Really.... A whole month??

Wow I can't believe a whole month has gone by and I haven't posted. It has also been a month since I moved into the new house. I know I suck and I haven't posted any pictures yet. This whole not having the internet is really cramping my style. So whats new.....

*Divorce was supposed to be final yesterday---but it's not :(
*House is done, with the exception of minor decorating (And whatever my dear old dad needs to work on)
*Halloween costumes are in the works :)
*Got me a new J-O-B!! No weekends---Hell Yeah!
*Aria is getting more diva-licious everyday. And is currently getting 4 teeth-fun fun
* Stephen is going to be the next Tiger Woods. That kid can really whack a golf ball.
*I am down to 1 child in diapers. Stephen has been potty trained for about a year, but he is no longer wearing pull ups at night. LOVING IT!

I feel like I have been insanely busy but when I write it down I guess I really am not all that busy. Typical day in the life of Renee:
Alarm goes off at 4:45am, get kids up and going by 5:30am, out the door by 6:10am, work till 3pm, dinner started by 4:15pm or else the monsters within my children destroy everything in their path, baths at 5:30pm, playtime till 6:30, Aria in bed, stories with Stephen till 7:10pm, hopefully by 8pm both kids are sleeping. Then my chores start and I am in bed by 9:30pm EVERYDAY!!! Wow what a life I have, but honestly I wouldn't have it any other way.

Oh how could I forget--------The transmission on my van is shot. One of these days I am going to have to take it in and get an estimate. Not that I can afford it if it is more than $100--HA.

No Piggies Here

I think this picture about somes her up:

So good news is that all flu related tests were negative, no swine flu. Bad news is the fevers keep coming back as soon as the Ibupropfen wears off. She was up every hour last night, I think because she can't breathe, and those damn fevers. I will be calling tomorrow again, there must be a reason for these outrageous temps!

Not a fan of ER's

I spent the majority of today, and a good part of last night in 2 different ER's with Aria. It all started with a low fever over the weekend. Then all day Sunday, she wasn't herself, fevers continued. So finally we (me and my whole family, and some non family members) decided she needed to be seen ASAP. In the half hour it took to leave the house, get to the ER and see a nurse, her temp jumped from 102.5 to 105!!! Ummmm, I would want to die if that were me, poor baby. It was a long night full of blood draws, catheters, x-rays, and drugs. All to be sent home with this tidbit of info, "She has an infection, we don't know where. But we don't want to give her antibiotics yet as it could mask something more serious down the road, like meningitis. So follow up in 24 hours and have a good night." Are you effing kidding me?!?!?!?!?! So I take her home, wake up to a 104.9 temp. Back in the car, this time headed to Children's Hospital. More of the same, with the addition of an IV and antibiotics. Dr says, "She has an infection that we still can't pinpoint, here is a prescription for amoxicillin (sp?), call in 48 for test results.......SWINE FLU RESULTS!!! Double are you effing kidding me?!?!?! By baby has swine flu, MAYBE!! It is good to have spies in the lab there that can give me info sooner than 48 hours. She does seem better tonight, but we will have to wait and see how she is when the drugs wear off again. I haven't slept much since Saturday night, so I am praying all is ok.

Nighty-Night!! And Oink-Oink!

Do you hear that???

Me either... All 4 kiddos are sleeping. It must be some kind of miracle that Mom and I were able to get all 4 kids to nap at the same time today.

Keeping busy...

Updated Below

I just don't know what to do with myself. Robin has the kids most of this week since he is laid off, so I am bored out of my mind. Yesterday, I went to my best friends for lunch and adult conversation. After that I went and cut Mom and Dad's grass. Since I don't have the kids, I am crashing at their house. My plans for today: eat a donut (all done already), blog (almost done with that), make dinner plans with an old friend, then seal Mom and Dad's basement. I am going to be a painting fool today. I need to keep myself busy, to get my mind off everything that is going on. I pretty much "have all my ducks in a row" when it comes to the big "D" so now I just want to keep busy and my mind occupied. Any one else have any projects that they need completed, I am free till Thursday?

Ummmm.....Yeah that sealing paint sucks @$$! First of all, it is like rolling on really thick glue. And second of all, how the heck am I supposed to get this crap off me?? It is moisture barrier paint, I am going to spend the next 2 hours in the shower trying to get cleaned up. Hopefully I can get it off, I have dinner plans tonight with an old roommate. Can't wait!!

I Hate Mondays

I hate when I work all weekend and nothing gets done at home. I really can't go more than one day without doing laundry... it is ridiculous how much laundry this family accumulates. (I can only imagine how much Kate from John and Kate Plus 8 must do everyday. FYI- Season finale is tonight and they will be talking about their "problems"). And it is crazy how nasty a place can look when you don't wipe the counters, table, and floors after meals. I feel icky looking and the kitchen/dining room right now.

OK that is my vent... Laundry is going and I must continue my mission to clean the kitchen and wash floors.

Barking,Bruises, and Blizzards

It has been an eventful past few days. As you know Aria is now crawling, and already has her favorite spots to go get in trouble: shoes and eat all the books on the book shelf. She is getting quicker everyday. On Friday she started to sound really sick and hoarse. I thought she was getting croup because she sounded like a baby seal. I had to take her to the walk in clinic, and she is fine. She is starting to sound better, but is still pretty miserable at night.

I must have sprained my big toe. I ended up in urgent care Saturday morning thinking my toe was broken. X-rays were taken-but it looks good. It is still black, blue and purple. There is still some swelling and I am slowing able to put more and more pressure on it. I am not sure what happened to it, but I am pretty sure some how it got twisted on Friday night.

Sunday was no better. I had to drive to Oshkosh (usually it is a 15 minute ride) for work. Well, it took 45min to get to work. We were in the middle of another snow storm. Absolutely nothing was being plowed yet. It wasn't much better on the way home either. There was only about a 3 mile stretch of highway plowed last night. The anxiety was not work the 5 hours of work.

What a Frickin Night!!!

Last night was the worst we have had in awhile. Lets some it up by saying I was up from 11:30 until 2am! It was a night full of teething madness. Around 1:00am I gave up and camped out in the living room with the mini-monster. FINALLY she fell asleep around 2 after a good dose of baby drugs and lots of love from Mommy. She was so crazy that even Stephen woke up and told her to stop crying. I don't know what is taking so long for her teeth to break through. I have only been giving her hard toys to play with/chew on to help. I swear Stephen had 4 teeth by now.

Now I have to cart my crabby kids to the grocery store and stock up on food and teething essentials for the weekend. This should be interesting.

Busy Busy

It was a VERY busy day in the Donchess house today. The entire first half of the day was spent making pizzas for the upcoming festivities. I certainly hope that everyone that is coming will be very HUNGRY! Then I hit up the gym, ordered a cake, and picked up a different baptismal outfit for Aria (I didn't like the first one). I did manage to make myself take a nap (because I am at work right now until 8am). I then started the whirlwind of cleaning that needs to take place between now and 10am Saturday. I am counting on my darling husband to pick up the slack since I am working a 10 hour night shift tonight, then a 6 hour shift Friday evening. *You are now pre-warned: We live in a tiny apartment with 5 people in 2 bedrooms. There is no basement or really any storage for the mountains of toys and crap this family has accumulated. So I like to say we live in somewhat organized chaos.*

Tah Tah for now.... I should actually do SOME work while I am here getting paid for it.

We Survived....

....being up past midnight with a 2 year old and an 8 month old. We had a great time at my bro-in-law's 30th birthday party on Saturday. It was a long night though. Stephen did not take a nap that afternoon, but you would've never known. He was so full of energy and lasted till 12:30am when we finally left. It was a whole other story when we finally made it back to Grandma and Papa's house. Both Stephen and Aria were screaming as if we were going to kill them. Thankfully it only lasted about 5 minutes. Sunday was a very lazy day. Aria napped for 4 hours when we got home, and Stephen and Daddy napped for 3 hours on the couch. I unfortunately was unable to fall asleep.

Laundry and cleaning the rest of the day until I go to work. Fun Stuff!!

Look What They Can Do

Aria holds her own bottle...

and Stephen can put things in his nose.

Projectile at Perkins

I thought it would be fun to take the kids to Perkins all by myself. Special Mommy kids time, as if I don't get enough of that anyways. Well, it started out great. Stephen was actually sitting in his booster nicely, Lyhna was entertaining Aria, all was well. Then right as our food got there, Aria burped. Stephen said "nice burpy baby", then he burped. No big deal right? Wrong!!! The next thing I know, there is lovely fountain of apple juice shooting out of Stephen's mouth right onto his pancakes and all over his lap. Where the heck did this come from? I don't think I ever have packed up 3 kids, put 2 meals in boxes, and paid a bill so quickly. Of course now that we are home, he is fine. I don't get it!

Over-Protective?

I started babysitting again last week for the little boy that I was awhile ago. It will only be Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the past 2 weeks it has only been on Tuesdays because I already had stuff going on. Anyways, last week (the first time I watched him the dad came to pick him up and said he got laidoff and didn't know when he would be going back. So last night I still hadn't heard anything about him coming over today. So I call, no answer. Then I text this morning and yes his is coming. The dad drops him off, "By the way, he is coughing and has a runny nose so there is some medicine in his bag." No big deal, kids always get colds. Well this kid is coughing so much he is choking, and the runny nose is constant green slime running down his face. I don't think I would care so much, but this kid is obsessed with Aria. He wants to kiss and touch her none stop. No thank you!! Why did I say yes to this again?

Weekend Round-up

This past weekend we (Robin and I) went to a wedding in Green Lake. It was a really nice, small wedding. The food was ok, but the band!! Have you ever been to a wedding with a live POLKA BAND??! I now can say that I have. For being a polka band it wasn't so bad, they did play a few current songs with a polka-twist to them. Needless to say, not much dancing on my part. Grandma Bee came to stay with the kids overnight. I can not thank her enough. It was soooo nice to get away for one night and not worry about the kids at all. All though I did snatch a friends baby (he is 2 weeks older than Aria) for about 15 minutes to get my fix. All in all it was a great night.

I was really busy this past week working on Lyhna's Halloween costume. Her mom called me on Wednesday to ask me to make her a snow queen costume, oh by the way can you have it done by 8:30am Saturday!! Well I made it happen. It is the best damn snow queen costume you will ever see. She went to BOOFest here in Neenah on Saturday morning and entered in the costume contest. She took 3rd out of 30+ kids. So I guess that means I did a pretty good job!!

What else.... Oh I just got back from the doctor and I have Laryngitis (sp?). Isn't that fun. I felt like I was getting a cold all last week, and during the reception I completely lost my voice. I haven't been able to find it yet! It is really hard to yell at Stephen when I need to, or do baby talk with Aria. If you could hear me it is really quite ridiculous!

Lots of new pictures up on Flickr!!

Bye Bye Toys

Well, I am following in my sisters footsteps. Today I took all of Stephen's toys out of his room. The breaking point was when I took him out of his car seat, then went to get Aria out. In a matter of 5 seconds when I took her in the house he was gone. I found him in the back of our building running up and down the hill. Maybe I should have just taken his bike away, but this has been a long time coming. For the last couple weeks nap and bedtime have been horrible. The kicking and screaming, the banging on the wall, the turning on the light and playing, the list goes on. So all of his toys are in our closet, and I just need to get a special bi-fold door lock for his closet to keep him out of Lyhna's stuff. I really wish there was a child-proof light switch. I have searched everywhere and can't find one. If anyone knows of any tricks, please let me know. I am out of ideas. Tape doesn't work, the only thing I haven't done is take out the light bulbs. He has also started to bite and hit everyone (except Aria, thank god). Basically he is totally defiant in every way.

We started to take the kids with us to the YMCA again, instead of Robin and I taking turns. Aria, the one I was concerned about, slept the entire time. Stephen on the other hand, cried the whole time. He was really excited when we first got there. The whole walk from the car to the day care he kept saying "Mommy, I play!" And he took off the second we opened the door. But once he realized we left is when the meltdown started. I kept peeking in the window (they are those mirrors that the kids can't see out, but I can see in) to check on them and every time he was screaming by the door. We are going to try again today, I hope it just takes some time for him to get used to it again.

Also, Stephen is starting his swim lessons this week. They are every Thursday night for 7 weeks. I am sad that summer is over and all the pools are closed. Stephen was really getting the hang of jumping in the pool by himself and even going under water while holding his breath. So I hope he really likes this. I wish I could get him in some form of karate or martial arts to burn off all his energy, but you have to be 4 for those. And unfortunately all the pre-k/toddler classes are at different YMCAs. Maybe more will be offered during the second section of the fall classes.

Running on pure adrenaline (or fumes)

It has been a really long time since I went out with friends...no kids or husband. So Friday night I thought I definitely deserved a night out. I had such a good time, and it really helps when you know the bartender at the restaurant. I didn't spend a penny!! And I did something that I swore I would never do, SANG KARAOKE! I obviously had quite a bit of liquid courage. From what my sober friend said, I sounded pretty good too. Needless to say I was in no condition to drive anywhere, so we left my car there and I crashed at my friends house. It was definitely a good night.

Saturday night I had to work a 12 hour night shift. Man was that rough. I got done at 9am Sunday morning, went to church at 10:30, then we had a cookout during the football games. So I did not get any sleep at all. I finally went to bed around 10:30 last night after being up for 37 hours straight. Of course Aria knew I wanted/needed a good nights sleep, so she thought it would be fun to stay up from 2:30am-4am. I can not wait until afternoon naps today.

Great news----Stephen stayed dry all through church!!

Stupid Cashier

Last night we did our grocery shopping (I refuse to go by myself with 2 kids if I need to get more than a few things, there just isn't room in the cart). So I was already annoyed because we didn't even leave to go until 7:45pm, I don't like to leave after 7 with both kids. It throws my night-time routine all out of whack. Anyways, so we finally get done shopping everything is bagged and in the cart. Robin wanted to pay half cash and half on the debit card. No big deal right? WRONG!!! The dumb bitch screwed it up to the point where we had to unbag EVERYTHING and re-check out. You would think she would see a 2 year old and an infant, both of which are getting very cranky, and pick up the pace a bit or maybe even apologize. I was so pissed I nearly walked out with nothing. Eventually we made it home, but because of all that crap I didn't get Stephen to bed until 10, he usually is asleep by 9:15pm. What a frickin nightmare!!

Going INSANE Today!

Have you ever had one of those days where any and everything that could go wrong will go wrong, or you can't find anything, and your child is tap dancing on your last nerve? I am sooo having one of those days.

• Stephen figured out how to take the door knob child lock thing off the inside of his bedroom door, then lost half of it.
• Stephen lost my car key. I took the escape key off the key chain since we barely drive it anymore and left it my purse. Well, that is now MIA. It is probably in the same spot as the missing Blockbuster movie and baby bottle. Seriously, where does he put this crap, I can't find it anywhere.
• The garbage bag leaked all over the floor.
• Our bathroom light switch is possessed. It will be flipped all the way on, but turns itself on and off. I am sure it will blow up one of these days.
• Aria had a major blow out all over my arm.

I think that is all for now, but it is only 12:00 so I am sure there will be plenty more to come. I finally can go back to work as of today, I need to get the heck outta here. So hopefully I will get some hours soon!

I'm Back!

Hi folks...I really missed having my blog. I can guarantee that I won't be able to update nearly as much as I previously did, but I am going to give it a whirl.

It has been a crazy month to say the least. Can you believe that Aria will be 1 month old in two days!! Time really flies by now. There have been many sleepless nights, many more temper tantrums, and for my own sanity about 2 bottles of wine.