i give up.

last night after teaching, i took the kids to burgerville, because j was off on a work dinner, and wouldn't be home until around 10pm. i got z & s kids' meals with fresh strawberry smoothies. s didn't really need one, but she would've fussed if z had one and she didn't.

20 seconds after i gave it to her, it crashed against the back of the front seat and the top popped off upon impact. strawberry smoothie oozed everywhere. i quickly pulled over into a parking spot and commenced cleaning. i put what was remaining in the cup in the cup holder next to me up front. i started driving home again. a minute into the drive, i decided i didn't want z to get full drinking his whole smoothie, so i reached back to hold it for him until we got home. what happened? it slipped out of my hands, the top popped off, and it splattered all over z's floor. i was in the middle of traffic, and had used up all the cloths on the first accident, so it just had to sit there until we got home. it was not fun to clean up when i got home, and my food was cold by the time i got to eat.

despite beginning antibiotics yesterday, s continued to wake up about every other hour last night. so much for my hopes of a good night's sleep after a crappy one. i think she's just in the habit of waking up now, which means i get to try having her cry it out tonight, which is even less sleep for me than having her wake up, because i have to stay up longer waiting for her to stop crying.

s cried the last time at 6:15am, and so i got up, and found z awake. i told him last night that he needs to start taking responsibility for morning teeth brushing, so he was proud to tell me that he had already brushed his teeth. in my drowsy state, i was a little less than enthusiastic. i practiced with him for 1 minute after he ate some yogurt, and then j came up the stairs, so i headed off to bed. that only meant 30 min or so of sleep, as j usually leaves at 7 when he bikes to work, but every 30 minutes counts.

when j woke me before leaving, it was 7:24, so i guess he did me a favor and drove to work. the kids still had one tv show left to watch, so i told z that i would be on the couch lying down if they needed anything. i know that doesn't win me the mommy of the year award, but the kids were supposedly safe, and i was not 100% asleep.

i got up when i heard the show finishing, and found s freezing because she was all wet. what happened??? z had been squirting water at her, conducting a small indoor water fight, using a syringe that was lying on the counter (with all the medicine being consumed here, they're everywhere). i was so furious!!

after changing s in to dry clothes, z & i had a real practice session, and i was the meanest mommy ever. i don't recommend that sort of practicing, but we actually got a decent amount accomplished. it was so awful.

the rest of the morning continued that way. i had to be sure the kids had a decent amount of food in their stomachs before giving them the antibiotics, but s refused to eat much. food fell on the floor. she put her hands in her oatmeal and then all over me. noses continued to run, and my temper flared. this was the low point of the morning. i meant to just go take a mommy time out in the bathroom, but realized i still needed to shower & get dressed, so i left her in her high chair, playing with play dough. z was there to keep her company. i yelled while running down the stairs, "mommy is going to take a shower. and don't even think about playing with g-d@#$%d water!!!" i never swear in front of them,  but this time it happened. z's ears are all clogged. i'm sure he didn't even hear it anyway, because i've had to repeat every single thing i've said today (also adds to the fun).

eventually, los abuelos arrived, and i took off to do errands i had meant to do yesterday, but i couldn't do due to the sick kids. i went to the bank and tried depositing 13 checks at the atm, but they all got spit back out at me, so i had to go inside to deposit them. when i went to return things at target, i accidentally left one item in the car, so i had to go back out to get it, and then back in the store. next, i went to get some achievement certificates from the teacher store, but only found a small selection, so i made the best decision i could. upon checking out, i asked if that was the whole selection, and they said "oh, no! there are a bunch more right over there!", so i had to stop the transaction and go pick out something else. the whole reason i even went there today is because one of my students was scheduled to play a book recital on saturday, and i needed a certificate to give her. when i returned home, there was a message from the mom asking to reschedule. i could've used that 15 min to go get something to eat.

ugh. nothing this morning is going well. i give up. i'm going to bed. and i'm sure z will wake me up once i fall asleep. 

more sleep, please.

once again, the kids are sick. z was crying yesterday, while i was teaching, complaining of ear pain. my mom came down to get me to see if i knew where the garlic oil drops were (they're good for ear pain). we couldn't find them, so she finally just gave him tylenol, and he perked up. last night, z woke me up at 3:30am, crying and complaining of the same ear pain & a headache, and he had a fever. s woke up numerous times. i took them to the doctor this morning, because z still felt hot and cried from ear pain. he even asked to eat something cold for breakfast instead of his normal oatmeal.

both kids have ear infections. both of z's ears look awful; s is at the beginning of one in one ear, and the other ear is on its way. one of z's tubes is about to fall out - it's not where it should be, and the other is blocked with pus. z & s will have oral antibiotics and z will also have antibiotic ear drops.

despite being sick, z & i still practiced the violin this morning. i returned j's violin, which we were renting, and with the credit from renting the whole year, i purchased a tenth size violin for z, because he has grown! his first one is a sixteenth size. we now own three violins for the family. he played his new violin this morning for the first time (granted, for a short 6 minutes, since he was feeling so awful, and i was so sleepy from waking up so much).

z told me that s can have his smaller violin - very sweet of him. he was also very good in the doctor's office. s was crying a lot from the doctor looking at her ears, and z gave her lots of hugs & said, "it's ok, s, it's ok." he is a good big brother (and the doctor told him so).

one evening, after playing outside, z was really hot, so he wanted to play with less clothes. i thought it was cute.

from this morning - sick kiddos, eating fresh cookies out of the oven.

my violin, z's new violin, and the old violin (i guess s's violin now).

somebody has claimed her new instrument and loves carrying it around!

teething?

this was a busy day. in the morning, we all went to the tiny park to play. z rode his bike, and s rode in the stroller as we explored the new path through the woods. we bought some plants from the library plant sale, and then j, z, & the neighbor kids planted them, while i made lunch. j put the kids down for a nap, while i drove across the city to a meeting in se portland. i came back just in time to teach two group classes. z participated in my first class, and he did a great job! his behavior was wonderful. he's not quite good at putting his violin up in playing position all by himself, but he still got a lot out of the class. kids learn so much from their peers!
s was incredibly fussy this evening. she wouldn't eat dinner, and i finally decided to just try putting her down for the night. we took a shower, i gave her some medicine, nursed her a little, and then she perked up. we went upstairs and watched a little tv with z, and she ate a large amount of the leftover dinner, before i put her down for the night. poor thing. she just woke up. another back 2 year molar has come through, so i'm assuming that's why she wouldn't stop crying.
we all still have colds. weather is still beautiful. j gets the day off before swimming. i'm planning on taking the kids out to lewis & clark state park before sunday school/church, and then lunch/naps before swimming at 4:30. sometime i have to fit in grocery shopping and cooking. yuck. hopefully s won't poop again in her swim diaper. that's what happened last week - it put me in a bad mood for the whole evening.

gangster talk

z was playing with s, pretending to shoot her, and he started talking with part of his mouth pulled over to the side. aside from the pretend gun play, it was pretty amusing, so i thought i'd get a video of him talking that way. i have no idea where he came up with that... most likely from school.

sleepy

we've all been sick with colds here. z even had to have steroids for his croupy cough. it started on saturday. anyway, last night i had to take two benadryl pills to be able to sleep well, and this morning i was really tired. it didn't help that i was up from 4:50-5:20am because s was crying. i slept until j left to bike to work, and was in quite a fog. thankfully, s slept until i woke her up after 8am. one child is always a little less stressful than two. practicing was not the best. i tried lighting a candle at the beginning, with the incentive of blowing it out at the end. this helped marginally. i began having z figure out the first part of twinkle yesterday, and tried to continue on the rest of it today, but he fizzled out. on these tired mornings, i have learned that i need to practice what i preach to my students: the most important thing is reviewing pieces already learned, pieces on the "review" list. i need to begin with them. new pieces can wait. it's not about reaching the end, it's about the process, having something i share with my kids which enables me to develop a close bond.

anyway, after practicing, z told me he wanted to make a puppet. for some reason, in my antihistamine induced haze, i was thinking a puppet was a marionette, something involving strings. i told him to draw something on paper, and then he could cut it out & we could use ribbon or dental floss for the strings. then i realized it would be easier to just use a stuffed animal and tie ribbons to it. THEN i realized a marionette isn't a puppet. did i mention how tired i am? by that time, though, z had drawn something on a piece of paper and HAD TO CUT IT OUT AND MAKE IT INTO A PUPPET. (steroids do not help one's behavior.) so i cut a piece of paper & taped it to the back of his "bee," and he was really happy. here are some pictures from this morning's craziness:

raggedy andy came from s's room

poor, poor raggedy andy

the bee - yes, it is really a bee

bee made into a puppet

what have the kids been doing while i typed this? they've been destroying my couch with a fort. i brought my computer over next to it, because z was shouting at s, "NO! I! SAID! SIT! DOWN! S! CAN'T! YOU! UNDERSTAND! ME!???" sigh. back to reality. time to get ready to head to swimming. is it bedtime yet?