11.10.2010

READ ME if your child has seasonal allergies

In early October, my son (and I) were blessed with our usual seasonal allergies*. We both experience coughing (from the sinus drainage), itchy eyes, sneezing, and stuffiness. I usually enjoy a cocktail of Sudafed Allergy + Sinus and Mucinex. The boy has taken Zyrtec in the past, but does not like the taste. A friend mentioned he and his daughter both take Claritin and it works well for them. So I bought some for both of us. Children’s Claritin** Chewable in grape flavor, for my son.

While the Claritin provided wonderful relief from the allergy symptoms, it seems to have wreaked havoc on my child’s behavior…

Half way through the first week on the meds, my son earned a Red at school. His school utilizes the Traffic Light system to keep behavior in check. Now, it’s definitely not uncommon for my son to get the occasional red, so this really was no big deal. (He moved into the Pre-K class at the beginning of September, and there seemed to be some transitional issues which resulted in more reds than we felt he should have earned, but the reds became fewer. We thought we were on the road to recovery.) However, the next day he earned another red. And the day after that, and the day after that, and finally a yellow, but then 2 more reds. This pattern repeated the following week. My husband and I were at wits end trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with this kid and why he seemed more hyper than usual.

On the days he earned a Red, we would all sit in the foyer and talk (er, yell/scream) about what happened. When he told us about his day: I hit so-and-so, I was upset because I didn’t get to go first, I didn’t want to stop playing to listen to story time, I was mad at the teacher for putting my name on the board, etc. After the talk, we usually made him sit in the naughty chair, with no toys/no cartoons/no distractions, for what seemed like hours. After this, he was allowed to play quietly while we got dinner around. After dinner, more quiet time, no cartoons, etc. The first few times we even threw away toys. Trucks, his favorite stuffed animal, etc. (most of which were rescued by me after the fact and hid) While this tactic seemed to have an immediate affect, he got over it quickly. During this time he lost 2 play dates and a special outing with his Grandma and Grandpa.

He started taking Karate in September, and while he was hyper and easily distracted (normal) during his lesson, he wasn’t the only one, so I didn’t think much of it. Besides…isn’t that why parents enroll their young children in Karate – to help with focus and self control? We noticed that during the same 2 weeks he had terrible reports at school, he was completely and utterly out of control at Karate as well. We are with him at Karate (as opposed to school) so we had the pleasure of witnessing the insanity. On October 14, after witnessing him bouncing off the walls and dancing around like he had ants in his pants and doing everything except karate, we decided that he had attended his last Karate class until he could show more self control.

I posted on Facebook numerous times about our frustrations with his behavior. I received a lot of advice from other parents who have experienced, or are experiencing, similar behavior from their child(ren). Of the MANY welcomed suggestions, we decided to implement two of them when other tactics weren’t working: “don’t punish at home for something that happened at school” and “incorporate some structured activity into every day at home”.

Those tactics, along with a suggestion (from the person who recommended Claritin) that maybe the Allergy meds were to blame, seem to have joined forces to re-create our energetic, fun, happy child who listens as well as most 4 ½ year olds do - but who doesn't act like a complete lunatic.

Last week he earned 3 greens and 1 yellow (had one sick day), and so far this week all greens. We are so happy to have our boy back.

*I did not have seasonal allergies until a year after my son was born.

**The warnings on the box of Claritin do indicate that the medication may cause hyperactivity in children. But who really pays attention to that stuff?

6.23.2010

North Myrtle Beach

On June 17, we left for our journey to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We drove about 7 hours and stayed at a Comfort Inn in Max Meadows, Virgnia. Shortly after we got there, the boy wanted to get in the pool, natch, so, we got our suits on and headed to the pool. Upon looking at the pool...we thought it was weird that there was a film on the top. I couldn't convince him to wait a second, so Zane and I started down the steps and Dan popped open the filter. The inside of the filter was coated with brown gunk. Dan thought it looked like someone had vomited in the pool! OMG!!! We immediately got out and told the front desk clerk. She apologized and said she would call maintenance. We went back to our room and showered and headed to dinner. The boy is addicted to Cracker Barrel, so that's where we ended up. When we returned, we saw that the pool was being cleaned.

Since we were stuck in our room in a podunk town in VA waiting for the pool to be cleaned, we entertained ourselves by jumping beds and the boy threatening to turn the heat on in the room.

After totally restless hours of tossing and turning, listening to the a/c unit click on and off (stupid energy saver), and the cackling women in the room next to us, I finally decided to stick my earbuds in my ears and was able to drown out the noise enough to get about 4 hours of sleep. We headed down to the pool in the morning, before checking out and it appeared to be clean and ok for use. We spent an hour in the pool before showering and hitting the road.

We drove the remaining 5 1/2 hours through the beautiful mountains in West Virginia, and then through some really random - almost residential and back woods - places. I'm used to driving to NYC (after all, I've been doing it at least once a year for 18 years) where you take the turnpike the whole way. There was a lot of navigating, so I had to almost pay constant attention. Not fun when your kid wants you to sit in back and watch movies or read or play games.

My husband drove the entire way, and round about Winston-Salem, NC, his driving frightened me enough to make me cry. CRY! He was playing chicken (or whatever you want to call it) with some idiot on the road. He was driving recklessly, weaving in and out of traffic, slamming on is breaks, veering toward this guy, etc. I was so scared. Z was so upset with him for making me cry. After telling him he can do that shit on his own time and not when Z and I are in the car, I didn't speak to him until we arrived NMB, other than to give him directions.

About 20 minutes outside NMB, it started pouring. So hard that people were pulling off the road. My husband, was of course, speeding. It cleared up and then a few minutes later began to hail.
We arrived at The Bay Watch Resort, and I think the front desk clerk upgraded our room because I paid for a non-beach front room. We ended up with beach front, a balcony, 2 bedrooms, full kitchen, spa tub and murphy bed in the living room. I paid $120/night for this room...it was pretty friggin awesome. It was about 5pm by the time we checked in and unloaded, so we didn't bother with renting an umbrella and chairs. We just headed right down to the beach and picked a spot. We spent the next hour or so going in and out of the ocean, digging in the sand and searching for seashells. We headed inside for some dinner. Decided to order pizza so we could get the most of our first few hours before heading to bed. We ordered from the Ultimate California Pizza. I ordered the usual all meat pizza for Dan and concocted what ended up being the best pizza I have ever had in my life for the boy and I. Pepperoni, hot peppers, black olives and smoked gouda cheese. It was a dream.

Saturday morning, after a 30 minute battle to get the boy to take his antibiotics (was diagnosed with pink eye on Monday), and after an hour long punishment of staying in the room, we headed down to the beach and enjoyed our rented ($25/day) umbrella and chairs. The breeze and getting in and out of the water frequently, made the 95 degree weather almost bearable. Plus, drinking beer helped. We packed up our bags and headed up to our room to change for lunch. On the walk, not realizing how hot the sand would be once we were away from the wet/water soaked sand...the bottoms of my feet were getting burned with every step. I was able to stop long enough to dig my flip flops out of our bag and put them on only to hobble the rest of the way to our hotel. We went into town for lunch and nearly passed out when we stepped out of the car and onto the pavement. It had to be 105 degrees or hotter. Disgusting! At lunch, I checked the bottoms of my feet...sure enough...BLISTERS. 4 of my toes had big fat blisters on the bottoms. Yippee!!! We ate, picked up a few groceries at WalMart and headed back to the beach. I never thought I would WANT to go back to the beach, but despite the blistered toes it was so much cooler than in town. It was a relief to get back and I made sure to wear my flip flops when we walked in the sand. We spent some time in the pools too. Later, we changed our clothes and headed to dinner before going to Mel and Jacques' beach house for a "night before the wedding gathering". We had fun playing in the pool, drinking beer and hanging out.

Sunday morning came early, and we got dressed for the wedding. I wore a maxi dress and Z and daddy both wore linen pants and nice shirts. I was a bit shocked by what some of the guests were wearing. Swim trunks and tshirts, jean shorts and tshirts, etc. Um...it's still a wedding. No matter that it was hot as hell, and on a beach. STILL A WEDDING. Respect. Anyway, at 10am it was already 85 degrees.
It was a scorcher by the time we walked down onto the beach and found a nice spot to have the ceremony. We formed 2 lines, and Mel and Jacques walked between us while we hummed "Here Comes the Bride". It was fun. Then we all gathered around and watched as they exchanged vows. She made a beautiful bride...and you could tell she was as happy as could be to be marrying her prince on the beach. After a few group shots, we headed back to the beach house. A few minutes later, my blackberry screen went white and a message appeared that said "internal error, take in for service". AGHHHH! Despite being unconnected to the world, we had a great time sweating our asses off, sucking down margaritas and partying until dark. So grateful for the tweens who were there and doting on my boy all night. Ahhh, now that was awesome!
It was awful and not awful all at the same time. Would I go again? Probably not unless I have to. I'm not one to just sit on a beach, or play in water all day. I like to DO and I like to SEE. We really only had a day and half to ourselves, so we had no time to do or see anything but water and sand. That's not my thang. NOT AT ALL. I did enjoy people watching, but after a while I just start to find annoying things about people. If we would have had more time, I would have liked to check out Broadway at the Beach, the Aquarium and Amusement Park, Shopping, Medieval Times (loved it in NJ - but that was before Z came along), Put Put Golf, more shopping, etc. But there was no time for any of it. I am SO GLAD we were able to go to celebrate Mel's wedding. That's what the trip was all about. It wasn't about me. I was SO GLAD to see my boys face when he saw the ocean for the first time and the first time he stepped foot in it. He had a blast. That's also what this trip was about. It wasn't about me.

So...would I go back. Yeah, probably, if that's what my boy really wants to do (although...on the ride, he mentioned that he likes NYC way better...he was only 2 the last time we were there though...so I'm not sure there's much meaning to that). But we would have to pack some entertainment into the trip. Even only a day and a half was too much "nothing" for me.

I would definitely never go in the summer again. That's just INSANE!



Big Boy Turns 4


So, I'm a bit late for this. Over a month late. Life is crazy. What can I say.

My boy turned 4. We had a family only party at the house, and he was showered with gifts.

4 seems to be a bit better than 3. He understands so much, is doing so well at school and the fits and sass seem to have settled...somewhat.

His birthday cake was an awesome monster truck show re-creation. I must admit I did a great job!

His 4 year well visit went well. 50th percentile for weight and off the charts for height. Dr. S said he would likely be 6'5"ish, which is no surprise since my brother is 6'6" and I have a tall family. Daddy's uncles are tall too.

2.18.2010

yakkety yak

It's been a while since I have posted. I am so swamped at work, I hardly have time to screw off on my Blackberry and on Facebook. Yeah, I know. Poor me.

My new(ish) position is completely insane. I am pulled in 10 different directions every day, by a dozen different people. I have 2 people who I manage, who have had a few PTO days recently, which means I HAVE TO COVER for them while continuing to do my job. This consists of, depending who has the PTO, either manning the front desk and answering phones, shipping an enormous amount of things, miscellaneous nonsense I haven't had to deal with in years, or hours and hours of word processing, formatting, report assembly, etc. On top of these duties, I still have to perform my usual duties: administering the office, writing checks, working in our janky accounting software, invoicing for not one, nor two, but 7 people in the office which has amounted to 50 invoices that are not cut and dry and include a lot of back-door work, balancing the founders various accounts, managing the founders various projects, managing the founders everything, fielding complaints and dealing with said complaints, remodeling the conference room and dealing with people asking me a thousand times a day when it is going to be finished, and many other tasks daily and still doing all I used to do in my old job. I am lucky if I get to enjoy 2 lunch hours a week.

I am whipped when I get home. I rarely get online. I am in bed by 9:30pm.

I'm still trying to lose weight. I'm sort of in panic mode now. BFF's wedding is in 4 months. In Myrtle Beach. I can't think of anything that scares me more than spending a few days in the south, on a beach, in the summer. I hate being hot. I don't wear bathing suits in front of people. I don't like sun or water. And, well, I like to keep my gross old body covered.

Still doing weight watchers, and have lost the 10 lbs I lost and gained several months ago. Have given up on the gym (see above...no time, exhausted + inconvenient), but recently got a used (free) treadmill. Have been waking at 5am to either do the treadmill or my Walk Away The Pounds dvds. The treadmill motor seems to be going bad, so it's not really functional right now and I don't have the energy to fight with it every day, so I'm doing the dvds. Husband is mechanically inclined, so just waiting for him to fix it.

Need to lose 32 lbs to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. My son will be 4 in May. This is now considered "Pre-School Weight".

The boy. Well, age 3 has been very challenging. But I have to say that as we close in on 4, things seem to be improving. He is a very strong headed boy, but he is also very sweet. He loves him some mama! The sassy mouth is a bit under control and he is more agreeable. He knows limits and doesn't push every one every day anymore. And he knows he has to "earn" special outings/things by behaving well. I purchased a "Barrel of Monkeys" at the beginning of the year - because sticker charts do not work anymore - and he earns a monkey for each time he gets dressed without a fight, brushes teeth, eats dinner, keeps the sass in check, etc.

When all Monkeys are earned, we have a special outing. Last outing was the Hands On Museum, Clover Leaf Restaurant, and a new truck. He still sort-of fights getting dressed and brushing teeth nearly every day, but it seems as long as I either distract him with talking nonsense or watching cartoons, I can whip his clothes on in no time. He was getting time outs every morning, we would have yelling matches, everyone was stressed out, it was terrible. So, things have definitely improved. I have to hide the toothpaste way down inside the bristles because "I don't like toothpaste", so, in order to brush with toothpaste I have to hide it. Daddy has little patience at all with this morning fighting, so I am handle getting dressed and brushing teeth. I am hopeful that my techniques will eventually sink in with my husband and he can take over. Until then...Whatevs. (see above...no time, no energy, etc)

I love his school, his teachers and having him across the street from me. He doesn't cry when I drop him off anymore. I get one kiss and one hug instead of the crying and clinging and whining I got every day for nearly 3 months. He can spell several words and some of the things he says seem (to me) like things "big boys" would say. IE: Mommy, why are Pine Trees used for Christmas Trees instead of another kind of tree? And one day when Daddy put him in a time out, he was really upset about telling me why he got a time out, because "I don't want you to be mad at me".

At school, his BFF is Dominic. This boy is super sweet, adorable, and has a fantastic personality. He even hugs me every time I see him. I have his mom's phone number and intend to set up a play date. Making the first move and talking to someone I don't know is completely out of my comfort zone, but well...the things we do for our kids.

Bedtime is better. We have gone from sleeping in his bed with him - what a terrible habit that was - to sitting in the chair until he falls asleep, to sitting in the chair for 10 minutes, to not being in his room at all after books are read, hugs and kisses are given and friends are tucked in with him. We leave the hall light on all night and that seems to help. There is the occasional middle of the night where he is afraid of one thing or another and comes into our room or just calls for me (ME!) in the night. When he calls for me, I send daddy in...because, guess who has a job and who doesn't.

Daddy is in his 2nd semester of school and is doing really well. Should have an Associates in Applied Electrical Science by the end of the year. He will be able to collect unemployment for another year after that, so will likely go on to UT to work toward an Electrical Engineering degree. As long as we can manage financially, this is the plan.

Finished our taxes this week and the most bizarre thing happened: despite making (gasp) $24k (!!) less in 2009 than we did in 2008, we are getting nearly 5 times as much back as we usually do. For the first time ever, we are getting money back from the state. For the first time since the boy was born, we were able to claim child care. Also got the credit for insulating our house, and several different credits because daddy is a displaced worker, a veteran and is getting re-educated. We are getting more back this year than we did when A) we bought our house and B) when the boy was born. We've dipped into the savings account a couple times, so for me and my constant freaking out about balances, this couldn't come at a better time. Plus I was really feeling guilty about dipping into savings for Myrtle Beach.

We've made it through a full year of daddy being unemployed, and I'm happy to say that we've been able to make the finances work without adjusting much (well, my shoe and purse purchases are under control - kinda sorta), have only dipped a bit from savings, and have not accumulated any credit card debt. It is lovely being credit card debt free - going on our 6th year.

We made a few inexpensive changes to the half bath and it has made a world of difference. It looks like a different room to me. Will use a bit of the tax money for a couple other small improvements. Also plan to get a DVR and a blue-ray player so we can stream in Nexflix. Never ever thought I would see the day that I wanted or saw a need for a DVR, but the day has come. I am just too damn tired to stay up and watch my shows and I really sort of like waking up at 5am to exercise. It's the only time there is no chaos.

I try to read some of my favorite blogs, and still read books at night before falling asleep. I have a couple hard cover books I need to finish up and then I plan to get a Kindle. The library doesn't work well for me, and I get sick of looking at stacks of books around the house. While I love most of the blogs I read, I have to say that there are a few bloggers who drive me absolutely insane with their constant complaining and misuse of certain words...I need to stop reading them, but it's like a train wreck, ya know?

I turned 40, which isn't as bad as it seems. Love that people seem shocked I am THAT OLD. Got a big butterfly tat on my back as my gift to myself. It's beautiful. Am already dying for my next one. The addiction runs deep.

Things are well. We are making it work. I am working my ass off. I only wish I was really working my ass off. Seems like I say that often.


1.02.2010

Is it next year, already?

Jeesh. I know it's 2010, but I didn't really realize it was next year already.

2009...in a nutshell.
ο Celebrated my son's 3rd birthday
ο My company merged with another company
ο Got a 5% pay raise and a promotion in the merger, and now manage 2 people
ο My husband lost his job
ο My husband quit his part time/temporary job working with his brother
ο My husband remains unemployed, but is a full time student
ο Obama is giving my husband $6000 per school year (september to june) for school and school related expenses
ο Obama bought my husband a new laptop
ο We took the boy out of the "home sitter" and put him in full time preschool
ο I joined weight watchers (again) and continued to struggle
ο I celebrated 10 years of being smoke-free
ο Celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss
ο My house is fully insulated, but is still drafty - UGH
ο Finally have a new light fixture and fixed ceiling in the half bath
ο My family didn't go on a vacation
ο Tried a Spin class and actually really enjoyed it
ο Reconnected with one of my very best friends in the whole world
ο Nobody died, and there were no Emergency Room visits

ο A cousin (39) was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy only to discover they didn't get all of the cancer
ο Found an enormous lump in my left breast and had a mammogram and ultrasound and found out that it was a completely normal cyst
ο Got a new Blackberry, er, Crackberry
ο Leased a new car
ο Surprised my parents with a basket of goodies in their hotel room when they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary since I threw a big bash for their 45th
ο Enjoyed a date night (with boy sleeping over at Gma and Gpa's) nearly every month
ο Went to the Holiday Parade in downtown Toledo for the first time ever
ο Celebrated one year of not having to deal with diapers
ο Contemplated letting my gray grow in, but end up coming to my senses and coloring every time
ο Appeared to have shocked several people when I told them my age - will color hair and wear sunscreen forever
ο Celebrated my husbands 40th birthday with a parents + kids party
ο Dismantled the boys crib and assembled his full size bed
ο Battled nap time for several months after the bed conversion before totally giving up
ο Painted and repaired our garage, and got it added to our homeowners insurance
ο Realized that I should never have listened to anyone who told me it was time to take my son out of the crib. If I could go back in time, he would be in it until he no longer fit
ο Lost and gained 10 lbs
ο Had 2 steroid injections in my back and after experiencing 3 numb fingers on my left hand, discovered that I have 2 herniated discs in my neck
ο Hung myself from our home traction unit every day for weeks and got better results than with physical therapy
ο Was given a recipe for 1 point muffins and I absolutely cannot imagine not having 2 of them every day
ο Voted for Adam Lambert and still love him and his raciness
ο Donated clothes and shoes to a few charities

It was a year of ups and downs and refocusing. I'm looking forward to seeing what this new year brings us. How could the year Twenty Ten not be great?