The Zoo

My little monkey boy.

Josh's favorite bear.


Josh with his new zoo shirt.

The Space Needle - and yes the picture was taken from the car.

So we headed up to Seattle on Saturday because we desperately needed to get out of the house and actually do something. So what better place to go than Seattle - I mean, hello, we're only 2 hours away and the Woodland Park Zoo is definitely one of the better zoos than I've been to. We left around 9am, got the the zoo, ate lunch, and the headed off to look at all of the animals. Josh was really funny because he took charge and was holding the map and kept saying "What's next, what's next?" And all he wanted to go look at were the bears - which were all the way on the other end of the zoo from where we parked. And it was such a beautiful day - it was 75 degrees in Seattle. Seattle! It was the perfect day to go to the zoo. We brought the stroller for Maddie and Brad suggested that we bring our wagon - which I'm glad that we did, because we used it. Josh and Maddie loved seeing all of the animals. This was Maddie's 2nd trip to a zoo, but first to where she really knew what was going on. Josh loved the bears, aldergators (alligators), spiders, snakes, and the monkeys. Maddie loved everything.

It was just a really good day and we got home around 5:30 that night. Good old family fun! We still want to go to the aqaurium, the space needle and walk down by the pier - but there is plenty of time for that. We didn't want to cram everything all in one day, so next trip we'll do more stuff. We'll probably stay overnight as well. It sure was nice in Seattle, I'll tell you that. :)

My Week (LONG post)

My, oh my - where do I begin? Well it has been one of the worst weeks I've probably had in quite some time. Let's see I'll just start off with the beginning of the week.

Sunday - at about 4 or 5am, Josh got sick, throwing up to be exact. We couldn't get him back to sleep - I slept out on the couch for a little bit before finally get "up" at 6:15. He had also been coughing a little since Friday - which was in full swing by Sunday.

Monday - we had Josh's hearing test. Which that was a lot to deal with. Brad worked on Sunday night, so I had his mom come up to watch Maddie so I could take Josh to his hearing test. So I get home from that, and Maddie is acting up. She's being really whiny and won't eat. We finally get the kids down for their naps and Maddie wakes up after only sleeping a hour. One hour. Brad goes in there, and she has puked all over the place. We stick her in the bath, get all of her bedding in the washer, and I'm holding her in the kitchen. Lo and behold, she pukes all over me. Yuck!!!! So after putting her in the bath again, more laundry, me taking a quick shower - ughh. She ended up getting sick a few more times that evening and really wasn't herself. I'm just so glad that Brad was home to help with all of that. The kids didn't sleep good that night either.

Tuesday - I woke up early Tuesday morning (1am) to find my stomach in knots. It was literally turning over and over, and I was trying to fight it - but I couldn't. I ended up getting sick at about 4am, and it just went down hill from there. I was extremely sick (no details needed), and I had a fever, body aches and was just hurting all over. I thought I was going to die, I was THAT sick. Brad called in sick from work so that he could take care of the kids for me, because there was no possible way that I could have done anything! I was sick the entire day - I couldn't keep anything down, and my fever finally broke at about 9pm. I went to bed feeling a little better, but definitely not 100% and definitely feeling beat up! And to top that all off, the kids were even sicker - and there is no nice way to put this, but they had the runs. Both of them!

Wednesday - Brad got sick. So it was me not feeling the best, feeling so weak trying to take care of the kids - but luckily Brad's mom came up again and we got the kids out of the house, but then I started to feel sick again, but that passed and I was glad. Maddie was still a little sick, but was starting to get better. The rest of my day was spent doing damage control - doing dishes, laundry (mounds and mounds of nasty laundry), disinfecting, etc. Plus on top of all of that - Josh decided to poop in the tub when Brad was giving them a bath while I was cleaning the master bathroom so Brad could take a bath for his beat up body. So I cleaned 2 bathrooms that night as well - I was bone tired.

Thursday - More laundry (and this was just to get the rest of the stuff caught up), more dishes and we had to run to Target because after not getting a paycheck for 30 days - things started to add up! Big time! So $200 later - we finally had everything we needed.

Today - I'm still exhausted. The kids woke up several times last night, much to my dismay. Brad also worked until about 10 last night, so I was on my own. This just has not been a good week. I'm so tired and if I could just get like 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, I think I might feel a little bit more energized. But oh well. And that's where we are right now.

Josh's Hearing Test

The doctor looked in his ear and didn't find any fluid or wax build-up. He did 3 different hearing tests on him. One was to test for any pressure build-up in his ear, another was the standard hearing test (beep, etc), and the other was to test the actual bones in his ear. So for the first test, he failed (if you can call it that). They usually like to see a peak when doing that test to show that the eardrum is actually moving/vibrating because that’s how we hear, but Josh’s ears just showed a flat line, which was elevated – so obviously pressure. The 2^nd test he also failed – but that is probably because of the pressure. He did say a couple of times to the doctor – what, I can’t hear that. And the 3^rd test (testing the bones) – he passed. So there is no permanent damage to his ears, thank goodness! So the doctor said that he will pass this information on to our regular doctor and go from there. I asked him if we were looking at possibly putting tubes in his ears, and he said no. But it is something that we want to definitely keep an eye on. He said that one of his daughters had this same thing, and it finally cleared up in about 6 months – but six months!!! He also said that the doctor might want to prescribed antibiotics, but we would have to see. And one of the things I need to doctor about is if we can get him re-tested when he doesn’t have a cold and isn’t congested – if that would make a difference. Because it just happened that he was sick for the test. Which I still need to follow up with the regular doctor about all of this, but after the week I’ve had – I’ll just have to do it next week.

Slip-n-Slide Party

So Josh got invited to a Slip-n-Slide party by one of his classmates on Friday and we decided that we would go and I'm so glad that we did. And it wasn't just any ordinary slip-n-slide - it was 150 feet long! They had made it out of irrigation tarp and PVC pipe - it was awesome. And now that I'm thinking about it, I didn't even get a picture of it - dang it! And they had a hill that it went down, so it was perfect. They had the sprinklers on it, a hose, and had blow up pool toys to ride down it. Josh ended up going down it once, but he did it. They also had a huge blown up slide - one of those huge things that you can find at Costco, which Josh didn't want to get out of. There was also a big trampoline (that was maybe a foot off the ground), a huge sand box area and lots and lots of food, candy, chips, etc. - basically every kid's dream!

We stayed for about 2 hours and Josh got to visit with all of his little classmates and by the time we left, my little man crashed in the car on the way home. It was a blast, the weather had cleared up - so that was perfect and I got some great pictures. Brad worked the night before, so he was able to stay home with Maddie - which I was glad. It was great just being able to hang out with Josh and do something fun with him, and I'm glad that I didn't have to bring her because she is fearless. They had a decent sized hill/slope to their yard and I know that she would have tried to go down the "mountain", she would have been in the water, probably going down the slip-n-slide - I just would have been baby wrangling more than enjoying watching Josh have fun. So it was a good day.

Josh's Last Day of Preschool

Well today was Josh's last day of preschool. It was a fun day. Since it was the last day of school, parents were encouraged to come, so Grandma came up to watch Maddie so that Josh and I could have some one-on-one time, which we really needed. We headed over to school, and it was so fun to watch him run around with all of his little buddies and play and just have fun period! They played inside on the trampoline (the school is also a gym for gymnastics classes and such) and ran around on the mats for a while. Then we went outside to play on the toys out there. Josh played basketball and "fed" me ice cream (wood chips) for breakfast - now that's my kind of breakfast. And then the was another area set up with 2 bounce houses, so the kids played in those. After that, we went inside to do a three-legged race, and play with the parachute. And finally, it was time to eat. It was a good day!

Hopefully next school year, we'll be able to make it all the way through without having to move! It will be nice for me to be able to get to know the other parents and the other kids. Everyone here already knew each other, and I didn't really get to meet many of the other parents. I also made a fruit bowl, which no one even touched - talk about feeling like I was in high school again. But alas, it was not about me - it was about Josh and he had a great day. I just wish I would have thought about bringing the teachers flowers or a card, but there is always next year.

It's going to be a long summer, but hopefully it will go by fast. We've got a few mini trips planned with the kids and without. So it does look like our weekends are starting to fill up. We'll probably go camping with Grandma and Grandpa, Josh is going to 2 summer camps this year, Brad and I have our anniversary coming up (which we are taking a trip finally), Brad and I want to take the kids to Seattle to the zoo, I have my birthday coming up - which I'll be going to Seattle then as well, and my mom and sister want to plan a trip too. So, like I said, our weekends are really starting to fill up! So maybe it won't be such a long summer after all.

Josh's Hearing

Ever since Memorial Day weekend, Josh has been having problems hearing us. He got a little sick right after our camping trip and was pretty congested, so I attributed him just being plugged up to not hearing us. Well it kept going on, and I was really beginning to wonder - what the heck? And it wasn't just that he wasn't listening. He did the usual, what? what? But then it started turning into him saying, "Mommy, I can't hear you." And then, he started turning his head to the sides and sometimes putting his hand to his hear like he was trying to get water out of his ear. Or has Heidi said, trying to unplug it. He hasn't had a fever, and isn't' complaining that his ears hurt. But I wanted him to see a doctor just to make sure. Well we found a doctor up here (which is another story in itself, and I won't even get into that now) and she said that she didn't see any fluid in his ears or wax build-up. His ears to her just looked red and irritated. So we got a referral to have him do a hearing test - which is scheduled for Monday at 9:30.

I'm so confused about all of this. Why all of a sudden would he not be hearing us when there is no wax build-up or fluid to suggest an ear infection? It's a little scary and I hope it nothing, but the closer this gets the more nervous I'm getting. It's one thing for him to not be listening, but for him to actually say - mommy I can't hear you?!? What if he ears are permanently damaged? What caused the damage? Ok, I can't think about it like that - we'll just go and get through the hearing test (which, hopefully Josh will cooperate with) and go from there. That's all we can do.

My Weekend

*These are out of order, sorry*

Ok, so from the past posts everyone knows that Josh stayed with G&G and it was basically just Maddie and I at home. Well my friend Ashlee came into town from Seattle on Saturday afternoon. It worked out perfectly (liked I've said before) because her boyfriend was out of town and Brad was working all weekend, and I only had one child to watch. So we hung out and talked until Maddie woke up. We talked some more until dinner time. Brad actually came home around 5:30, and we all ate tacos together. Then just the girls went to col.dst.one to get ice cream (can you say, yummy?), and that was an adventure in itself! Long story short, the ice cream melted really fast and you had to be there to appreciate any of it. Then I put Maddie to bed, and Ashlee and I rented a movie.

The next day we had a really good breakfast and by lunch it was time for her to leave. It was just great being able to hang out with her again and to have some girl talk again. I miss that! Ashlee and I have been friends since the 5th grade, and she is one of those people that we don't talk nearly enough - but when we do get together it's like we haven't skipped a beat.

We already have plans to see each other at least twice (I hope) before my birthday. And then for my birthday I'm going up to Seattle to spend the weekend up there with Ashlee. We've got a few things planned like pedicures and shopping, but mostly it will just be nice to get away for a two nights and be with a great friend!

Sleepover

Well we've been going to Tri-Cities a lot lately to visit Grandma and Grandpa, and just to give us something to do. And every time that we leave, Josh wants to spend the night and throws a fit when we have to get him in the car. So the kids and I headed down there to visit on Friday, and we had planned to have Josh spend Friday night with G and G (sorry, I'm sick of writing Grandma and Grandpa, so G&G it is) and we would see how it went and go from there. Well it was a perfect weekend to do it because of Brad being on-call. My friend Ashlee was also coming down from Seattle to visit and stay Saturday night and leave on Sunday.

So I kept asking Josh on Friday before Maddie and I left if he really wanted to stay with G&G, and he kept reassuring me that yes, this is what he wanted to do. I told him that mommy and Maddie were going to the yellow house, and that he would be staying there - and his reply to me was "bye mom, you go to the yellow house". Maddie and I stayed a little bit longer and finally hit the road by 6pm. And Josh was fully content with staying with G&G and got so excited! I called when Maddie and I made it home and Josh was doing fine. Erica, his cousin, came over to play that night on the slip-n-slide that we had bought for him. I gave Maddie a bath, put her to bed, got on the internet and watched a movie by myself. Brad was working, Josh was with G&G, and Maddie was sleeping - it was a little lonely.


So Saturday rolled around, I called in the morning to see if everything had gone smoothly at night - no accidents, no wanting to come home at 2am (which worried me the most, since we're an hour and 30 minutes away) and he slept as well as any 4 year old could. He did wake up early, but that is nothing new with Josh. Whenever I talked with Brad's mom, I kept telling her that we'd play it by ear and see how the rest of the day went. Josh actually took a nap with Grandpa and was helping out around their house, played with his slip-n-slide some more, went to the store, and had a blast! I called again in the evening, and Josh was again playing with Erica, and didn't really even want to talk to me :( But it was good that he had so much fun.


He didn't even want to come home on Sunday. G&G kept asking him, don't you want to go home to the yellow house and see mommy, daddy and Maddie? And he said that he didn't want to, he just wanted to stay with G&G. That was really heartbreaking!!! It was so sad to know that he didn't want to come home. We've had a few moments of weepiness since yesterday - with him saying that he missed G&G. I asked him yesterday if he wanted to call them, and he just said "no, I'm too upset". Oohh! Sad. But hopefully with him going to school tomorrow and Grandma coming up on Wednesday, we'll get back into the swing of things.

Last Week

Well last week Brad went back to work. He went back on Wednesday, and now we're back to reality. He also had signed up to have the duty truck (trouble truck) the day that he went back. And this entails him going to work his normal hours and then bringing home a trouble truck and basically being on-call from the time he gets off of his normal hours, until he starts the next morning. And this lasting for a week. A week you say? That doesn't seem so long? But oh man, it's been a long week - and it isn't even over yet. So far he has worked 40 hours of overtime alone in 5 days, plus his 24 hours of regular work - so 64 hours in 5 days! It probably wouldn't have been so bad - but we're going from him being home all of the time to him not being home at all. It's all or nothing with our family!

So Brad's mom came up to visit on Wednesday - which worked out perfect for the kids and for me. Brad did end up working a little late, and got home around 7pm. Well as he was outside cleaning up around the perimeter of the house, he started to hear a rattle - and lo and behold - our first rattlesnake. Brad had moved the garbage can to throw some stuff away that had blown into our yard, and as he was moving the garbage can back into place - he started hearing the rattling. He looked and saw that the snake had already coiled up and so he grabbed a shovel and took care of business. The snake had six rattles on it, so it was six years old. And our garbage cans are right up close to the house, right by the garage. I was pretty freaked out to say the least. It was very scary to have a rattlesnake up by the house, but was even more scary is that the kids and I had just been out there a hour or two earlier! We were waiting for Brad's mom to come back to our house, so we were right by where the snake was. Ugh, I can't even think about it. So needless to say - I've been having nightmares about rattlesnakes!

Memorial Day Weekend - Part II

So after a long day on Saturday, Brad and I thought we would push the envelope a little further. We ended up heading to Tri-Cities on Sunday to visit with Brad's parents and then to meet up with some friends. We left the house around 1pm and got there around 2:30. The kids played in the pool that they have and got to see their cousin Erica. And then we just hung out, since it was such a nice day. It was sunny, hot, and it felt good to put our feet in the water.

Then Brad and I met up with some friends and went out to dinner and then back to their place to hang out. We ended up drinking a little and singing karaoke - because little did Brad and I know, but they have a karaoke machine at their house. And poor Corbin and Amy because I am just a really bad singer! But it was fun, and we had a good time. And we took advantage of Brad's parents yet again, and had them watch the kids. And we stayed out late again, and then drove home - so it was a long weekend, and it was good to have Monday to relax before everything started all over again.

Memorial Day Weekend Part I

Yes, yes - this is late as well. It seems like I don't have any time to blog anymore. We've been so busy and a lot has happened and it seems like it's not going to stop. And I, like a lot of my other mommy friends, are quite busy these days. So here are a few catch up posts.

On Saturday (before Memorial Day, mind you) we ended up going to Brad’s aunt and uncle’s house to “camp” for the day. And the reasons why I say “camp” are because we don’t have anything to camp in, we didn’t stay overnight, and we were close to the woods but not quite in the woods. We got up there around noon, and we didn’t end up leaving until about 9pm. So it was a long day for the kids and for us, but it was definitely enjoyable and we’re glad we went up. The kids had a blast, an absolute blast. They played in the dirt and were completely covered from head to toe in dirt – but that’s what camping is all about, right? They loved seeing family members and hanging out with their 2nd cousins.

Now comes the bad part...at Brad's aunt and uncle's house there is a creek with water that is about a foot deep I guess - I don't know, I'm really bad about guessing that kind of stuff. Well the point of the story, is that there is water. They have a little wood bridge that goes across this into a little sandy area for the kids to play in with their tractors, trucks, and just to dig period. So of course this is where all of the kids are playing. And knowing my kids, and with Maddie being so little - Brad or I were right there just in case anything happened. And happen it did! Well Josh fell in (he was sitting on the edge dangling his feet, and leaned a little too far forward and slipped in - so only his shoes and socks got wet). He wasn't completely soaked - which was good because somehow I forgot to pack a pair of pants for him. So that crisis was over.

Then about 30 minutes later Maddie fell in. And she didn't just slip in. She was sitting on a rock, and must have slightly dozed off (which this is all according to Brad because I didn't actually see it, thank god), and fell forward and went right into the creek face first. Well Brad being right there, he jumped in after her - but she was completely soaked from head to toe. And this was right after I had changed her into her pants, a clean shirt, and her hoodie! So no dry pants, hoodie, shoes, etc. and we didn't have any extras. So as soon as I saw Brad holding her, I ran out of the trailer that I was in, stripped her down to her diaper and wrapped her in a towel. But she didn't even cry, it didn't really even phase her. I just think she was so tired! And poor Brad - he felt awful that it had happened, and he was soaked - his shoes, socks, pant legs - and again, no dry or extra stuff to wear. And they had just turned on the irrigation that Monday - otherwise that creek would have been dry.

So next time we go up there or go camping, we will be bringing 50 different outfits for the kids, 10 different pairs of shoes, and more clothes and shoes for us. We'll just be more prepared - well clothes-wise anyways.