and sweeter?

his response? "ummm...not push her?"

remember. he's not talking. so in his raspiest, hoarsest voice, he informed me that the best decision would be to maybe not push her. good answer.

so buz and i finished the day. whew. put big h to bed. put the goo to bed. and now, it was time to finally rest. because big h woke up every hour on the hour the night before last. so we were pooped. the only way we would truly relax was to, of course, watched our DVR'd American Idol and eat hot tamales together. true love at its finest. we had to pause it several times due to the screaming going on in the toddler's room. but after several different moments of consoling, we were ready to watch the winner crowned. (FYI: i totally knew it would be jordin. from the VERY beginning. ask buz.) and then, this happened. and i had already turned off the computer. so we had to find out who won by looking at buz's blackberry. you realize how small these screens are, right? anticlimactic.

well, the medicine must have kicked in because big h only woke up 4 times. twice in one hour. and 2 more times but not for a long period of time. it was bliss.

until.

the goo is learning that the only way to get attention around here is do what brother does. so, she chose to wake up in the middle of the night for the first time in, oh, SIX MONTHS. and we are a cry-it-out family. say what you will. so we changed her diaper, put jammies back on, gave her a little mood music and put her back down. and she did cry it out. but she fell back asleep about 4am (about 15 minutes).

so to top everything off, our plumbing is having some "issues," shall we say. so buz stayed home today so that he can talk to the plumber and ask him how to repair our toilet that, you know, doesn't flush and all.

it can only get better, right?

and so... a recap in pictures. because i know you were on the edge of your seats.


to note: big h is wearing his "comfy" clothes, which are some OU scrubs. also, he is playing with the goo's toy. just didn't have it in him to play with toys for his own age. too much thought. (sorry, weentrab, i had to use the flash on this one too.)

we pulled out all the stops. the train track. the train blanket. the goo decided to pull out a TON of wipes right by the table. big h got out my running shoes because he's a fashion-conscious guy. they're dark red. and he was wearing dark red. that's my boy.

part of the goo's 3-part regimen here at the wisner neighborhood pharmacy

everyone's regimen, including the dr. pepper from the golden arches that buz got on his way home. major husband points scored at that very moment.

and so that no one would OD