My Jim is GREAT!

I just had to clarify a few things…

My Jim is great. I really don’t mean to complain about him- I guess you can say that the only reason why I do it is to ‘vent’, but that’s only ‘cause we (women) need to let off some steam once in awhile and I don’t want to blow off my steam to my oh-so-wonderful husband. And who else do I have that I can talk to? YOU! J

The truth is. I love him- I do. Yes, I wish we were a little bit more lovey dovey & more respectful of each other, but all in all- we are a pretty amazing pair. You see…

My husband takes care of me and his kids. He’s our protector and provider. He loves me, he loves his family and in everything he does he thinks of us first. In return I take care of my husband, I love him and I take care of our home (to the best that I can) and our children. In everything I do -I think of him and the children first.

Sometimes I think we both forget that it takes a lot of commitment and sacrifice to raise a family like ours. (4 kids ranging in different ages, blended but simple) There are days that I am at my wits ends and I wish I had more time, energy, help and LOVE! But on the whole, I muster up my will power to be the best wife and mother I can be.

I am not surprised by the hours it takes to wake up, dress the kids, go to work, come home, feed, play, bathe, clean and yes, sometimes I cook too. What I am surprised by is that my hubby’s there to help me with every bit of it. Plus, I am so grateful and surprised that he doesn’t get overwhelmed too often. I am also in awe that in this day and age I have a man who loves and protects his family so selflessly and joyfully.

He is a husband and dad that arrives home from work ready to ‘get the night started’. Some days he has a relaxing break from the work day, for at least a little while, but some days there is no such thing. When the kids and I walk in the door- most days, we’re laughing and he gets to see a pretty wife with happy kids. But other days, he witnesses crying fits and it’s a frazzled who wife greets him. In both scenarios, he jumps right in to whatever the evening has in store like he’s hard wired to do so. He is a dad that: changes diapers, wipes noses, takes the trash out, does the yard work, mops & vacuums floors, reads stories, budgets the bills and cleans up the kitchen too! He is even a dad that helps cook dinner on a regular basis. (And he’s a darn good cook I might add.)

So- just to put him in the light of a more ‘loving’ vibe… my husband is a wonderful father and helps me tremendously on a daily basis. I know how easy it can be get carried away when we start complaining about our loved ones, so I just wanted to balance it out with the silver lining of our marriage.

Thanks for reading. See you around soon, I’m sure.

We lost her!

Jim went to wake Brooklyn up this morning (our usual weekday routine) and she was MISSING! - * - * - * - WTF?
Where could she have gone? He checked downstairs, her brother's room, the closet... she was no where to be found. I rushed out of my shower and went searching with Jim (while in my towel... that's how worried I was) and as soon as we went back into her room and called out her name, we could hear a wimper. It was Brooklyn! Phew... she had fallen asleep UNDER her bed. And not just any bed, she was under her 'low-to-the-floor' toddler bed! Poor thing... I tried asking her why she was under there, she didn't know why. Thank goodness she was SOMEWHERE tho! :o)

101 Ways to Clean Out the Clutter - by Emilie Barnes

Starting today, I will be reading each "way" to clean out clutter and also doing my best to put each suggestion to use in my real life.

1. Why all that clutter?
2. No more Piles
3. Remove the unused
4. Tools of the trade
5. It’s a family matter
6. Labels are helpful
7. A place for everything
8. To-Do Lists
9. No more excuses
10. New items in-out items out
11. Unfinished business
12. The 80/20 Rule
13. Accordion files fit the bill
14. Managing the mail
15. Juggling the junk mail
16. Break it up
17. Practical Expectations
18. When are you most productive?
19. Prevent Interupptions
20. Today is the day!
21. The family communication center
22. Purge the paper piles
23. Smart storage solutions
24. Filing financials
25. Get motivated
26. Stick a label on it
27. Tips to tackle the garage
28. The drop off and pick-up place
29. No more lost keys
30. A tote for household tools
31. Phone calls take time too
32. Don’t delay small tasks
33. Be my guest
34. Little tasks take time
35. Just give it a try
36. A chance to change
37. Do you reall need it?
38. Sell? Donate? Toss Out?
39. Breaking down the big ones
40. The paper shuffle
41. Distribuiting the mail
42. Filing the files
43. Evening… a time to clean up
44. Beware of procrastination & laziness
45. Why so many?
46. Clear the clutter in child’s room
47. The closet of mystery
48. The messy medicine cabinet
49. Broken and outgrown toys
50. Do the worst first
51. Friends help friends
52. Learn to let go
53. Hydrogen peroxide has many uses
54. Shopping tips
55. Keeping a tidy home
56. Store items where needed
57. Be a good steward
58. Find another use
59. Simple ideas make easier days
60. Unused electric gadgets
61. Watch for hidden costs
62. Plasticware everywhere
63. Paper bags, newspapers, bottles & cans- oh my!
64. Freezer food fuss
65. Use it or Lose it
66. Share your heirlooms now
67. Use up the leftovers
68. Speed Cleaning
69. Is the box half full?
70. Great gift ideas
71. When giving gifts
72. Those old trophies… dust or discard?
73. Choose people, not things
74. New life for old favorites
75. Pace yourself
76. Why so overstuffed?
77. Make a date
78. Evening efforts ease morning’s rush
79. The idea jar
80. Common items gain novel purposes
81. What to begin with
82. Time to get organized
83. Creative ways to make storage
84. Begin a better way today
85. Tricks to tuck it out of sight
86. Made in his image
87. Too many books?
88. Sell it
89. Put away, throw away or give away
90. You cue to clean
91. Monthly and quartly chores
92. Develop your own style
93. The annual paper purge
94. Freedom from clutter
95. Practical and creative solutions
96. Good reasons to use good china
97. The must-have junk drawer
98. Sorting laundry the easy way
99. Think double duty
100. A goal for the whole family
101. Your home… A Lovely Reflection of you

Poet for Hire!

Some might say I have a knack with words

You might say that 'writing is for the birds'.

So that is why I'm here for you...

Just call on me if you need a word or two.

For a special event, service or present

Be totally wealthy or even a peasant.

'cause my charges are fair at less than thirty

but I won't be crude, raunchy or dirty.

Yes I do love to rhyme,

And not just any old time!

I can do Romantic or Gory;

Just tell me, what's your story?

Do you need a Resume or a letter?

Trust me, no one can do them better!

You could even be in Timbuktu

and I'll just email it straight to you.

You won't have to pay a thing

until you hear the fat lady sing.

That means pay me when I'm done.

Are you ready? Now let's have fun!

DadDee

He's there when I'm lost, He's there when I cry
He's there when I do way more than a "TRY"

He's there when I smile, He's there when I laugh
He's there with my family, the REAL, STEP and HALF

He's there when I play, He's there when I work
He's there when I feel like I'm being a jerk

He's there when I'm sick, He's there when I'm well
He's there when I think I am going through hell

He's there at the park, when I see a bright kite
He's there in the shadows, I can see him at night

He's there when I toss, He's there as I turn
He's there as I'm thinking of all I could learn

He's there when I wake, always up in the skies
He's there as I see him through my own kids eyes

He's there when I'm silly, He's there when I'm not
He's there when I'm lying and afraid I'll get caught

He's there when I screw up, He's there when I'm proud
He's there when I feel like it's time to get LOUD.

He's there when I pray, He's there when I curse
He's there when I'm looking everywhere for my purse

He's there when I'm lonely, he's there when I'm sad,
He's there when this girl, just needs her own dad.

Happy Valentine's Day DadDee
-Crystal J. Wells 2/14/11

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Today i've had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. :o(

Terrible:
1. I dragged myself to work because I'm still in my 'first 90 day period' and couldn't stop hackin as i was on the phone. I rushed to the employee kitchen as i handed my call off to the 1st co-worker that walked in the door. I was so embarrassed as I knew EVERYONE could hear me dry heaving in the trash can. ugh!

Horrible:
2. The girls were kind enough to conspire a plan to get me home. The boss agreed to it only after 30 minutes of me arriving to work. I rushed to the doctor's office to finally get the care that I needed. What's horrible is I don't have PTO time so there goes $80 off my paycheck.

No Good:
3. I feel No GOOD. Jim is doing his best to take care of me but all I really want is my mommy. Not the mom that's too busy to call and ask me how I'm doing, the mommy that I remember who would hold me, rock me and sing me to sleep when I was sick. I can't stop crying everytime I remember that mommy. I miss her so much!

Very Bad:
4. To top it all off- Matt and Brook had to BEG me for baths right now, so as I lay on the bed with my laptop surfin facebook- Matt screams to me "BROOK! BROOK! You POOPED YOUR PANTS IN DA BAF TUB!" Ugh, jerked them out- drained the water- and now I've got a big turd to clean up. YUCK!

What Happened to Brooklyn?

(The full story- in case you missed it)

I'm gonna paste the whole story again (rather than retyping it) so I apologize ahead of time if it sounds like I'm talking about a 'recent' incident. :o)

Brook and Matt were sick about 2 weeks ago. They both had fevers; Brooklyn was more severe than Matt. Jim stayed home with them Friday and they were sick ALL weekend. Jim stayed home with them again on Monday just to be sure they were no longer contagious. They both seemed to bounce back wonderfully. Tues- Friday, no symptoms at all. Then all of a sudden, Brooklyn woke up on Saturday with a fever again. She was sick again ALL weekend (last weekend) Jim stayed home again with her on Monday. That was the day that I tried calling the pediatrician office a bazillion times and their phone was disconnected. ?WTF? Right? So I called Jim and said it was up to him to either take her to the office right-away, or take her to Urgent care if she isn't getting better. I came home that Monday and she didn't have a fever anymore so we thought she was done. But she was still so very tired with all that bark like coughing-and all she wanted to do was sit in my lap and watch her SpongeBob. :'o( Once in bed- she had fits all night, tossing and turning and kept us awake- we weren't sure how to help her.

Then Tuesday morning, we checked on her before going to work and she had another FEVER!!! Jim called out of work again and I proceeded to work -advising Jim to SERIOUSLY worry. "The ONLY thing I want you to do today is TAKE HER TO URGENT CARE" (His story will tell you that he WAS worried about her, but men always try to be the tough ones so I saw his laid back attitude as demeaning.)

Every couple of hours, I called Jim, asked how she was doing- she was sleeping, she was playing, she was eating, she was good. Ok- fine, I guess NOW she's over it, right?

Wrong- the minute I get home Jim tells me she has a fever again. I himhaw, worry, fret and complain- then I get on my facebook to update her status, hoping to find advice and all I did was just read ONE post by my friend Dianna about a little girl who went to bed with the flu and didn't wake up the next morning.

That's it- I freaked out, I told Jim that I was taking her to Good-Night Pediatrics (in Avondale) whether he agrees with me or not. I grab the children's Tylenol, children's Triaminic and children's Nyquil because I WANNA KNOW WHAT TO DO FOR HER- and all of those say 'consult a dr for children 2 and under' right? Jim (at first) thought I was a worry wart I bet- but once we got her checked in - the nurse (named Carlos) took her back to do her vitals. There were several others ahead of us so once the vitals were done- we were to go back to the lobby and wait for a room/dr.

The vitals showed: 102 fever, 86 oxygen reading and a mildly low heart beat (don't remember the #) the nurse looked worried and grabbed the blanket off her body and said "that's awfully low- you're not going back to the lobby- let me let a dr know and I’m sure he'll want to see her in a room right-away"

We went back to a room and Brooklyn (my big girl) wanted to go potty. I took her potty. Meanwhile, the dr came in right-away (I know, shocking right?) and talked with Jim about god-knows-what. Dr leaves because he will tend to us when Brooklyn is back in the room.

Doc comes back and checks her- basically says (in a friendly tone) that she has the croup- the start of 2 ear infections and the only reason why her oxygen was low was because of her fever. He gave her an oral steroid to open her air ways- wrote a prescription and sent us out the door. Oh no- not before I asked my bazillions of questions (of course.) Doc rushed to another room and another nurse shifted us outta there so quickly- I scrambled to find the doc as we left the urgent care. Jim too was shuffling me to move faster out the door and something just told me "ASK AGAIN ABOUT HER OXYGEN".

No doctor in sight, so I slowly moved to the car- we head to the nearest 24 hour pharmacy and the entire time I'm wanting to talk to the doctor again. I grabbed Jim's phone and called the phone number to the doctor that was written on the prescription. I told the nurse my worries regarding her oxygen and asked her to double check the paperwork. She (at 1st) claimed that she couldn't give info over the phone due to hipaa laws. Knowing that the paperwork I signed specifically said "ONLY Parents and authorized personnel will be allowed to call for information regarding your child"

I calmly explained to her that "I know what I signed, and I know I’m allowed to ask you this information. If you need proof- the nurse's name was Carlos and the dr is dr hauben." She put me on hold for several minutes as my eyes filled up with tears. I couldn't stop thinking about those parents who lost their daughter to the 'flu' when she stopped breathing one night. :'o(

She gets on the phone and tells me her oxygen was only at 91- low'ish' but normal for a child who is sick with a fever. I told her that I thought there was conflicting info because I specifically heard Carlos say 86 while 'freaking' out and rushing us to a room. To 'calm' me down and make me feel better- she welcomed me to bring her back in to re-do her vitals. But ONLY "if it would make me feel better". She would not admit that there might have been a mistake. (of course- she was practicing CYA.) The part that REALLY bothered me about this lady was she didn't even show EMPATHY or UNDERSTANDING that I was CONCERNED about my daughter!

I hang up the phone; I told Jim, "call me crazy, paranoid or perhaps its motherly instinct but no matter WHAT I tell myself I just can't shake this worry.' (Niagara falls at this time) by this time we're already close to the pharmacy and my insecurity melts away as I basically DEMAND that we find a oxygen monitor (the kind for her finger) at Walgreens. Jim didn't want to- but he bought one to 'make me feel better'.

He found one for $50; we took her home and tested it. Sure enough- all night it bounced from 84-93. (Brooklyn didn't want to take it off because she thought it was making her 'feel better' LoL)

Instead of letting her sleep in her bed in her room, I brought out her sleeping bag/bed in our room and laid her on the floor next to me.

By 3:30am, she was restless- oxygen levels were bouncing from 83-87. We got in the shower and let the steam clear her lungs- but she hated it. We gave her medication, pedialite, got out the humidifier and that finally allowed her to sleep for just 2 more hours.

Then- I had to go to work again... (Wednesday morning.) Jim stayed home and by noon he was calling me to tell me that he was FINALLY REALLY WORRIED about her oxygen levels. He's not sure that monitor was right- but just to be safe, he got her in (FINALLY) with the 'closed' pediatrician's office.

Because of how close they were to my work- this allowed me the opportunity to have Jim pick me up for my lunch break and go with them to see the dr. Him and I both knew that I would have my bazillion questions again. We get there- and it’s about a 20 minute wait. Most kids calm down once mommy picks them up and rocks them, right? Brooklyn too! But not this time. It was 20 mins of non-stop-crying. She was uncomfortable. The nurse brought her in, did her vitals and THIS NURSE grabbed the doc right away. They thought the urgent care doc was WRONG to have done basically nothing and that's when Dr Michael started a breathing treatment on her. He advised us that they were going to have to transport her by ambulance to the hospital. Frightened- yet relieved to have an answer I couldn't stop crying (right-along with Brooklyn as she fought the oxygen mask that they forced us to keep on her face.) We had Matthew with us and just one car, so Jim called his mom to come pick up Matt while I was to take Jim's car back to work. Jim jumped in the ambulance as I Matthew and I waived bye to our poor lil' Brooklyn.

I get to work and I'm over emotional. To see my baby in the back of the ambulance- with an oxygen mask and everything- oh- it broke my heart. The gals at work thought I was crazy for coming back so they gave me permission to leave. I grabbed my things and headed straight to the hospital.

Phew- was that a long enough explanation for ya? It turns out she has pneumonia in her right lung. Doc got the test results back and she has influenza type A ALONG with the 2 ear infections. Great news is- her fever is gone. And she's eating and playing again.

Moral of the story- NEVER ignore a mother's instincts- they can save a child's life!