A Little is Better than Nothing.

Braxton can climb the stairs without turning purple and looking like Violet from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Minus the bloating, because lets face it - that kid has never been fat in his life.

This is a huge improvement.

He still hacks at the top like an 80 year old with lung cancer but, a little is better than nothing.

And now I spend every other second wracked with guilt over the fact that I didn't notice he was blue.

Let me reiterate: HE WAS BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I have butt-lock. From sitting on the couch non-stop. The only breaks I get are to go to the bathroom. Because my kid can't get active. When he does, he chokes and deprives his Pac-10 bound brain of precious oxygen. (GO BEAVERS!)

Or answer the door to some very friendly friends, who took pity on my couch/housebound self to bring me coke.

If it were legal in Virginia I'd marry those ladies.

How many rules could I break with one union????

Braxton is improving. It's slow, and he's ready to beat me with his mask and chamber - but he'll live.

That's good.

What a Fun Afternoon....

Only, it wasn't.

Braxton has horrible allergies. I've tried to get him in to see a specialist, but Tricare is awesome and all I have yet to get is a scrip for zyrtec.

Did you know you're not supposed to give allergy meds when your body is fighting off a bug?

I did.

So, when Braxton got sick last week, we exchanged zyrtec for tylenol and motrin.

Which, is fine.

If your kid gets better.

After a week B-rox still had a fever, and now had a horrific cough - where if he did more than shuffle along, he started choking. Last night we had an awesome public puking event as a result...

This morning it was worse. Luckily, I was up at the butt-crack of dawn to make appointments for both boys. (Kieran has his 15th ear infection...)

{This is where I feel like dropping an anvil on my head as recipient of "The worst mom ever award"}

We are checked in, and back in the vitals station when the Braxton starts his hacking. The nurse notices he's turning blue...

Unless your kid has recently eaten m&m's, sucked a marker, or eaten a blue raspberry dum dum - this is no bueno.

The thing is - what she was pointing out - has been there ALL weekend.

I chalked up the blue circles under his eyes to lack of sleep and the cold. I couldn't really tell his lips were blue because they're so chapped from breathing out of his mouth and wiping his snot.

and who looks at their kids' fingernails? All you're going to see 98% of the time is dirt. And that is gross.

So, neb treatment at the FHC - so that I could transport him to the hospital without an ambulance.

That treatment brought his blood/ox level to 91/92. Slight improvement over the 88 at the FHC.

After the improvement to 92 - and some consulting between docs, they sent us back to the FHC where B-rox had his third neb and got him stabilized at 95.

Which is still low but they're "comfortable" with that.

Supposedly it's going to go up as he gets over this bug, and has more treatments.

They don't lend out their little blood/ox machines for peace of mind. I asked.

So, he'll live - I just have to shove this stuff in his face all the time.

We did however, score the potential for a referral. It just took my kid nearly suffocating for it to happen...

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words...

Braxton has been home sick the latter half of the week. This means much coloring, movie watching, napping and not changing out of our jammies has taken place. Sometimes, it's good to be home.

Yesterday B-rox drew me a picture. That looked like more than scribbles. Then he told me the story about it.

I've posted a guide, so you can follow along:

"So, there's a sun and a tree. There is a cake on top of the tree because the sun is baking it. It can't be under the tree because then the sun couldn't bake it." {Smart kid... Though, why we're baking the cake with the sun - as opposed to our really nice convection oven - I never found out.}

"And then there are seven flowers. One of them is a rectangle, because sometimes you just need a flower that's a rectangle. Seven is a good number, right Mom?" {Yes, as long as we're not talking about the number of siblings you want, honey.}

"Then there are three grapes, because you can get reallyreallyvery hungry waiting to make a cake while it cooks. Eating food makes you not hungry."

"After the cake is done, there is a fan to cool it down so we can eat it faster. Because three gapes isn't too much food. It's like a snack food - not a dinner food. So, then we eat the cake, and sing you happy birthday. Someday it's going to be your birthday. Right, Mom?" {Yes, someday.}

"I made the cake orange because it's your favorite. So it should taste really good to you. But not to me because my favorite color is green."

Watching this kid grow up is a really awesome adventure.

On My Mind.

*I love my kids. This week they've been fairly well behaved and cuddly. It's been great because I could use the lovin'.

*It makes me very angry to see people who do not properly buckle up their kids.

*I make the best mac&cheese in the world. Ok, maybe not the world, but I'm young...

*I haven't been able to eat wings since I had an unfortunate meeting with morning sickness over the Fox 'n' Firkin's 10 cent wing night. They seem to be confronting me everywhere I go now. I'm being haunted by wings. Yes, I am crazy.

*My neighbors, save for one family, make me angry because they don't recycle. Like, ever. They have reduced me to the crazy neighbor lady who steals their trash and then puts it out on recycling day. I'm too young to have an official title like that.

*Mrs. Wookie was here (sorry bob, hyperlink not so working much) this weekend. I cried when she left. I'm not excited to see her go back to the best coast. For purely selfish reasons, of course.

*I bought a pair of shoes this weekend. I loved them, and have had my eye on them since January.

Hubband saw them, hated them, and called them names.

I returned them. Returning shoes? Painful.

*A bank in my hometown was robbed/bomb scared this week - and all I could think was "Seriously - LaPine? These people are obviously idiots. There has to be a better place to do this. Half of Oregon hasn't even heard of LaPine..."

*How do you italicize an asterisk?

*I was watching "Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood" this morning while drinking my coffee, (Go ahead, judge) and Kieran came in the room and asked "Why is Braxton on TV?"

Maybe I'm related to Tori or Dean - and that's why their son is my son's doppleganger.

*I have eaten my weight in krispied kale in the last month. Muy delish.

*I saw Elmo "krump" on the moon this morning. Not sure I'll ever recover.

*I've had the "Reading Rainbow" song stuck in my head for about a week.

*Tonight, I will finally see the new Dr. Who. Mark and I are dubious - because lets face it, David Tennant is one of the best Doctor's ever.

*If you haven't ever watched "Top Gear", you should. Flippin' hilarous.

*Which, makes me think of two things. 1) I haven't seen JJJ in fo-evah. and 2)A lot of what is on my mind is TV. Which means I'm watching too much, since there are many weeks where the boys don't get any until the weekend. Maybe Mark is right - letting go of cable could be good for me.

*I keep reviewing the Dr. Who sentence, and I can't figure out if "Doctor's" should have an apostrophe or not...

*I want a "city-life composter". One that is made for the city dweller. (i.e. doesn't stink). I think we could cut down our "trash" even more. It would be awesome.

*Is it a sin to throw up after taking communion? I wasn't feeling well two weeks ago and after communion got a wiff of someone with less than desirable showering habits. Hopefully the bushes outside the chapel forgive me.

*I'm going to stop there. I'm sure I've scared enough of my rather small following at this point...

Parenting Fail.

Unfortunately - I have many of these.

I love my kids, and hope that that will be enough. Or at least not make them utter curse words at me when they're forking over large sums of money to somebody who can shrink their head...

Anyway, it's no secret that the drivers where I live are... less than stellar.

People in Virginia have this habit of rolling while at a stop light. Even if the light JUST turned red for them - and they know they'll have to wait through an entire cycle of lights, they just keep rollin'. More often than not, they end up halfway in the intersection before the light turns green.

Last time I checked - red means STOP!

Yesterday, I was on my way to pick up Mark, and needed to make a right turn out onto the highway.

When I pulled up there was a car in the lane next to me waiting to make a left turn. So I scooched up until I could just see around them and waited for an opening. Except - the left turner decided that they needed to start rolling. Thus blocking my view.

So I scooched.

They rolled.

I scooched.

They rolled.

During this encounter, I was getting very frustrated. This guy knew I couldn't see around him and he kept rolling anyway. About the third scooch/roll, I let out a grunt.

B-rox, being ever observant and awesome decides to yell out "Get out of my mom's way you jackahomo! We need to go pick up my daddy!!!".

Now, I know that in Parenting 101, they tell you you're not supposed to laugh when your kid does something naughty.

Saying Jackahomo is pretty naughty in my book. I laughed. Hard.

So, obviously this is a parenting fail on many levels.

1. I need to work on watching what I say when I'm in the car...

2. I should not teach my children naughty words to say

3. I should not laugh when they say them.

[Note: I do realize how hypocritical the "I scooched - he rolled" part was. But, I would have remained stopped - had they not blocked my visibility. Them... I have no clue when their issue was.]

{Second note - we had stop signs, not a stop light. The traffic we were trying to enter had no stopping device. And it was rush hour. That left turner probably didn't make it out of there until this morning when traffic started going the other way...}

Feminine Mystique.

A few times a month I'm privileged to be able to watch this little girl.

I've never met such an easy-going, fun kid. Generally if they're easy, they're blobs. This is NOT the case with her.

The best part? She has an older brother, so hanging with my two trolls is easy-peezy for her.

Thanks for bringing a little feminine mystique to our house, pretty girl.

One Hell of a Day.

Today, Hubband turns 26. He also graduated. Again.

Today was the official certificate ceremony for his masters. It was a degree in a lot of gobblety-gook-geek-speak.

Trust me, you don't care that much.

Getting the second very expensive piece of paper. Good part? The Navy paid for it. Again.
The man with the hair is the hubband's boss man. Admiral Donald. (and if you're wondering what's with Kenny's faces, my guess is he was practicing his "Blue Steel".)

He is a man of many talents. At graduation ceremonies he poses for family pictures, and at the Christmas party, you can bring your newly born up for an "Admiral's Blessing".

He's kinda like the Pope. Better hair though...

Happy birthday hubband.

I'm proud of you babe. I'm proud of me too. Next degree is mine - deal?

I Can't Breath.

Allergies are killing me. KILLING ME. UGH. When is Winter coming back?

The Next Mr. Posh Spice.

Channeling his inner "Beckham".

I think he nailed it.

Where the EFF is Spring??????

Seriously, we went from frigid - to mild spring temps - to hot as hell "summer's here" Virginia weather.

I mean - who busts out the kiddie pool at the beginning in April? Not people in Bend. That's fer durn shore.

But, friend Missy did. And we were ever, ever so thankful. 95 degrees, and 90% humidity.

No bueno, when the pools don't open for another month and a half.

Lawn chair forts. Brings back memories, doesn't it?
Kieran, facing his irrational fear of snakes. I threw the rubber one in the pool not thinking about it, and he broke out into hysterics as soon as he saw it. Oi. Note to self: Kieran does NOT like snakes.

"Flippy Flippy" weather.
Ok, get the age range here. Braxton - 4 years 3mos, Kieran - 2years 4 mos, Taylor 1 year 23 mos.

They're ALL the same size. Blows my mind.

How's the weather where you're at?

Nap time.

Shhhhhh... They're sleeping.

What My Hubband Does.

He test pilots $2 billion dollar submarines. After he tells everyone how to build them. (Ok, more specifically, the nuclear power plants on them.) I don't know who the other guy is, but the guy with the hair is Admiral Donald. Hubband's boss. (Also the most senior admiral in the fleet...)

This is his latest project, the USS New Mexico. And this was taken during Sea Trials. Which, you may remember took place during Thanksgiving.

He is actually in there. And seeing this picture makes me all melty inside. Which is weird. So I had to blog. Because we wouldn't be the circus if it were normal.

Those People.

You've seen them.

The ones who tape hair to their bare feet, wear a gold ring around their neck and say "my precious".

Or the ones who wear pointy hats, robes, carry an owl and broomstick.

Super fans.

Today, my kids joined their legions.

We took the boys to see "How to Tame Your Dragon" this morning.

It just so happened that the Easter Bunny brought dragon jammies in their basket. Which they wore to the film.

It was awesome. They were definitely the coolest kids there.

At least, that's my opinion...

Ahhhh....

Mark and I have been at church the last five days in a row, for the final rally before confirmation.

You know what I discovered?

Vigil Mass is long.

Vigil Mass is probably the best mass I've ever been to.

If you go to Vigil Mass, you don't have to wake up early on Sunday, get dressed up on Sunday, or fight crowds on Sunday.

We're going to go see a movie. In jeans. While everyone is at church. Because we've "been there, done that".

Happy Easter Everyone.