no sleep....

Veronica was up all night. She woke up at 1:30 and started screaming. Literally, she screamed until 6am. We tried EVERYTHING. She was seriously pissed. At 4:30 I gave up and just left her crying in her bed. I didn't know what else to do and she would NOT calm down. Clint somehow got her to sleep before he left for work. He seems to think she was cold. He held her close for a while and put a blanket on her... she went right to sleep. And I had to wake her up at 10am. I know she's still not feeling good, but I can't deal with too many more nights like this. I really really hope Veronica sleeps tonight!!

I'm so dead tired. This made four nights in a row she was up for hours. I need sleep!!! I spent most of today working on Roni's birthday cake. Thankfully it went easy. Tonight I'm supposed to go out with friends. I need this night out!! I need a break!! But I really have NO energy. No desire to get dressed and go out. I'm trying to talk myself into going anyway, but more than anything I just want to stay home and do nothing. Especially since tomorrow we have a TON to do around the house to get ready for the party.

Back to the doctor we went this morning. Veronica has been running fever since Monday... Double ear infection. I feel bad because she probably has had it since last week. :-( My poor little girl has been in pain all ths time and I didn't know!!! We have meds now, so this has GOT to be the END of the sickness in this house for a while!!!

Gym again!

Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time in three weeks! It felt good to go back, but my energy has been zero. I only stayed about 3o minutes, but it was better than nothing. Kids did AWESOME yesterday too. I went this morning and Veronica cried the entire time! Ugh! After 20 minutes I gave up and left. I wish I knew why she was fine some days and screaming the rest!! Roni slept for HOURS today, so that was part of it. She's running a 101.5 fever again (sigh) so I'm guessing she wasn't feeling well on top of being tired. Looks like we might not have avoided going back to the doctor after all. (sigh)

I think I'm going back on South Beach diet again. Not until after Veronica's party though. There's no way I'm going to spend 3 days baking a cake and not eat any!!! It's also time to change up my routine at the gym again. I've been alternating the same two circuits every other day since November/December. I need to do some research online and figure out what to try next. More cardio for sure. Now if only I can get the kids in 'check' so I can go four days a week and do what I gotta do to lose the rest of this weight!!!!!

How sad is it that my child's first birthday party is in a mere week and I have nothing? All I have done thus far is mail out invitations. No plans.. .. no ideas... no theme... no clue about her cake... nothing!!! It doesn't feel like Veronica can possibly be one year old already. It's been a year already?? How can this be?? I'm still drained from being sick. Kids are STILL sickly too. I'm just not motivated. Valerie's first birthday was planned in detail a month in advance!!! When I was planning for Val's cake, the bakery told me it was "too early!" Now it's Roni's turn.... and I haven't done a thing. Shame on me. I need to get busy and figure out what the heck I need to get / buy / do before next weekend. Thank GOD we decided to keep it simple and small. Ready or not... Veronica is going to be ONE!

Dora...

My latest sugary creation for a friend:

I don't know what to do with these sick kids. They are better, but far from WELL. Shit, Valerie has been sick for TEN days now. TEN days!! Roni is right behind at eight days... EIGHT! Val is on antibiotics and some killer cough medicine. Roni finished her flu meds, and about all we can give her is Tylenol/Motrin at this point. I know it's viral, and it has to run it's course. How long is this going to drag on?? How long do I wait before going BACK to the doctor???????

Clint really needs to come home.

I officially hate Papa John's

With us being sick, I'm not cooking of course. I decided to order a pizza tonight.... something we rarely do. I don't remember the last time we had pizza delivered. Anyway, I decided to go with Papa John's, since it has been a good 5 years since I have had pizza from there. I go online, place my order, get the confirmation, and wait. And wait. And wait. It said 5o minutes, so when it hit an hour, I decided to call and see what the delay was.

Girl answerd with her ridiculously long spew about their specials. I tell her I placed an order online and it hadn't gotten here yet. She asked my address, then said hold on for a manager.

I waited. And waited.

Finally, someone comes on the line.

"yeah?" she says. No hello... no Hi... Just "YEAH."

I said, "Um hello?"

Manager says, "We don't deliver to Bayou Blue anymore. I tried to call when the order popped up."

UM no. No one called. My phone NEVER rang. I NEVER left my kitchen. I have caller ID like the rest of the free world and there were NO calls AT ALL. I told her this. And she rudely said, "Well I called." And I said, "No, my phone never rang." And she says in a nasty tone, "Oh well then..." So I told her thanks for nothing... and hung up on her.

RUDE!! So I waited all that time, and we had nothing to eat because NO ONE CALLED! I see Papa John's delivering out here ALL THE TIME, so if something changed it's fairly recent.

Of course I went online and wrote a complaint letter. Not that it will do any good... but I will never order pizza from them again.

I'm exhausted. Kids were up a good bit last night. Still not feeling 100%...

Valerie woke up a crying mess this morning... running fever again. She had that sick look in her eyes. Took her in... double ear infection. She's a horrible mess tonight... crying, whining, clinging .... "momma please take care of me," she sobs. :-( ( I AM doing the best I can!! )

Veronica *might* be a tad bit better. She ate a little today. I got her to drink some Pedyalite. She too is still crying, whining, clinging.... If she's not better by Wednesday, back to the doctor she goes.

Did I mention how exhausted I am?

and yet....

STILL SICK.

Clint is in Houston all week. He drove, inspite of feeling pretty icky.

I have NO IDEA how I'm gonna take care of two sick kids when I'm so sick myself!!!

Val seems to be okay.... just that darn lingering cough.

I'm getting worried about Roni. She's SO snotty and congested sounding, although it did seem to lessen a bit today. She's barely eating. I'm having to FORCE her to drink water. She's refusing her bottle, and hasn't quite grasped the cup concept yet. Please let my baby girl be better tomorrow.

THIS HAS GOT TO END!!!!!!

Still sick...

Steroid shots are lovely.

With in 2 hours of my injection yesterday, my throat no longer felt like it was on fire!!! And I actually felt human. Today I cleaned and disinfected the kitchen and living room. Tomorrow the bathrooms... I think I overdid it because I feel pretty bad tonight.

Kids are still snotty, coughing, congested, cranky, not eating.... Same as me I guess! The fevers are gone, so we're on the down side of it now. Poor Roni sounds terrible. She's crying a lot. I guess it's harder on her because she's so small.

Tomorrow makes 6 days of being sick for me and Val, 5 for Roni. I hate how this crap lingers on and on....

Clint is feeling pretty bad. He is actually at Urgent Care as I type. He is scheduled to be in Houston all next week. Rather than wait until Monday to see his doctor, he decided to try the after hours place instead.

*sigh* Please let us all be well SOON!!

The Flu

Happy Valentine's Day!! Happy Anniversary to my husband!!


We're still sick. We, as in me, Valerie, and Veronica. Clint is on the verge. Clint took Veronica to the doctor today... positive for flu, as we already knew. Thankfully the flu shot seemed to keep hers mild. Valerie never truly acted sick; she never does. It's hard to gauge just *how* sick she is since she's so tough. Her temp got up to 103, but quickly went back to normal after one round of Motrin / Tylenol. Slight cough, a little cranky... running around like normal, and that's that. STILL debating on whether to take her in tomorrow or not...

I feel horrible still. Achey, sore throat, cough, blah.

So much for my Anniversary plans tonight!!!!

miserable....

Val woke up horribly sick, then started acting JUST fine, besides a slight fever and a cough. Now tonight I'm sick..sick..sick...

Awesome weekend....

copied & pasted from Myspace blog:

So..... on Tuesday night Clint tells me we have plans for the weekend. He wanted to tell me early so I had time to get things ready. Thursday night we were to pack bags for the girls, and Friday after 6pm we were going to bring them to Opal's house for the weekend. WE were going to New Orleans! I think I was more surprised that Opal had agreed to keep the kids than anything! They can be quite a handful. Plus, I am not one of those moms who is always looking for somewhere to leave her kids, so having to leave them for a weekend was a shock! Once it sunk in, I had to ask again WHERE are we going to be sure I'd heard right!! I told Clint and Opal they were both crazy for coming up with this. This would be the first time we leave the girls overnight anywhere, and for TWO nights. I was worried about the girls being away from us for so long. They are not used to staying at any one's house. I am not used to being away from them either! But I figured there was know way of knowing how they'd handle it unless we tried...

So Friday, Clint got home from work. First thing out of Val's mouth when she saw him, "Daddy's home. Now I go to Lana's!!!" She was ready, lol!! We got everything ready, packed, and loaded in the car. I made sure to send along necessary supplies plus extras! We dropped off the girls about 6:30ish. Val started playing right away. Roni started exploring. We said our goodbyes and hit the road. I won't lie... I was fighting tears a good bit of the way. I felt like I was leaving part of me behind. I knew they would be fine... even if they cried it wasn't the end of the world. But already I missed them.

We stopped in Boutte and ate at 90 West. It was SO good! I had the chicken fettucini and Clint had a broiled seafood platter. This was the first of several awesome meals!

It was after 9:00 when we got to the Hilton on St. Charles. Clint went to check in while I waited in the car. I waited. And waited. AND waited. After 20 minutes I was about to go inside and look for him, when he finally came back. Some how, somebody had already checked in under his name. The hotel had no idea how this happened. It was a woman's signature on our reservation, which was even weirder! For the trouble, they upgraded us to a suite! Score! It was AWESOME. Beautiful... roomy... and very comfy. We got settled in our room, and Clint handed me a gift bag and said "Happy Anniversary!" Beautiful diamond stud earrings - which I was NOT expecting at all! We were in our room debating on whether to go to the casino or not when there was a knock at the door. Champagne! It was part of the romance package with the room. After a few glasses, we decided to stay in and be well rested for Saturday.

Saturday we were up at our usual time - 7am. The hotel had given us vouchers for a free breakfast buffet at the downstairs restaurant, so we did that. Excellent food, down to the homemade butter and jelly. Next we walked down to the quarter. It was a gorgeous day! We stopped at Jackson Square and took pictures. Then we headed down to the French Market. I picked up a couple t-shirts for the kids. We walked around Jackson Square to check out the vendors and find the restaurant we were having dinner at. Next we went to the River Walk. We sat by the fountain for a bit, then we went to the mall. We sat on a bench outside for a long while doing nothing but watching the river. We grabbed something quick to eat (mmm fudge!) and decided to check out the casino. With in 15 minutes, I had lost $25, Clint had lost $40. So much for that.... we left. We were both pretty tired from all that walking, so we went back to our room to rest and get dressed for dinner.

Once we were showered and dressed, we headed to Bourbon Street. I hadn't been there in years, and the first thing I said was that it was exactly the same, lol! Names have changed, but in general it's the same as always. We hung out at Cat's Meow for about an hour, and decided to head to Muriel's where we were having dinner. Our reservations were for 7:30, but it was only 7:00 so we waited in the bar until our table was ready. I had an Almond Joy Martini and Clint had something called a Sazerac. Dinner was EXCELLENT! They sat us in a quiet, secluded corner. Perfect. Romantic. I loved all the candles ... it was just right. We each got the 3 course meal. I got a seafood cake appetizer and Clint got goat cheese crawfish cakes. Both were to die for! We both got the barbecued shrimp entree. Clint got creme brule and I got bread pudding dessert. SO GOOD. Since we told them we were celebrating our anniversary, we got a complimentary dessert called a Charlotte. OMG it was awesome!!

After dinner, we made our way through the Quarter to Pat O's. I hadn't been there in years! Of course you can't go to Pat O's and not have a hurricane!! We sat in the piano bar for a good while. Ironically enough, when the piano players switched, the guy that went up was someone Clint went to school with. It was lots of fun sitting there singing along, watching the drunk people. I love that place. I guess this means we are getting old, but by 10pm, and one hurricane, we were both ready to leave! Odd for me, since when I was younger I was usually the one who wanted to stay. I'd drink 3 hurricanes and walk out of there at 4am like it was nothing.... not anymore!! It was 10:30 when we got back to the hotel, and we crashed.

Sunday morning we got up and decided to make one more trip downtown. Cafe' Du Monde for beignets and coffee!!! SO good, (but yet so bad!) as always! We cheated a bit and took a taxi back to the hotel. All that walking tired us out! By 9:30 we were checked out and on the road. I couldn't wait to pick up my girls. I missed them SO much.

Thankfully, the kids did well. Valerie had a meltdown or two, because she missed us. But even so, it's normal for her to have a crying fit late in the afternoon. Veronica did awesome, which was amazing because I was more worried about her than anything!! Everybody knows how picky she is. I had no idea how she'd handle being away from me since she's such a mamma's girl. I'm so relieved they were "good!"

SO, we had a fantastic weekend. Clint and I got to take off the mommy/daddy hats and be US. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in day to day routines and focusing on the girls, we forget to pay attention to each other. It's hard to find the time for each other. It was a nice break to have a weekend to ourselves. The diets went out the window and we ate awesome food. We spent a crazy amount of money. I'm forever grateful to Opal for keeping the kids so that this could happen. AND of course, VERY thankful for Clint planning this whole surprise trip for us.

To my husband: Happy 5th Anniversary... AND Happy Valentine's Day.... I love you with all my heart. XOXOXOXOXOX

As much as my husband annoys me, there are times he does the opposite and totally surprises me. Last night he tells me he made weekend plans for us. Months ago.... since before Thanksgiving...he has been plotting. Opal is going to keep the girls Friday AND Saturday night, and we are going to New Orleans for the weekend. *dies* I'm thrilled to death that we're going to have some time together. It's been three years!! It will definitely help our relationship to take a break from the mommy/daddy routine. I can't wait to be "US", even if it's for a little while.

At the same time, I'm terrified... anxious... about leaving the girls with somebody!! My mom and dad have kept Valerie for days, but Veronica...... I've never been away from her for more than a few hours. Valerie will be okay since she is nuts about Lana. She was ready to go RIGHT THEN when we asked her if she wanted to sleep at Lana's house. My Veronica though... I am not sure how she will handle being away from me. I hate that somebody else might (most likely will) be inconvienced by my kids! *sigh* I guess we will never know how they handle it unless we try.... and we'll only be an hour away if we need to come home....

I told both Clint And Opal they are NUTS for coming up with this plot.... so that's my warning if all goes awry!

Throw me sumthin' Mister!

Happy Mardi Gras, y'all!!!! So far we've made it to four parades. IF (big if) we venture out today, that will make SIX. A record for me.... it's been years since I've made it to more than one parade. It's been a lot of fun! We got to hang out with family and friends, eat lots of good food, and of course catch tons of crap. It looks like a parade passed through my living room. Valerie and Veronica LOVED the parades... at least until they got hit with stuff. Val and Roni both got hit pretty hard a couple of times.

***

Exactly one month from today Veronica will be one year old! Where has the year gone?? It seems she was just born, and now she's almost one. I've been selling off the baby things as Roni out grows them. The cradle... gone. Swing... Bumbo.... gone. The changing table will be the next to go... It makes me sad to see someone else walking away with my kids' baby things...