Do I Know You?

I'm starting to wonder if I'm related to the boys. When I was growing up, my brother & I would wake our parents up early to get Christmas started. It's 8:45 and J, M, & N are still sleeping and L & Z have been up for less than an hour. Z asked when we'd be opening presents, but he's not bouncing off the walls (as I remember doing as a kid). L & Z are content to watch VeggieTales Star of Christmas on PBS. This, coupled with the fact they have all turned down chocolate, fudge, and cookies over the past week really makes me wonder if they all weren't switched at birth.

I, on the other hand, have been up since 4:30. Not by choice, though. M has a horrible cough and woke up trying to rid himself of a lung, so I carried him downstairs, gave him medicine, and once he fell back to sleep on the couch I carried him back to his bed. That was around 5:15, and I couldn't fall back to sleep. So I've exercised, showered, baked sausage pinwheels, baked cheese dollars, and set out all the cookies and treats. The homemade cinnamon rolls are ready to go in the oven as soon as Cr. wants them.

I think I'm going to be ready for a nap right about the time every one else is ready to start Christmas.

The Boys Think I'm Wonderful

A conversation from this morning:

Mommy: L & Z, finish up your school work and you are done with school until AFTER Christmas!

L & Z: Really?!?! Until after Christmas? We'll be on vacation? Alright!!!

I've not mentioned to them that other kids get 2+ weeks off of school. They don't need to know and you better not tell them.

We'll probably take most/all of next week off so I can plan and evaluate our progress, but I don't want to tell them lest they need some school-schedule structure to keep them out of trouble.

They're outside right now building a snowman with the snow left from "The Holiday Blizzard of '06".

Life is good. Merry Christmas!!

I Think We're in the Clear

Nobody has been sick since Friday. As a matter of fact, we went to our Small Group Christmas party on Sunday night. The hosts? Our guests from Tuesday. They wanted to assign us seats and place a large bucket behind them. Also, during a brief recounting of events to the group the husband of the couple mentioned that he actually wasn't done eating when the vomiting began. And that he tried to figure out proper etiquette..."Do I keep eating? The food is great. I can't smell, it's not bothering me...would it be rude to finish?". I'm so glad they have a sense of humor.

In Judo News:

L tested and received his first stripe on his yellow belt last night. After three stripes you move up to your next belt color.

My shoulder is better and I'm back in class. Sensei says he'll test me for my yellow when classes resume after Christmas.

L & Z participated in a mock-tournament for white and yellow belts two weeks ago at the Olympic Training Center. L won his division and Z took third in his. Z won 1 match, and was 1 throw away from winning his other 2 matches. L also received a trophy from Sensei for "Most Improved Club Member". At the next class he pulled Z aside and told him he wished he had two trophies because he deserved it as much as L. J tried to participate, but started crying halfway into his first match (right after he was thrown). He did finish his match, though...tears and all. I'm proud of the fact he walked out onto the mat, alone, and tried in front of 200+ people. L received a gold medal and Z & J received bronze.

And finally:

We still haven't replaced Lucky III.

Hour #67

We're now 67 hours into what I thought was a 24 hour stomach bug. They're still vomiting (although not as rapidly) and visiting the bathroom often.

Please send reinforcements.

Wanna Come for Dinner?

We had friends over for dinner last night. Before they got here, L was complaining of a stomach ache, which doesn't happen everyday, but isn't out of the blue, either. I gave him a Tums and sent him on his way.

Our friends arrived, and we ate dinner (except for L, who said his stomach was still hurting). We were wrapping dinner up, involved in conversation, and I felt a light tapping on my shoulder. As a mom of 5 boys, I'm able to tune these types of distractions out, and was finishing up the conversation when L puked all over the floor behind me. Not just a little bit, either. This was a serious emptying of the stomach. I apologized to our guests and told them that he'd been fine all day, just a little stomach ache. We got L's clothes changed (and my shirt since he hit me in the back) and the mess cleaned up.

We were moving to the living room when L came up and tugged on my shirt with tears in his eyes and informed me that he was pretty sure Lucky III (his hamster) had died. I sent Cr downstairs, and sure enough Lucky III was dead.

As if these 2 things weren't enough entertainment for our guests, M was crying off and on (as he's prone to do). Then I realized he was saying that his mouth hurt. Luckily I recognized this as his cue that he's gonna barf. Cr ran him upstairs to our bathroom where at the last minute M turned his head and threw up all over Cr and the bathroom carpet. Got M and Cr cleaned up, Cr did a preliminary cleaning of the carpet, and we rejoined our guests.

L threw up a few more times before they left, as did M. J has had a barky-sounding cough for 2 years now, and by this time our guests were a bit jumpy and would flinch every time J coughed.

Toward the end of the evening, Z started complaining about a stomach ache. As our guests were getting up to leave, Z barfed on the living room carpet so that our guests had to step around the stain as they headed for the front door.

Thankfully our guests have a sense of humor, and will hopefully forgive us when they wake up with a stomach bug in a few days. After they left Cr and I told each other that we weren't feeling that great, and sure enough we both woke up in the middle of the night to throw up and with body aches. J woke up this morning with it. So far N is the only one who has escaped it. Each boy has kept count of how many trips they've made to the bathroom, but I'll spare you the information. L seems to be doing better, so hopefully it's just a 24 hour bug.

Oh, did I mention the boys had all been drinking red punch?

Literal Thinking

J: Mommy, do you want to cough?

Mommy: No, why?

J: Then why do you have cough medicine?

Atom-Man

Z has developed a new superhero persona. He's now known as Atom-Man. His superpower is that when he touches anyone while he's wearing his Atom-Man suit they turn back into their original atoms. But beware...he sometimes looks like a cute penguin to fool the bad guys.

L: (mumbles something to Z)
Z: Would you like to borrow my atom-man suit?
L: (more mumbling)
Z: Really, you can. I have an extra.

Yeah, right.

Jacob (eyeing a glass of Diet Mt. Dew): Mommy?

Mommy: Yeah, Jake?

Jacob: Mommy, I just wanted to let you know I'm not thinking about drinking your juice.

Sure he's not. This is the same kid who has a habit of bringing me empty cups he finds. The only problem with this is that they are not normally empty when he finds them.

Feel like an early Christmas celebration?

Luke (to Craig): Dad, does anyone celebrate Christmas early?

Ezekiel (before Craig could answer): Yes. They do in Alaska and North Kentucky.

It's been 10 days since I blogged because...

The boys have done nothing interesting or amusing. Yeah, right. Actually, the screen went out on my laptop so I've lost the convenience and portability that make blogging so...well....convenient. It's still not fixed, but I'm using Craig's laptop because....

Craig received a call this morning from a friend inviting Craig and "one of his offspring" to the Air Force/Notre Dame game this afternoon. Craig was going to take Ezekiel (because Ezekiel says his favorite game is football, Luke loves baseball), but after getting Ezekiel ready, Ezekiel realized this game would take until at least dinner time. He evidentially didn't feel like he could commit 6 hours of his life to a football game, so Luke got to go. This made Luke very happy and I hope they're having a great time.

My birthday was yesterday and after work Craig took the 4 older boys on a mystery mission, which I later found out was a trip to Target so each boy could pick a gift out for me. Micah chose a short pillar candle, Jacob chose a taller pillar candle, Ezekiel chose a set of pillar candles (can you tell I like candles?), and Luke chose a yellow bath towel. Craig later informed me that Luke scoured the entire store and when he saw this yellow bath towel it all came together in Luke's mind. After I opened the towel, Luke told me that he thought I needed a nice big towel to clean up their messes. Nicholas didn't go, but he somehow picked out a pair of very warm, very soft green socks for me. In addition, Craig remembered that I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'd like to have a Christmas wreath for the front door and surprised me with a beautiful wreath. Earlier in the day Craig and Jacob had decorated the dining area with yellow balloons, streamers, a bouquet of flowers, and a small indoor yellow rose plant.

Oh, Thomas II passed on to the great puddle in the sky on Thursday; it appears he died of natural causes. This was Jacob's birthday betta fish. You might notice that this was Thomas II. There was a Thomas I, but he didn't survive very long, although his life was, er, eventful. Here is his story:

We took Jacob on his birthday to pick out his fish, which he named Thomas after Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas I was a beautiful fish. We left Thomas I in his original bowl floating in the top of the tank overnight. The next day I was in the school room teaching Luke and Ezekiel when Jacob came running downstairs telling me that Micah put Thomas I in the tank. I ran upstairs to find Micah sitting in the kitchen sink holding the empty bowl. My heart sank as I prepared to tell Jacob that Micah had just washed his fish down the drain, but thankfully I didn't have to because Micah had dumped Thomas I into the tank before he climbed into the sink. Whew.

I put Micah down for a nap, and put on a Leap Frog video for Jacob so I could finish some school with Luke & Ezekiel.  Of course, Jacob wanted Thomas I to watch the movie with him. I moved the fish tank (a small one gallon) over to the coffee table and left the two happily learning about the alphabet. Around 30 minutes later Jacob came downstairs and his pants were wet, and informed me that he'd "done something very bad". I quickly realized these two clues meant that something had happened to Thomas I. I ran upstairs to find Thomas I swimming in about 1 inch of water. Jacob then explained that Thomas I couldn't see the video, and in an attempt to move the tank he knocked it over, spilling almost all of the water and Thomas I. He demonstrated the pincer grasp he used to pick Thomas I up off the carpet and put him back in the tank.

The next day I found Micah on the counter again holding my cup. It was empty. I looked at Thomas I's tank, and the water looked to have a greenish tint. Micah had indeed emptied a full glass of Diet Mountain Dew into Thomas I's tank. I quickly commenced cleaning and arranging the tank for the 3rd time in as many days.

A week or so later I had the idea to take the boys on a picnic and to a park. While I was in the garage getting a cooler (I was out there for less than 5 minutes), Micah climbed on the counter (yes, again) and emptied an entire container of fish food into Thomas I's very small tank. There was approximately 1 inch of food covering the bottom of the tank. I didn't want to leave Thomas I in those conditions, but I didn't have the time to clean out the tank. I placed Thomas I in a tupperware bowl on the fireplace mantel, to which M complained, loudly, "But I can't reeeaaaachhh hiiiimm". Exactly the point, my boy. I was secretly proud I'd outwitted the 2 year old, if only temporarily.

We went on our picnic, and when we returned home Thomas I was lying on the living room carpet. Yes, he jumped out of the bowl on the fireplace mantel and landed on the living room carpet. I later read that Betta fish will do this if they are looking for clean water or if their tank changes. Personally, I think Thomas I was terrified of living another day in the same house as Micah.