Sick Days In Texas

What a crazy few days.

On Friday morning we were running a bit late getting to school. Stinx just would not do anything to get ready. Then the kids started playing very sweetly with one another and both refused to leave the house Finally I convinced them to go but Stinx hadn't gone to the washroom or eaten breakfast. Stinx decided to pee on the fence. Thankfully I also thought ahead and brought apples so he could eat on the way.

Just as we were approaching Stinx' school, Bitta started complaing that her back hurt and I was all like "Don't worry, we are almost there".

Then I heard a strange sound.

I looked back and she was puking all over herself and the portable dvd player she was watching.

Purple puke because she had just had a banana blueberry smoothie for breakfast.

I pulled into the parking lot and took her out. It was everywhere. I happened to bring an extra dress because she had spilled the smoothie on her dress but we hadn't had time to change. I changed her right there in the parking lot. Someone kindly brought Stinx into the school for me. I cleaned up what I could. The car seat was seriously not worth cleaning.

First of all, I have been planning to throw it out for ages but just hadn't got around to it. It was dirty because I had never figured out how to take the cover off. It was Stinx first car seat after the infant car seat. Bitta has been complaining for months that this seat makes her back hurt. I also thought it was expiring soon. So I planned to throw it out. I took Bitta to Target to see if I could buy Stinx a booster seat and have Bitta use Stinx' current seat.

I couldn't decide so I took her to Toys R Us. I don't know what possessed me to go shopping with a kid who just puked. I guess I was panicking about how I would pick up Stinx later. I eventually found some common sense and asked a friend if I could borrow one of her extra seats.

The kicker is that we actually have a booster seat but it was in the Husbands car. The husband had left for Louisiana at the same time we had left for school. Anyways. I got the car seat from my friend and then did groceries. YES, I am crazy. Looking back this was insane. But I felt like I had no choice. The husband was out of town and we really needed groceries to survive the long week end. Bitta wasn't really upset... Just super lethargic. And I definitely didn't want to do groceries later with 2 kids. Bitta actually fell asleep in the Whole Foods shopping cart.

Bitta spent the rest of the day sleeping. She slept like a newborn. She must have been so tired.

Saturday I had other errands to do and Bitta was feeling better. Stinx has a birthday coming up so I really felt like I needed to get some of this stuff sooner than later. I also kept looking for a booster or harness seat for Stinx. After 3-4 hours doing errands we picked up everything we needed, even the car seat. I installed the car seat and realized that Stinx had outgrown his old car seat.... like, a long time ago. So thank goodness we finally got a new one for him. Now Bitta will use his old one.

Sunday was fine. We just hung out and took the day to recover. Then the Husband came home. Yay.

Monday brings us to today. Stinx has been sick all day with the stomach flu. Poor guy. He's had a tummy ache and isn't handling it well... He is almost the stereotypical sick man. My poor sweets.

Unfortunately Stinx has gone through numerous clothing changes and now after doing some laundry my dryer has died. Terrible terrible timing.... Ugh.

Dresses

Bitta has refused to wear pants since October. She has become obsessed with several dresses. For the first few months it was the Ladybug dress. I found it at Good Will in new condition.

Then it was strictly the Cupcake dress. Just like this one.

It's a Carter's dress that we found new with tags at Good Will. She was a Cupcake for Halloween and this started the obsession. So she wore the cupcake dress every day for about a month. Then I decided to buy 2 more online since this phase didn't appear to be ending soon.

Then on another thrift shop hunt we found other acceptable dresses. So now she has about 6 dresses she is willing to wear. This morning when she woke up and requested the Cupcake dress I asked her, "Will you ever wear pants again?". Her answer, "Never. Ever." Oh boy... I mean, Oh Girl.

RIP Blankie

Poor wee Bitta. She lost her beloved Blankie on December 15th, 2012. We had dropped Stinx off at a birthday party and decided to kill some time at the nearby mall. It was Christmas season. It was busy. Bitta insisted we bring blankie along. I'm not entirely sure when Blankie slipped away from us.

My top 2 guess are: 1. I may have left it in the playplace. I suspect a person stole it. 2. After leaving the playplace I think I remember draping Blankie on my should bag. Sometimes when I would do this, Blankie would slip off. I fear Blankie slipped off. After walking to the exit, approximately 10 minutes after leaving the playplace I realized Blankie was gone. We quickly walked back checking our previous path. Nothing.

Checked the playplace... Nothing.

I eyed up a couple moms who were sitting near me in the play area... Did they steal it? I will never know.

I checked at the lost and found. I looked in the garbage cans. I walked into every single store between the playplace and the exit. I asked every single cleaning lady and security guard I could find. Nothing.

Blankie was gone. T

To make matters worse, I ended up running a bit late to pick up Stinx from the party. It didn't help that I ended up taking the wrong exit off the freeway. I was 30 minutes late picking him up. I was mortified. How embarassing. To make matters worse, I was an emotional wreck for having misplaced Blankie.

After getting Stinx we went back to the mall to try again. Nothing.

I went back every day for a few days... Checking the lost and found with no good news. I got family to check the store where Blankie was originally purchased... they don't sell that style anymore. I posted ads on craigslist and other random listings.. including the one made for missing loveys. Nothing.

I went to the local Good Will... hoping someone dropped it off there. Nothing.

Through all of this Bitta took it like a champ. She didn't freak out or have a tantrum. She was just really sad, like she had lost her best friend. I ended up making her a little Photo Book of Blankie through shutterfly. At least we have pictures right?

 Tonight I got a crazy idea. I decided to post a wanted ad on the kijiji classifieds back home. Only problem is that it won't post for some reason. Drats. I got another crazy idea to post wanted posts on baby boards in my home city. Maybe, just maybe, one out of those 2200 moms may have an exact blankie lying around, unloved.

Leaving you with the first picture of Bitta & Blankie as well as the last.

Worst Ever.

I'mmmmmm Baaaaaack! Ok, for reals,I know I am the worst blogger ever. like, ever ever. Like, we are never, ever getting back together. Ok wait, that was a Taylor Swift song. I'm feeling pretty crummy about my lack of blogging. We have been on an interesting adventure for the past 2 years and I'm not even recording it! Insanity. I want to remember all these funny times. My kids are getting so old... Stinx turns 6 in a couple weeks. Six! How is it possible that I have a siz year old? So I am debating whether to continue with Mothazine or start fresh somewhere else...

I will leave you with this picture of Bitta and the feathers... And on that thought... my kids don't go by "Stinx" or "Bitta" anymore... so maybe I should update their names?

Bugs

I have a lot I could blog about. But tonight I just want to say that I hate the bugs in Texas. There are simply too many of them. From the giant tree roaches, to the huge mosquito hawks, to the creepy silverfish, to the mosquitoes, to the nasty fire ants, the annoying sugar ants, and of course, the most annoying and frustrating of all right now in my life, the teeny tiny fleas. I hate you all.

Bad Driving

I need to rant about a bad driving experience.

I was driving behind a small sedan on a main street. The car kept driving in the middle of the road instead of in the designated lane. Then we got to a red light. Waiting, waiting, waiting... light turns green and the driver doesnt notice so I honk my horn. Whatever, not a big deal, I've made that mistake before. Then slow driving starts as well as not staying in the lane properly. Get to another light. This time I decided to wait and see if the driver would notice when the light turned green. Nope, didn't notice. Took the driver awhile to notice. Then crappy driving starts again. Then at the next light the car signals that they will be turning left. Perfect, now I can pull up beside them. What I saw was stupidity. Plain stupidity.

a) Driver was a young woman talking on her cell phone. Well that explains the crappy driving.

b) there was a child in the car!!!!

c) Child was not in a car seat!!! The boy looked the same age as my son. Maybe he was in a low booster but it didnt look like it. My mom said she could see a couple car seats next to him.. So he probably has a car seat, he just wasnt in it.

Just totally dumbfounded.

Life in Texas

I can't believe we've been here for 2 months already! Time is going really quickly. There are a lot of things I want to blog about but I doubt I will find the time and energy to blog every day. I really really want to, but looking at my track record, I think we all know that won't happen.

Last night the kids and I went for a walk in our neighborhood.

I LOVE our neighborhood. Its the kind of neighborhood I've always dreamt about living in. Beautiful and old, it's got lots of charm. I love looking at the style of the homes. Most are small arts and crafts bungalows with 2 bedrooms. There are also some really lovely victorian homes.

On our walk we found some little acorns. Bitta adored them. She tried to bring some home with us but dropped them.

On the way home back to our house Stinx saw a frog. It was prety dark by then so I had a hard time seeing it but sure enough, there was some sort of spotted frog on the sidewalk. I wish I had brought my camera.