Just wait until you are a teen

They say the best pay back is to do to your kids, when they are teens, the same things they did to you as small children. I decided it would be a good idea to keep a list to remind myself in 10-12 years of what each kid gets. Because payback sucks. Bah ha ha ha

Wyatt has a knack for waking us in the middle of the night ... screaming ... from his bedroom ... upstairs. It's such a lovely way to wake up. It's never anything horribly important. He's not scared and didn't have a bad dream. He is just to lazy to pull the blanket up on his own. Or he wants a drink. Or he had a dream about the wind blower (manure spreader) that he needs to share with someone NOW! So this is my plan.

1. I am going to sneak upstairs at 3 am. I am going to stand next to his bed and scream at the top of my lungs "I WANT CHOCOLATE MILK!"

2. I will save the baby monitors we have and hide one under his bed. Again sometime around 3 am I will turn that bad boy on and yell into the baby monitor "WYATT WHERE IS MY BLANKET?! CAN YOU COME COVER ME UP?!"

3. This again requires me to sneak into his bedroom in the middle of the night and stand next to him. I will get close to his face and whisper "Wyatt? Wyatt are you awake?" over and over again until he does in fact wake up. Once he wakes and darn near craps himself I will inform him that I need to pee.

4. Any time I am eating something crumbly like biscuits I will randomly walk up to Adelia and sneeze. Then I will innocently walk away as if I didn't just cover her in wet mommy snot.

5. I will randomly stand in front of the TV during video game play. Waiting of course until they are fully engrossed in a boss show down so intense I risk having to replace the couch cushion. Because they are totally gonna crap themselves when I wander past.

6. I am going to open doors, cabinets, the dishwasher or maybe the fridge. Then I am going to stand next to the open door screaming for someone else to come close it for me.

7. Any and all bathroom breaks run the risk of me standing outside the door yelling "What are you doing in there?" or "Are you pooping?" or "Did you pee in the potty? Big girls pee in the potty right?"

8. All naps will be interrupted by me standing over them crumpling a pack of fruit snacks and yelling "I CAN'T GET THEM OPEN!"

9. I have just three words. RANDOM WET SPOTS. Walking through their bedrooms will be like walking through a mine field of delights. Wet squishy delights.

10. I am going to hide every remote they hold dear to them. TV ... radio ... Xbox ... doesn't matter what it controls. I am going to hide it in the most random spots and watch them squirm. How much you wanna bet they just give up and watch/listen to what is on instead of actually finding the remote?

They are still young so I am sure I will have plenty to add to the list by the time Wyatt, Adelia and Annalise are Bryan's age. But until then I wait and plot and mwuah ha ha ha!

Come and sit and chat with me.

Grab a cup of coffee ... or Redbull as it seems to be these days ... let's sit and get caught up.

Ethan and I are still married. Yeah buddy! It will be 8 years this summer and 13 years total together last month. The road has been rocky some years and smooth as glass other years. Life with four kids means you have to work extra hard to make it work but it is as always totally worth it. Even if my partner in crime is a bit pinchy and leaves Pepsi cans on the side table.

Bryan will be 16 this summer. Holy crap! He has his permit and is allowed to drive with a licensed adult. Bryan gets straight A's in school and with the exception of this year rarely misses a day. (This year has been full of births, deaths and snow days) He is still addicted to World of Warcraft. Which is fine with us so long as his grades stay up and his chores get done. Bryan is a pretty awesome big brother and has been a huge help during all the chaos of the last year.

Wyatt is my almost 4 year old wild man. Just ... just ... just so wild. It doesn't help that it has been a horrible winter and he has been cooped up for months. Wyatt is smart as a whip and made of pure muscle. He is a farm kid to the core. Wyatt wants to be no place else but outside doing chores with daddy and grandpa. He has a fever disorder called PFAPA and as I write this he sits next to me feeling a hair to warm again. Wyatt will spike a fever for no apparent reason every 2-4 weeks. As soon as he hits 102 degrees we have a medication to give him that smacks his immune system back into reality and It calms down again. Wyatt is fatigued but 95% better in 2-3 hours with medication instead of the 4-5 days with out medication. He should grow out of it by the time he enters school. Fingers crossed or this could mean a lot of missed school days. He is a good kid with a ridiculous amount of energy. If I had half of it this house would be spotless at all times.

Adelia my beautiful little princess celebrated her first birthday in January ... by becoming a big sister. Ya more on that later. Adelia is a spit fire and I love it! She is really starting to show this amazingly strong and sassy spirit that would make her grandmother so proud of her. She is already barreling across the room at top speed. The very recent backwards walking is cool. However the side walking is rather creepy. It doesn't help that she stares silently into your soul as she does it. Adelia is starting to talk and actually ask for things. Mama, dada, grandpa, and even the dogs (Coco and Bobo) are being called by their proper name. She just started saying baba when she wants milk and she is sooooooo close to saying Anna when talking about her sister. Sadly Bryan and Wyatt just get pointed at. Although I think she called Bryan bubba the other day. But then again she may just have been asking for her milk.

Annalise my amazingly full head of hair from the get go little lady. She ... well ...  Annalise was a surprise bonus baby. We celebrated Adelia turning 4 months old by going to Shopko to pick up several pregnancies tests. Because there is no way in hell I could be pregnant again. I mean I am still pumping. I am on the birth control pill. I JUST went back to work. This test must be broken. HA! My "I'm just gonna take a test to make me feel better" test turned positive before I even set it down on the bathroom counter. Not gonna lie. Back to back pregnancies is not easy. I spent the first four months terrified that my far to fresh c-section scar was going to bust open any second. Then the last four months ready for this baby to come out because who wants to be pregnant or nursing for two years straight! Yes I know that is only eight months but all four of my babies came out at 37 weeks. So month nine never lasted more then a week for me ever. The good news is despite blood pressure issues again (Adelia's birth was a semi emergency c- section due to high blood pressure) Annalise's birth went well and my recovery was cake. Annalise has had a few issues out of the gate. She has a mild hearing loss in her left ear. We are still testing to see if that hearing loss is temporary or permanent. Either way her right ear is perfect so she still hears well. Which is almost a  disadvantage considering how loud her father and siblings are. Annalise had a positive test on her newborn screening. If you know Wyatt's story with the new born screening you know that that phone call from the hospital almost made me vomit. When the nurse announced that the positive test was for hypothyroidism I laughed. I went from head in my hands trying not to puke to laughing out loud. Is that all? I have that. No big deal! It was a little bit of a big deal when it came time to draw blood from my newborn. It took MANY blood draws to get what they needed. They are starting to joke about how many of the tiny rubber ducks they hand out to the kids they poke she will have by her first birthday. Thankfully it seems like we have the right dosage of synthroid for her but it still might need a few tweaks as time goes on. Annalise will have her blood drawn every three months until she is three years old. Then they will take her off the synthroid and see what happens. If her thyroid takes over on it's own then she can stay off the medication and need fewer checks on her TSH. If not then back on the medication she goes for most likely the rest of her life. Either way we have a simple solution that is working well for us. Annalise is  beautiful and starting to smile and coo like a pro. Now if i could only get her to sleep at night.

Then there is me. I am still home on maternity leave. My second unpaid leave in one year. There is no way I can go back to work five days a week like I was. What the heck am I going to do with three kids under the age of 4 five days a week? So I have some negotiating to do with work and some researching on how to make money at home. Looks like I will be back to eBay. Which is fine considering the amount of baby stuff we will be getting rid of as Annalise out grows it. In the men time I am going to keep vlogging in YouTube and blogging here. Maybe I have a book in me. We will just have to see what happens.

Are you out of coffee? No problem. I got a Costco sized box of k-cups downstairs and my keurig is fired up and ready to pour.

Back in the saddle ... or at least that is my hope.

It's been a few years since I have blogged. I admit I have been doing more vlogging then anything else lately. I have established what I consider a pretty decent channel on Youtube. You can see it right ......................
here https://www.youtube.com/user/Amy3Lynn3

I have been vlogging on all things TTC, infertility, pregnancy and parenting. I have a couple of pretty good videos on exclusively pumping.
The original video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJXDGg8LonI&feature=share

and here is the updated 2014 version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAlZd5A-hkg&feature=share&list=UUkb4CjUcvpEAqlPe7ILjLIw

As much as I love vlogging it requires me to comb my hair, put on some makeup and the most important part put on a bra. Who wants to wear a bra when they don't have to? Pants aren't my favorite either. So I thought what the heck. I might as well get back into it here. I can write and share like I used to. I loved doing that and I can do it sans bra with no one ever knowing. Though I am pretty sure from now on you guys are going to be assuming I don't have a bra on when reading this ... or possibly pants. You are welcome for that image. HA!

Not yet a go

1 ... 2 ... wait ... what ... I haven't made it to 3 yet ... I didn't even get to say go!?!?!


As usual life got in the way and I didn't get started on my FlyLady project. In my defense it was the baby and not my laziness. The baby is teething ... again. And when he teethes it is brutal! He seems to be doing better this morning. Now if only he would let me look inside his mouth to see if those darn canine teeth finally broke through. Or if I should just keep a steady stream of ibuprofen in him. LOL

Tomorrow I am off to my new job for my first day on the floor. So I guess we will see how much I can get done before it is time to head to work. Unless the baby is not well again. Then I will spend the morning in the chair being drooled on ... again.

Gonna try to fly!

I am going to try to fly again. No I don't mean in a plane or anything. Do you have any idea how long it took me to get up the nerve to drive a car?!

I am going to try the FlyLady plan ... again. I started it once a very long time ago. I did well for a couple of weeks. I don't really remember why it fell apart and I stopped doing it. But I am on it again. I have the book on my Kindle. (My new favorite way to read) For those of you who don't know what I am talking about I will clue you in a little bit. Because I only remember a little bit. LOL

Basically my house is out of control and we need to get organized and clean. It is hard to do with a very high energy almost toddler crawling around and getting into EVERYTHING! Plus with all my former work drama I just have not had the time, energy, interest or mental stamina to get anything done around here.

So we are now living in what the FlyLady calls CHAOS. Which means "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome". Live there? I am the queen of there! And with a little Mr. somebody closing in on his first birthday I can't even begin to think about having people here for his party. Not that I have his party planned yet. Because I have no idea what weekend I am working!

So anyway I am at it again. I am hoping it will help get us organized, the house clean, a better level of baby-proofing and the opportunity to have friends and family over when ever we want. With out scrambling to pick the dirty underwear off the bathroom floor before some one has to pee. Plus it is just nice to sleep in a sweet smelling house with out fear of tripping over a toy that will kill you on your way to a midnight tinkle.


If you are interested in learning how to fly here is a link to the website.
http://www.flylady.net/

I also recommend her book Sink Reflections. It is a great resource when you need to make a quick check to make sure you are on goal and you don't want to boot up the computer. You can get both a hard copy or ebook style. Like I said I am enjoying mine on my Kindle.

Moving on up!

At least I hope I moved up in the world. LOL Yesterday was my last day at the job I held for 8 years. It was a good job .... once upon a time. I used to love what I did. But situations change. Good staff leave. Crappy staff show up and DON'T LEAVE. You but heads with your boss. The perks that used to make the job worth doing have been taken away. It's not because I didn't love the actual job. I just couldn't stay where I wasn't happy. I don't want clean house. I don't want to wash dishes. I don't want to wash clothes. If they aren't in my house from my family I don't want to clean up the messes. I want to take care of people. So it was time to move on.

I thought I would feel more last night. Some intense feeling of sadness or joy. But I didn't really feel anything. I don't know if it has not hit me yet. Or maybe because I have had one foot out the door since my maternity leave it just doesn't upset me like I thought it would. I am still on call and can work when ever I want. So I am not totally gone. I just kind of feel meh.

I am nervous for the new job. Mostly because it is new and change is hard. I worry I won't like it or won't be good at it. I am sure these are feelings we all go through when starting a new job. It just has been so long since I had a new job I don't remember anymore! LOL So hopefully this will be a positive change.

Dental Anxiety

I made it through another dentist appointment. I have had a lot lately. I have crappy teeth. Today they finished up the root canal that was started 2 weeks ago. The tooth has been filled now and eventually I will need a crown. But for now it is good to go.

I don't usually have problems with anxiety when it comes to the dentist. Unless you count the anxiety that comes with paying the bill! LOL But the last couple of things I have had done have required a lot of Novocaine to thoroughly numb me up to do the work that I needed. The only pain I feel is those stupid needles and a mild soreness in my jaw when all is said and done.

The hard part for me has been the numbness. This would be why I used to have my fillings done with out Novocaine. My tongue and pretty much the entire side of my mouth goes numb. Which is good of course. But I start to have problems with swallowing. I can swallow but it feels like I can't move my tongue, lips and cheek. Sometimes it feels like my tongue falls back and I can't pull it forward to either swallow or to breath. I know logically that I am fine. But I start to panic. The longer it takes for me to move my tongue the more I panic. Then of course it takes me a bit to get myself settled back down.

Anxiety is hard enough to deal with in private. But it is insane when you have two people hovering over you with their fingers in your mouth. Part of me wants to sit up and hyperventilate a bit. But most of me just wants to hang on and get through it. Because if I ask them to stop I have two problems. First of all I have to try and explain to them that I am not in pain but am instead having a panic attack. And second it would just make things take that much longer to finish up so I can get out of there.

So I did my best to suck it up and get through. I focused on the writing on the center piece of the light above me. I did my deep breathing. Which was difficult at one point when the rubber thingy got pushed to high and covered my nose just has I was breathing in. I repeated to myself over and over again in my head that I was fine. I could breath. I could swallow. I just needed to stay calm. My jaw did not hurt from going ahhhhhhhhhhhh for what felt like forever. (Yeah right! It was totally killing me!) It only took an hour to do the work. My dentist admitted that it was more difficult than he had thought it would be. (It is difficult to push away the panic when you can see your dentist shaking his head as he works.) But I got through it.

I am home now. The baby is sleeping. The numbness has worn off. I think I can finally have some lunch. WOOT WOOT! I am starving. And I am happy to be able to say I conquered yet another anxiety threat and avoided a full on panic attack. I still struggle from time to time but I have the tools and I am getting better. And I have been able to do it with out medication which means a lot to me. I am happy for that.