So much to say!

Retail Therapy? Check. Kids to Bed? Check Check. Laundry Started? Check. Chocolate and Caffeine? Check. I am SO ready to blog.

Sometimes, my mind is just overflowing with words. I am pretty sure I have always been that way, hence the people who always said I never shut up, and the people who said I talked too much (same thing, whatever) and that stupid bitch in high school who willed me a muzzle in her senior "last will and testament" that was printed in our yearbook. Yep. I talk too much. Don't care. Because I also read too much. And I learn too much. And I love my kids too much. And I shop too much. And I eat too much. AND I craft too much. And according to most people I probably give out too much information on the internet. I guess I am just all out there, all excessive and shit.

Well, my words just overflow. My mind doesn't stop. It's who I am. And people always ask me what I do to make Ardyn so outspoken and well versed, and I have no other answer except that I talk to her. All the time. I discuss things with her. I explain things to her. I ask her opinion. I give her options and choices. I tell her how I feel and I expect nothing less than that back from her. It's not really some magical thing, It's just that I talk too much, and now she talks too much, and now we spend our days talking too much to each other.

Today was one of those days where we clashed a lot. And I tried to be patient... a LOT. After she got in a nap, it got much better. We are really in the terrible two's now. She spends lots of time telling me what she is going to do. Sometimes it's things like "I PUSH you mom!" or "You Behave Yourself Mom!" or "I Hit Marek Mom" (not afterwards, she is just announcing that she wants to or is intending to hit him.)

The hardest part of today was knowing that it was SUPPOSED to be my alone day. Well, she had ran the fever for about 24 hours Tuesday night till Wednesday night. Then on Thursday she had lots of loose stools and accidents, that were WAY beyond her control and led to us just having pull-ups all day as a precaution (that I am glad we took) and when she went to bed, I wasn't sure if she should be going to school today, because of the diarrhea. I was fairly confident that she was going to be okay, and even mostly sure that the problems she had been having were a result of all the juice she had drank on top of all the grapes she ate. She wasn't eating or drinking much, so I pretty much let her eat and drink whatever I could get into her, and it mostly amounted to juice and grapes. LOL. She was herself, fever free for over 24 hours, but at the same time she hadn't been eating much, if at all, and she didn't have BM control at all. I wanted to wait until she had woke up and had her first BM of the day so I could determine if she was going to be okay to go. And of course I stayed up till 3:15am like a jackass, so When she woke up at about 8:45 and said she was poopy, I checked and it wasn't quite completely normal, but mostly formed and doing better and I thought it would probably be okay to send her to school. I got her in the bathtub and got Marek up and fed, and then I called school to let them know that she had been under the weather but that I thought she was now okay, and that she would be coming in, just about an hour late. That's when I discovered that they had Hand, Foot, and Mouth going around, as well as Chicken Pox, in addition to the lice that they had last week. Ugh. So I decided to keep her home. Seriously, I do not need a toddler getting any of the above, not to mention bringing those home to us, especially a teething 6 month old. Ardyn has been vax'd for chicken pox, but of course Marek hasn't yet, so it's just asking for trouble. And if I have to take Ardyn to school, then I either have to take marek in with me TWICE and I have to put him SOMEWHERE while I put her things away, wash her hands with her, and sign her in.... and a chicken pox, lice, and HFM-laden environment isn't my first choice to drag two healthy kids. Not to mention the regular flu/cold season crap.

So. Ardyn at home. With me. Marek is used to having at least ONE day a week where it's quiet and he tends to be snuggly and nurse and sleep a lot on Fridays as a result. Today was no exception, except of course that it was like a bazillion decibels louder here. He was down for a nap by 11am. He slept for more than two hours, which is not his usual morning nap length (45 minutes maybe) and Ardyn was cuddled with daddy and watching TV in our room. I was going to be productive, but I was feeling sleepy (can't imagine why) and so I ended up falling asleep on the couch! I was trying to flip through a cookbook and then I was falling asleep! When I got up, Ardyn was at the point of NEEDING a nap, so I put her down and then Marek woke up and he and I cuddled and nursed and watched some TV while Evan showered.

This evening I took Ardyn and Marek to the mall. My intention was to get to Sears and get new shoes for myself. I have not bought a SINGLE pair of shoes for myself (new or used) since late 2007. My tennis shoes were badly needing replaced. My feet have been killing me ever since I had to start putting shoes on, because it seems that since having both kids (especially after Marek) they may have either grown half a size or something. I really need more toe room, ,and I think some of it is width. I don't completely understand, except that I know I have foot issues that are hereditary and the podiatrist has suggested surgery, which is not cool and not affordable. Basically I have work flip flops pretty constantly since Marek was born (ahhhh summer) or been barefoot at home. And felt great. until I had to put shoes on. Tennis shoes were killing me, and so Evan had given me some money that was intended for new ones. I don't spend more than $40-60 generally, and I do love New Balance or Adidas... and some sketchers although the padding in them isn't ideal for me anymore. I wanted to get to Sears because they have a good selection of NB and good prices, and they were having a shoe sale for Columbus weekend. After trying on a bunch while Ardyn prattled on about wanting out of the stroller and Marek cried and squealed alternately, I could NOT decide. I had two pair that I had narrowed it down to. I ended up getting the same size, but getting wides, because the issues were in the width of the balls of my feet, which is RIGHT where my mom has issues. I actually have fairly narrow feet, but the balls of my feet are wide now. I have always worn normal width shoes, but MAN did those wide widths feel fantastic. Without having to break them in. One pair I liked the color and look of better, but I felt like they had lots of padding, perhaps almost TOO much, especially around the ankle areas, and they kinda bugged me compared to the lightweight pair that I was comparing them to. So I ended up getting a pair that weren't my favorite LOOKING but were okay. Now I hope that the color doesn't drive me nuts, because I am fairly OCD about my shoes matching my outift (okay, completely OCD. Who am I kidding.) and there is a good chance I could be wearing these shoes well into my 80's or 90's (ha!) so they had better be comfy! I got the WR441, which are great, but mine are colored like this pair. I may not be a runner, but I have found that I prefer running shoes because they are so much more lightweight than walking shoes. I do have a pair of NB Race for the Cure Shoes that I liked, but they are so heavy and heavily padded that they ended up driving me nuts in the end. I had such a hard time deciding that I wanted to buy BOTH pair, and then just wear them inside at home and see what I thought of each one. If I had been smart, I would have written down the model of the ones I didn't buy and then checked online for cheaper prices. Just from looking online a bit, I think they might have been 411, which strikes me as the ones that I already have that were overly padded, like I said above.

Have you ever met someone who doesn't even exercise who talks so much about athletic shoes. Jeez. Shut it already, huh?

So after getting shoes, I had promised Ardyn that she could ride one of those things in the mall that you put the quarters into. Well, when I was a kid, they were A QUARTER. I had figured that with inflation, they were probably 50 cents. Um. No. try 75 cents! WTF!!!! Seriously? It's not like they use GAS! Jeez. So basically I thought I was all prepared and a good mommy and had 50 cents in my pocket. Nope. So they had a change machine, which would NOT take the ONE dollar bill that I had on me. Well, lucky enough for me, I just discovered that she doesn't even know the damn thing is supposed to MOVE! Duh! Why didn't I think of that?! She sat in and on every single one for FREE and didn't know any different! Thank god I DIDN'T put any money in. Of course, for kids who might be innocent like Ardyn, they have the damn things programmed to yell out "PUT COINS IN ME" every 2 minutes, so they they know they are supposed to be putting coins in. Whatever. So I had also promised Ice Cream (which she hasn't had since being "over" her dairy allergy, so we had a chocolate dipped, double scoop, waffle cone that we shared. About that time Marek started to get fussy, and I assumed it was hunger, and so we went to the play area in the mall and Ardyn played while I fed Marek. Except Marek just got more and more cranky, and eventually waas in full-on meltdown mode. I thought he might need a diaper change, so I high-tailed it (with Ardyn babbling and Marek screaming hysterically) to the JCPenney restroom to change his diaper. Well, of course, there are like 543 doors to the bathroom, none of which can be easily opened when pushing a stroller as long as an 18-wheeler, but we finally got in there and Marek just would NOT stop. I mean hysterical, my mother is beating me, please call DCFS type of screaming. The looks I was getting! Not sympathetic. The poor kid. He was getting worse and worse and was starting to feel hotter and hotter and i started to think... fever? Ugh. 45 minutes from home, and our tylenol, and our thermometer. So by this time he is beyond hysterical. Absolutely purple. This was like "Lady, take your kid to the ER" screaming that he was emitting. SO then we had to walk back through JC PENNEY and through the ENTIRE MALL while he screamed like that. And STUPID STUPID Teenagers were standing all over and do you THINK they would get the FUCK out of my way? Grrrr. I was so angry I wanted to just drive over them. And the worst ones were the 10-12 year old boys. Completely oblivious to manners and would just walk right at the stroller. I was so upset. I was trying to remain calm and smile, but I was pushing the stroller 1 handed and holding Marek screaming in the other arm, and it was just INSANE. Finally when we got to the exit, there were again 543 doors that we had to get through. I saw two men who were talking (well, communicating) in sign language and one of them rushed right over to open the doors for me. I wanted to tell him how much I appreciated it, but between Marek screaming and the good possibility that he was deaf (seriously, not because of Marek) I got out of the building and said "thank you" to him and then remembered, like an IDIOT, that I know a decent amount of sign language and spanish these days, so I signed "Thank You" to him, and I could see his eyes light up and he was SO happy that he started signing back to me and I must have looked puzzled because then he mouthed and signed "you're welcome" simultaneously to me. I smiled. He was nice. FINALLY someone in that place that was NICE to me. ugh. (besides Cari, but she doesn't count because she HAS to be nice to me.)

So I get the kids in, stuff loaded up, stroller in the back, and Marek is still hysterical. So we skipped all three of our other stops and I started to head for home, and called Evan- but we could barely HEAR each other over Marek's "enclosed in the van, backseat meltdown" and so he agreed to meet me about halfway home with the thermometer and the tylenol. Marek ended up falling asleep literally ONE BLOCK from our destination and so I figure it was about 45 minutes of hysteria on his part. And his temperature? 99.9. My children. Do NOT. Do well with fevers. Of any kind. These moms who have kids with 104 fevers, I don't know how they do it. BOTH of my kids act like their arms are being sawed-off when they hit 101.3 degrees. Seriously. I do not know why. They are not graceful with fevers. Anyone else's children like this? Lucky for me they also have yet to run high fevers, but jeez, you would still think the world is ending.

So we gave Marek some Tylenol and some hylands tablets since he has that one bottom tooth just poking through STILL, and he was fine. And then Ardyn and I took Marek to Wal-Mart where he was pretty much happy-go-lucky for like TWO HOURS while we wandered around in there. I have been trying for a few days to convince Ardyn that it would be very grand of her to give Marek her "Stewart the Seahorse" (the turquoise Fisher Price one that lights up and sings like a glo-worm) and she has been alternately agreeing and having a hysterical panic attack about it. She says "yeah mommy!" and then if my hand gets within .2 inches of the thing, she starts to be hysterical and clings to him for dear life and says dramatic things like "Mommy, don't TAKE it!" and cries and brings out the big fat alligator tears.

So tonight when at the Mart, she ran across the new Dora doll that is soft and has real hair and is in her pajamas and fuzzy slippers. I showed her how the doll was ready to sleep, and how her eyes shut when she would lay down. She sings songs and says phrases, and Ardyn was ENTRANCED. She was so attached to it that she would not let it out of her site, which is very unlike her as she is usually VERY easily distracted by toys, and will switch fairly easily when presented with something else. She kept saying "Mommy, we take Dora home maybe?" and I called Evan for approval because this doll was $22.97 (and I thought he would be the calm cool collected and detached parent and convince me that it wasn't necessary and I could just put it back and be the adult) and he said GET IT so when we got to the checkout, she had to know exactly where Dora was in the cart, on the conveyor, in the bag, and in the van. She was so worried that Dora wouldn't make it home. When we got home she was excited and as soon as Dora got out of the box, she grabbed her and took her right TO BED with her. I mean, she walked into her room, climbed INTO bed on her own accord, and lay Dora down next to her. AND there was not one single whine or cry the whole time, through medicine, vitamins, bedtime story, kisses, and me putting Marek to sleep, turning out lights, and shutting doors. Not a peep.

She said to me "Mom, Dora is my DAUGHTER. She is a little girl!" and three times before I left the room she said "Dora is my Daughter!" OMG how cute is that?! Kinda like while in Wal-mart she saw the wall of lunchmeat and squealed "Oh my GOODNESS Mommy LOOK at all the HOTDOGS!!!!" LOL. Kids crack me up.

So we got our two pumpkins for next weekend's carving. And I panicked because I realized that I haven't even STARTED on Ardyn's costume yet. Ugh.

Well, I should get to sleep so that I can function tomorrow. Kids went to bed after 11pm, so hopefully they will sleep in some, but I am not counting on it!!! Goodnight!