Thanks

Thanks for listening to my venting. I'm better for now. We kind of had it out when I got back from lunch yesterday, so things should be better... for a few weeks at least. LOL

Even More Nerve

I couple of months ago, I wrote about my co-worker who had kept some snickers that were intended for the whole office.

The other day, with some supplies I ordered, the company sent a free gift of some Jelly Belly's and I took them home.

She noticed them listed on the invoice (even though it was a free gift, the still list it on the invoice) and is now throwing a fit because I took them home. Seriously, how hypocritical is that!

Those People

Have you ever met one of "those people" who just have to have conflict in their life? I happen to work with one of those people. And since the city administrator position has not been filled, yet, our small office is even smaller. In the physical office, there are now only 2 of us (although there is a third person who works downstairs), so guess who she is turning her attention to? It's not that she didn't do it to me before, but at least then I had an ally in the office to vent to.

The latest was yesterday when she decided she wanted to be the "Leave Request Police" & tried to make an issue out of the fact that I didn't have a signed leave request for time off from the last pay period. One was a doctors appointment when Caleb had an ear infection, and the other was a court date that had been changed. I would like to point out that I did use sick & comp time for those absences (and it is documented on my timecard), so it is not like I paid myself for it. Second of all, she is just supposed to be checking payroll for errors until the new administrator is hired. (which does not bother me at all, since I am the one who does payroll, I like there to be an extra set of eyes so everybody knows I'm not paying myself any extra).

Nowhere in the assignment of duties does it say she is supposed to check for leave requests, and unless I am taking a whole day off, a lot of times I don't write one up...there are only 2 of us, as long as it is on the calendar so we know when the other will be gone, who cares? I guarantee that the mayor (who does not have an office here, since we are such a small town, he has a full time job elsewhere) does not want us to be bugging him for every half hour that we are gone! Especially if it is already over, like the doctors appointment. Besides that, the council has made it very clear that NOBODY has been made a supervisor in the interim, no matter how much she wants to be the office manager.

Okay, I'm better now that I've vented. I really do try to not let her affect me, but it is really hard sometimes! It has gotten to the point that I am really not enjoying my job very much. Which then makes me wonder why should I stay somewhere where I'm not happy. I am actually planning to submit a proposal to the council requesting to change my position to a flexible/telecommuting position and then they can hire a part timer for the misc. office stuff I do that is not at all related to the accounting for the city. That idea is sounding more & more appealing every day!

PS Meg, yes I can vent about work here. First of all, she does not even know about this blog, and to be honest, I don't care if she does read it. Maybe it would help her see what it is like to work with her.

The amazing vacuum

Somehow, I don't think Caleb & Amata will be as enthralled with the vacuum cleaner when the actually get old enough to use it. But for now, they for some reason find it extremely fun!

It's kind of humorous, actually, because when the vacuum is actually turned on, Caleb runs away from it because he doesn't like the noise.

Baylee does not see the excitement of it quite yet.

I am now "Mom"

I went home for lunch today & when I walked in the door, Tyler said, "Hi Mom."

That might sound normal to most people, but until now, he has always referred to me as "mommy". I realize he is probably getting a little old for that, but with the babies around we have still just always been referred to as mommy & daddy.

So, I said, "Hi, son."

And he said, "No, that's what I'm going to call you from now on."

I knew this day was coming, really I did. To be honest, I thought it would have come before now, although I did hear one of his friends refer to his mom as "mommy" within the last year, too, so I wasn't going to push it. But now that it's hear, it makes him seem so much older. (Which some might say means I would seem older, too, and I'm not ready for that yet.)

I'm sure, now, that Cameron will start calling me "mom", too.

Big Time Brownie Points

I was in Rochester today at a seminar, which meant I was also in a larger town that had a mall, a Saver's, a Toy R Us, and, I was told, another upscale consignment store and I didn't have any kids with me!

Normally, this would mean I would get to do some shopping while I was there. Shopping ALL BY MYSELF! I rarely get to go shopping by myself, unless you mean grocery shopping at WalMart, and even then I usually have at least one with me.

However, it was Thursday, which meant Tyler had a baseball game at 6. Plus, the interstate was closed (some silly reason like the road being under water - really, that's what the sign said.), so I had to take a detour, which meant a longer drive.

It was a tough decision, but in the end I only went to one store (Saver's...the store that started my obsession with thrift & consignment stores almost 14 years ago) and only shopped for 45 minutes - I could easily spend an hour & a half or more at Saver's. With the detour, I made it to the baseball field with 5 whole minutes to spare. Maybe someday Tyler will appreciate the sacrifices I make for him.

Baseball

The baseball season has begun. I really like the program they offer in our community. The community rec program goes from age 4 through 6th grade. There are no try-outs, everybody plays. In the pee-wee t-ball program, everybody bats, everybody runs the bases & everybody gets to play in the field every inning.

Beginning in 3rd grade, they move up to a pitching machine, and there are 3 outs & 7 run rule, but everybody is in the line-up & although some kids may have to sit on the bench when there are more than 10 kids, every inning they switch positions so everybody still has equal playing time.

In 5th & 6th grade, they advance to the kids actually pitching, but everything else is the same. These games can get a little long, because there end up being a lot of walks, but it is still a fun experience for the kids.

I think my favorite part about this program is that everyone has a very positive attitude. In the 8 years Tyler has been involved, I have only heard one negative comment. It was a kid who said something to the effect that somebody always strikes out. The coach heard him and informed the child that if he ever made a comment like that again he would be sitting on the bench because that attitude is not being a team player.

The only thing I don't like about it is that the games are played on Tuesday & Thursday nights, which means we miss Hell's Kitchen, and possibly Survivor depending on the year.

Cameron has not played baseball since he got hit with a ball a few years ago, but Tyler goes out every year. He's not bad, if I do say so myself. Last night he had a walk, a run & a strike out. (Of course by this age the boys "have" to have the baseball pants, because everybody else does.)

He was put in the outfield for this game, though, which he finds pretty boring. The last couple of years he played at 2nd base, which he does well at. Hopefully the coach will switch it up next time.

Caleb did not appear to be enjoying it very much at first. Which was odd, because he usually loves to watch baseball.

But once he & Cameron moved a little closer to the action he warmed up.

Amata & Baylee had a good time, although they were not real interested in the actual game. Not when there is grass to eat & pictures of themselves to look at on the camera. (A girls got to have priorities)

Genetics

Sometimes I just have to feel a little sorry for Cameron. In some ways, he & Tyler are a lot alike. But when it comes to genetics, Cameron seems to have gotten the short end of the stick.

Cameron went to the pool yesterday with a friend of his and forgot to put on sunscreen. When he got home his back & shoulders were pretty burnt. He got that fair skin from me. I can be in the sun for 5 minutes & turn pink. Tyler on the other hand, got Chris skin tone, I honestly don't remember a time when that boy had a sunburn, and I really don't think he uses sunscreen very often.

Tyler also got strait teeth & normal sized feet. Poor Cameron got my fat feet & Chris' teeth. At least the teeth can be straightened later on.

Tyler is the natural athlete and does very well in school with not much effort. Cameron is creative and although he does well in school, he has to work a lot harder at it.

Sometimes life is just not fair!

Poor little guy

When my kids are not feeling well, I tend to be a little more lenient on what they eat or if they want their ni-night blankies or bears with them all day long. I figure, if they feel like crap, they should be able to eat what sounds good to them & lay down watching TV all day if that's what they want. (Luckily, none of them have asked for candy all day when their sick, because I think I might have to veto that one).

Since Caleb had a reaction to amoxicillin last time, the doctor put him on a different antibiotic this time, which did not seem to work quite as fast. Usually as soon as they've had a days worth of amoxicillin, they are already feeling better. The stuff she gave him this time was some white medicine that smells like grape, but I really have no clue what it's called. I never bothered to look, because I'm a good mom like that & pay absolutely no attention to what I'm putting in their bodies (At least I paid enough attention to know it smelled like grape, right?).

This stuff took a little longer to kick in, so we had 2 1/2 really bad days when Caleb would hardly eat anything. He didn't even drink much milk, unless we put it in a baby bottle, which I totally did because he just looked to pathetic I just couldn't make him drink it from his cup. We still tried to give him dinner, but he just didn't have much interest...except for the Natural Cheetos. He ate those almost exclusively for 2 days. I don't feel too bad, though, because they were NATURAL Cheetos - no artificial colors or flavors, and I think they are even baked, so they are totally healthy.

It was nice to see, though, that although he was still not feeling up to par, he did still have occasional bursts of energy which he typically used to tease his sister. These are her shorts that I wouldn't let her wear because she was supposed to be getting her PJs on.

Party Girl

Amata was very excited about going to the wedding & reception. She wanted to see the Princess and she wanted to go to the party & dance. This little girl LOVES to dance!

She was a little disappointed at the wedding because the princess was so far away. But, at the reception, she got to see her up close. When the bride walked to the other side of the entry, Amata was frantically trying to see where she went so she could continue to stare at the Princess. However, I did not have the camera just then, so I don't even have a decent picture of the bride (Sorry Chelsea!)

She had her "dancing dress" on through dinner, but after she went swimming, she put on her shorts instead. But I think she's pretty cute no matter what she's wearing.

Amata really enjoyed the Hokey Pokey & the chicken dance, she wasn't half bad at them either, considering she had never seen those dances before.

For some reason, she was a little shy with the Bride Princess, because she didn't try to dance with her at all. But she did manage to dance with the Princesses in the blue dresses. (Thank you, Joan & Darcie!)

She also got to dance with the Prince (aka the groom) so she was in 7th heaven!

The first time she danced with the groom everyone was just on the dance floor in a circle around the groom.

The second time was during the dollar dance. However, Chris was back in the room & I didn't have any cash with me. So my sisters & I told her to go ask grandpa for a dollar. I can't tell you how upset I was that I didn't have the camera ready at this time. Amata walked over to grandpa, held out her hand & said, "Grandpa, I need a dollar." How could anyone refuse those big brown eyes?

If you look close, you can see the back of the bride in that picture. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the front of her!

After the dollar dance, she still had plenty of energy! She was dancing with one of the Princesses and wore her out (this particular princess runs marathons!), so that princess recruited a handsome little blond boy to dance with.

Amata managed to wear him out, too, so Auntie Meggie danced with her for a little while.

It is possible that she had a little extra energy from the 4 boxes of candy she stole from other tables. If you look close, the 4 empty boxed are sitting on the chair in between her legs.

She did sit down and talk to grandpa for a while, however, with the music, her 3 year old vocabulary and her soft voice I'm pretty sure he didn't catch the majority of what she was saying. Luckily, that didn't concern her at all.(Ironically, her voice is only that soft when she is talking to somebody, otherwise, she tends to have a very loud voice when she is singing or playing)

Baylee had fun too, she especially enjoyed the YMCA dance. She also enjoyed hanging out with Auntie Marnee.

Caleb had fun playing ball during dinner. He wasn't so impressed with Auntie Meggie's catching ability, though (Love ya, Meg) but luckily Tyler & Cameron went over to help her out.

Maybe "helping" isn't quite the right word.

However, shortly after dinner, he wasn't enjoying it so much, and went to the room shortly after this picture.

Once the girls got back to the room, Amata crashed within about 30 seconds of laying her head down. All that partying really wears a girl out!

Packing

My 2 oldest boys have been responsible for packing their own clothes when we go out of town for years. I tell them what they need to pack, they go pack, & then when they bring their bags down, I review what they were supposed to pack. That has worked out pretty well for us so far.

We did the same routine for the wedding this weekend. I told them both they needed to pack for one night, including shirt, shorts, underwear, pj's, swimming suit, nice clothes for the wedding, nice shoes for the wedding, & their toothbrushes.

They actually had both been invited to sleepovers the night before the wedding, so Chris picked them up in the morning so they could make sure they packed everything they needed. (Side note, we really need to plan better to ensure the boys are not both gone on the same nights, that was a lot of work taking care of the 3 babies with only Chris & I!) During this time, Cameron realized he didn't have his toothbrush, and Tyler decided it would be a good time to clarify what clothes would be considered "nice" for the wedding.

I told Tyler that he could wear shorts, but not jean shorts. I told him the white checkered shorts he got from Old Navy would be good, with a nice blue shirt. However, I wasn't specific enough on that one. He did bring a nice blue shirt, with stripes. It did not look so good with the checkered shorts, so he ended up wearing jean shorts. Cameron put on the shirt he brought to discover it was too small, luckily he had a jacket to go with it, but it was pretty warm out.

We needed to stop at WalMart anyway, because Chris forgot his swimming suit & we needed powdered formula for Baylee, so I found each of them an inexpensive shirt to wear to the reception. Once we got back to the hotel, Tyler realized he had forgotten clothes for the next day. Then when they went swimming, Cameron discovered he didn't have his swimming suit.

Both of those were items that I specifically asked them before we left the house. When I asked them if they had packed those items, they both stated yes! And, yet, since their father also forgot his swimming trunks, it was kind of hard to get upset with the boys.

The babies & I all had everything we needed, including snacks, because when you are dealing with a 1 & 3 year old, you can't have too many snacks. (The formula didn't count because we didn't have any powdered formula at home for me to have packed, plus WalMart had the formula on clearance for $5.00 a can!!! I bought 3!) In fact the babies all had 4 outfits packed because do you know how fast they can pee through their clothes?! I also had at least 12 diapers/pull-ups for each of them. That may sound like a lot, but that is what I always pack for them, and I have run out while we were away before! (See the previous entry on Diarrhea while we're out of town)

It Never Fails

We had an out of town wedding this weekend. I am seriously not exaggerating when I say then every time we stay somewhere overnight one of our kids ends up sick, either colds, ear aches, stomach aches, diarrhea, you name it, we've had it.

We thought we were prepared this time, we even got 2 hotel rooms so that Caleb & Baylee would have separate rooms & not keep each other awake and I remembered the baby Tylenol and ear numbing drops. We made it through the wedding just fine, and dinner. Caleb started to get a little crabby at the reception, but we just figured he was tired.

After dinner, the older boys & Amata went to check out the pool while Caleb & Baylee took a quick snooze. Chris brought Amata back for the dance (pictures of that coming soon) and took Caleb up to the room that the older boys were in. (Cameron also claimed he didn't feel well, but I think it was more a matter of he & Tyler wanting to hang out in the room.) Chris did come down to the reception a couple of times, but for the most part, he also ended up spending most of the evening in the room with Caleb.

Us girls, however, were the party animals. We stayed at the reception until 10:15! (Sad, but true, 10:15 really is a late night for me.) Within a half an hour of getting to the "girls" room, both Amata & Baylee were asleep. Baylee did wake up again around 1, but I just brought her to be with Amata & I and we all slept until after 7. Chris brought Caleb over to our room shortly after so he didn't wake up the boys. I guess Caleb hadn't slept well all night. (Boy, was I glad I got to sleep in the girl's room!)

The drive home was about 3 hours long, although we did stop on the way to see Jared (the last foster child we had who is in a group home for now). Caleb was pretty crabby for the whole ride, and during lunch at Pizza Hut with Jared. I felt kind of bad since we didn't spend a lot of time with Jared because of that, we were back on the road within about 1 1/2 hours. I did tell Jared we would try to go up again soon and spend more time there.

He was still crabby when we got home, he would tug at his ear a little, but we weren't sure if that was just because he had been laying on that ear. He also had his finger in his mouth constantly, so we thought maybe it was a tooth. I tried to put some Ambesol on it, but he bit me! So, instead, I put the Ambesol on his finger since it was always in his mouth anyway.

We thought we were going to be in for a rough night, but it actually wasn't too bad. I sat up with him until about 11, but then once he was snoring & I laid him in his bed he actually slept through the night. But he was still crabby this morning so I took him into the doctor. Because he's been so crabby, he screamed while we were in the office. It was really hard to tell if his ears were infected since they were red from his screaming! But she said there was some reflux she should have seen that wasn't there, so she was pretty sure it was infected.

Last time he had an ear infection, he got a rash from the Amoxicillin, so she decided to try something else. I'm hoping it is just a coincidence, because I noticed when I changed his diaper it looked like there might be another rash starting. I'm going to give it until tomorrow to see if it gets any worse. I really don't know what they do if he ends up allergic to penicillin. I've never actually had a child allergic to anything before.

But I'm trying to think positively. He was still pretty crabby tonight even after he had his first dose around 11 this morning, but hopefully by tomorrow he will feel much better, and hopefully there will be no rash!