YUCK!

CAUTION: If you don't like poo-poo talk, you should just skip this one!

I think you'll all thank me for not including a picture with this post. We've had the stomach flu this past week. I am so sick of poo! I just put Carson to bed and it was definitely in the top ten of all-time worst Carson diapers. And why he feels the need to assist me while wriggling out of his diaper I'll never understand.

It all started last weekend. On my birthday, in fact! The nursery leaders came and got us TWICE during Sunday School to change Carson's messy diapers. Imagine my joy when I realized we had no wipes in the diaper bag. Then dear little Annie filled her pants and shirt as she lay in bed that night attempting to achieve relief through the simple act of tooting. Not so simple. We had just sat down to watch Season 4 of The Office (my standing birthday present for the last three years) and I was talking to my dad in Mexico online when we heard her crying. So I spent the next half hour cleaning that up. We didn't fully realize what she had done until she stripped to go potty. So that was fun. I gave her a bath and tried not to throw up while I cleaned her clothes, the bathtub, the floor, the potty, etcetera. Ryan got her ready for bed Part II. Well, I guess I used too many Clorox wipes without flushing so the toilet clogged. I just didn't feel like dealing with it right then, so I closed the lid and went back to watch more Office.

As I sat there, I began to feel not so well. As I rushed to the bathroom to throw up, stressed because I really don't like being sick, it escaped my memory that the toilet was clogged. Not good.

I continued to be sick for the next five days. It was a record-breaker week of digestive upset, interrupted sleep, intestinal turmoil, and other such unpleasantries. I finally went to the doctor on Friday (funny how I felt better within a half hour of setting the appointment--no joke! My doctor is amazing! When I told him that I felt better right after calling he agreed: "We ARE GOOD at this office!" he mused). Seriously, though, it's better to go than stay home and risk being miserable over the weekend.

Then, last night Ryan and Annie took turns throwing up and receiving fever-lowering meds. I felt so badly for both of them (and selfishly for myself as well, because I got NO sleep whatsoever--although I got to entertain myself listening to Ryan's sleep-talk). Annie was sweating soooo badly and she was so positive about it. Other than the first time (which happened in the middle of the living room at 1 AM when Ryan and I were slowly waking up from falling asleep on the couch and couldn't move fast enough to prevent it), she went strait to the bathroom and willingly went back to bed each time. Poor thing.

Then today, Carson has made an art out of filling his diaper with the strangest assortment of colors and textures. I don't mean to be so gross, I just shake my head at the week I've had and think that maybe if I laugh about it, it won't seem so bad. One thing is for sure, I have plenty of laundry to do tomorrow!

I just wanted to gripe about this for a minute. I know it won't last forever, and it will happen again and again and again. That's okay. Poo and throw up are part of life. I accept it.

But I figured a way to find humor in all of this. If you want, please share a classic birthday story as a comment on this blog. You know, one of those stories that you just can't believe it is really happening, but then you laugh about it later. If you don't have one, that's fine. I just really enjoy reading funny comments when I've had a rough day!

First Day of School

Last Wednesday was Annie's first day of school. She absolutely loves her teachers, Ms. Crystal, Ms. Shauna, Ms. Heather, and Ms. Brooke. She was pretty excited as well to see that some of her friends from last year were still in her class. It was also fun when she got in the car after school and showed me her work for the day. She has really improved from last year. Her picture was very colorful--almost tye-dyed in appearance. She described its creation to me as follows:

"MOM!!!! I did such a great job coloring this year! I stayed in the lines and it was VERY impressive!"

That cracked me up. Apparently her teachers also noticed that we've made improvement from filling the entire page (with no apparent concern for the lines) with a color of choice. Funny girl!

I'm glad we've found a school we love and I'm excited for her to have new experiences this year. I don't even want to think about the fact that next year I'll have a kindergartner. yikes.

The things these kids do!

I'm too flustered to take a picture from this morning, so a photo of another time when I just could NOT believe my kids will have to suffice. And this picture is hilarious, so there ya go! I'll describe the above photo first and then tell what happened this morning. I guess you could say I'm telling a story to tell a story! I was doing something in the kitchen and Annie and Carson were playing in the playroom. I rounded the corner and smelled baby powder. OH NO!! I thought to myself. (Annie had dumped baby powder on my bed a week or so earlier and although it was dumped on the bed, I had to clean it out of every nook and cranny in our room as well as the stereo, TV, alarm clock, etc.) So I had purchased a new container of baby powder. And, trying to be thrifty, it was the nice 15 oz. size. Wellllllll, imagine my shock when I saw the above ghostie child crawling toward me from the playroom with a baby powder wake behind him in the dark brown living room carpet. I took a deep breath, thought about all the reasons why I shouldn't scream every naughty word I know at the top of my lungs, and went into the playroom:


(Oh, and in case you were wondering, the 15 oz. baby powder canister was completely empty!)

note the white trail coming toward me? note Annie's head facing down? kinda like "I didn't do anything?" note the cool handprints one can make in the powder? note the nice film in the air? it's a RED BURN DAY within the Droubay home, folks!!!!!!!! With all the self-control I could muster, I thought, this will be hilarious someday, but NOT today! I called my mother-in-law who has enough self-control for the both of us and then some, and asked for her help (I'm sure she loved getting the 8:30 AM wake up call!) She had Annie bathe all her toys (every last one) and I vacuumed and revacuumed and wiped clean every surface in there. We got through it, but holy cow! I knew kids could be trouble, but I learned an important lesson that day: If you can imagine it (any sort of mischief), so can they. And if you can't imagine it, don't worry, THEY WILL!

So on to today. . . I was in the other room (notice a pattern here?) and I heard the rapid-fire beep beeping of the computer whose keys are being depressed continually. I raced into the dining room and Carson is sitting on the table with his little hands on the laptop keyboard. I gently and kindly (ha ha) escort him to the floor to direct his creative and playful tendencies elsewhere and then proceed to exit out of all the error messages and the like when I notice it: my computer screen, the entire thing (desktop icons and all) have been rotated counter-clockwise!!!!

I didn't even know that was possible.

Ha ha, funny, I know. But it gets better. I can't call anyone for help because my cell phone isn't charged (nothing new here) and our land line has been weird for two days due to the huge rainstorm we had on Sunday evening. Loved the rain, don't get me wrong. We really needed it and I'm grateful for it. But it saturated the phone lines (according to Qwest who said they'd fix it Thursday). So, when your phone rings and you answer it to hear not only crackling, a person talking . . . AND . . . the dialtone (all at the same time), that's kinda kooky! (not to mention we don't have caller ID, but we've had it yesterday and today--problem is, people we don't know are calling--perhaps the lines are crossed?) . . . Whatever. . .

Anyway, I finally call Kelli (my sis-in-law) at work and she starts laughing hysterically. Apparently Monique (who she works with) had a similar experience last week and she knew how to help me! So, the lengthy story finally has a conclusion here: I'm going to tell you what I did to fix the problem and then if some random soul finds themselves in a similar bind and chooses to "google" it, they'll find a solution! Brilliant, eh?

(Googling worked for me last summer when "someone" child-locked our dishwasher and I couldn't figure out how to undo it -- dishwasher was even locked shut! I couldn't get in! Previous homeowner didn't leave the owner manual, so we were up a creek. I had the thought to google it and sure enough, it brought up someone's blog and apparently for my make and model of dishwasher, you press the energy saver dry button for 17 seconds and you're good to go!)

Okay, back to the "HELP--my screen display is rotated counter-clockwise!" problem: Go to the start menu, click on help and support. Under pick a task, select "undo changes to your computer with System Restore." Follow the prompts and select a date from the calendar and voila! you're back in business. Hope this can help someone, and entertain in the process!

Here's an update: you can also press ctrl, alt, and the up arrow key you need at the same time and that works too! (my brother Abe just told me this). Also, he said to be careful with the system restore because it can lose unsaved changes and/or software you've installed since the date you choose.

Tender Mom and Annie Moment

Cute story: Last night, I went to Annie's room to give her a hug goodnight (Ryan had put her to bed and she apparently "wanted Mom"). I picked her up and was hugging her and looked over her shoulder and saw a cute picture of her from Fall of 2005. She was just over a year old at the time and, maybe it was the fact that every time she hugs me back I'm amazed at how much love a little kid is capable of, maybe it was that it was the end of a very long day, I don't know. For some reason, anyway, I just got so emotional about how much she has grown up. I was telling her how much I loved her and my voice cracked (SHOCKER!) She pulled away and looked at me and asked, "Mommy, why are you crying? Are you sad?"

I said, "I am so happy for you to grow up, but I'm also sad for me. I don't want you to grow up! I want you to stay my little girl forever." She took my face in both of her hands and looked me directly in the eyes and said (in the most compassionate--almost dramatically so-- tone of voice) "Mom, it's okay, you don't need to be sad. If you really want me to, I'll change back into a baby again so you won't be sad." At that moment I was so touched by (1) her apparent unselfishness and (2) how sweet she was being when just moments ago, she had lost bedtime story, toy, AND bedtime song privileges all in the same night.

At the height of this tender Mom / Annie moment that was sooo sweet you could just hear the beautifully scored background music beginning to reach its climax, I asked: "You would do that for me?"

Music stops--kinda like when you turn the record off and it screeches to a halt. Annie looks at me (still with compassion in her eyes) and answers with a very succinct and matter-of-fact: "no."

Let's Reminisce. . . . .

I copied this from my friend Jessica's blog:

Anyone who wants to play...This is Fun!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember--it can be funny, weird, awkward, random, etc.! Separate instructions for my siblings: BE NICE!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Siblings

One of my favorite things is to watch my kids express love to each other. I had no idea BK (before kids) how good it would feel. Yesterday, I was sitting at my usual Sunday perch (the organ bench) watching Ryan wrangle the kids during the sacrament. This ALWAYS amuses me, by the way. And to those of you with more than two kids, I'm sure I will laugh too someday at the thought of "poor ole' Ryan wrangling only two kids". . . but I still feel for the guy! Anyway, Carson did one of those little boy "aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh" noises that are so loud and high pitched you want to dive under the pew and hide, and then he proceeded to dive bomb his sister in the hugest bear hug. I don't care how loud it was (Ryan might have, but again, I'm amused by it all up there on my perch), it was soooooo cute.

Happy 4th Birthday Annie!!

In case you didn't already know, Annie is obsessed with watermelons. So it came as no surprise when I asked what kind of birthday she wanted and she responded with "a watermelon birthday!" Duh, mom. "What exactly is that?" I wondered to myself. So, armed with some food coloring and a few ideas, voila! Here is her watermelon birthday cake!





. . . and here she is "sneaking" some watermelon, as expected. Birthday cake? who wants birthday cake when there is WATERMELON (and the associated digestive upset that comes along with overdosing on it) available?!





When we asked her which present she'd like first, she said matter-of-factly, "the big box." Seemed like a reasonable question to me. The "big box" was the gift from Grandma and Grandpa Foof (my parents). It was Rubbermaid drawers stuffed absolutely full of art supplies: pencils, erasers, crayons, markers, glue, construction paper, scissors--thanks, mom!, paint brushes, writing tablet, sketch paper, and paints--thanks again, mom! Holy moly, she was totally thrilled. I think the contents of the gift appropriately met the expectation she had after staring at the "big box" for a few days before the BIG DAY!





Is she smiling because of the coolness of the gift, or because she's imagining all of the self- and Carson-haircuts she'll be giving? Better be the former. . .





. . . meanwhile, our gallant son enjoys a bite of cake whilst most comfortably perched atop the table. Where do they come up with this stuff?






And speaking of gallant, here he is making his move with his somewhat reluctant girl-buddy Alayna. Apparently, she's not interested! But to be fair to Alayna, he did seem a little TOO enthusiastic! Go get 'em Carsie!






Annie and her friend Dillon enjoy some birthday bling-bling. . . . nice . . .






As you can see, Annie is most pleased with her new bike and accessories from Grandparents "D" and Aunt Kelli and Uncle Mike. What a lucky ducky! Please also note the clothing ensemble she selected for her fourth birthday celebration. Can't tell from the photo, but the shirt is on backwards. Looks great to me!





No birthday could be complete without a singing birthday card from Oma and Opa. She has this little tradition of stealing such cards at all card-worthy family celebrations. Many a birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc. singing birthday cards have been found amongst her most-prized possessions (as well as reluctantly handed over by her as we are departing said celebration)! What a great day for this little cutie pie!