What TIRED looks like

We left Alaska on a 9:30 pm flight to Minneapolis. We arrived at 6:30 am and didn't get back to Cancun until 1 in the afternoon. As I kept trying to sleep upright and mostly failing I just kept dreaming of my nice soft bed and saying to myself, "only 3 more hours," "only 2 more hours," "only 1 more hour." 

We were tired.

Jackson didn't even care he was resting his head on the dog kennel.

Photos from our adventures up North shortly, I'm still catching up on sleep.

Dog Puke = Not fun, but kind of funny

Last week my puppy was sick. Like, both ends sick. So, after cleaning up more bodily waste than I really cared to I took her to the vet with the maid in tow so she could help me talk to the veterinarian in Spanish and explain the symptoms, etc. 

We took precautions for the car; a towel, some bags and a rag. Evidently those things don't work if the dog is leaning up on the console when she decides to puke though. She ended up chucking all over the front passenger seat and, you guessed it, all over the maid, who was sitting in the passenger seat. I don't know why it makes me giggle since it wasn't funny at the time, it was pretty gross, but now when I think about it I just can't help it.

Maho ended up with a diagnosis of a kidney infection, so she got electrolytes, and nutritional supplements instead of dog food and water. The silly thing is that those first 24 hours she had to have the electrolytes and supplements in 5 and 10 mL doses.

This is how we administered the food.

She is now on the mend and back to her regular food, but it was kind of funny feeding her with a syringe. She actually was pretty good at it!

Hieroglyphics

As you all know, I am working out with a trainer 5 days a week. She speaks Spanish and I do not. It hasn't been much of a problem because when we're in the gym she can show me exactly what to do by example (and I do understand a lot of what she is saying, I just can't put together a coherent thought back to her). However, I am going on vacation this Thursday for 2 weeks and I want to keep the momentum up so I asked her to write me a workout plan for the weeks I am gone.

Except I didn't really think about HOW she would write me up a plan and how I would understand it once I was looking at it at the gym in Alaska.

Have no fear, this is what I received today along with a long explanation in Spanish:

When all else fails in communication, I've learned this: pointing and drawing, just like cavemen, can go a long way.

Oh My Eyes!

Dear Man-I-Saw-Jogging-The-Hotel-Zone-In-Just-A-Speedo-And-Long-T-Shirt-This-Morning,

Don't do that.

Thank you.

Mom of 3/Mom of 1

I don't remember what it was like to only have one kid. Sure, I DID only have one kid at one time. But then by the time she was 2 months old I already had another one on the way. Ella didn't get what you'd call my undivided attention for very long. She turned one and 6 days later another kid shows up and ruins the "mommy and me" time. My point is that I don't really recall what it was like to look after the needs of just one child...only one mouth to complain that they didn't like what we were having for dinner, one person trying to cram into our bed at night, one person to clean up after, etc.

This weekend gave me a glimpse into that world.

Ella and Jackson had arranged to sleep over at a friend's house for Friday night. This meant they would go home from school with said friend, so really the last time I saw them was 7:00 Friday morning. I picked up Kaley Friday afternoon and hyped up the whole "just me and you and Daddy" thing so that she wouldn't feel left out. We went home and hung out, she got to watch tv without being dictated to that The Suite Life of Zach and Cody or Wizards of Waverly Place was what would be on (like she normally is). We thought about going out to eat, but since Maho's obedience instructor was coming by at 8:30 Patrick didn't want to go out and be rushed, so we ordered pizza and chilled.

Saturday morning I woke at 5:30 with the dog as usual and Kaley wasn't far behind me. I surfed the internet and she just lounged with her head leaning against me, content with her blanket until about 7. We decided to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast and it was nice not to have kids clamoring over each other trying to "help" me. Once Patrick woke up he and Kaley went to the pool for a little while and then to the quick mart to get some drinks and we ate tacos for lunch. No arguing over what to have to eat=bliss. On the agenda? Lounging around for me while Kaley quietly played Barbies in her room. More lounging around for me while Kaley took a nap. Later, Patrick took us to a fancy dinner. And with one kid? People we smiling at us at how well behaved our child was. 

And no I didn't forget to pick up my other children. I got a phone call from the friend's mom Saturday about noon asking if they could stay 2 more nights (no school on Monday). I agreed to one more night and suddenly I had another 24 hours to pretend I was nice, calm mom of 1 instead of screaming, crazy mom of 3. Nice.

Sunday we ventured out to a new beach. It was fun since we took Maho and she loves to run around and dig in the sand. She swam some too, but the waves were kind of rough. Kaley was loving all the alone time, but soon she started asking when Ella and Jackson were going to be done with their sleepover. I had to admit, I was starting to miss them a little too. But only a little. After the beach we sat around doing nothing and then did a little more of doing nothing. I still hadn't heard from the kids at around 6 p.m so I called and said I had to do a little grocery shopping and then I would be by to pick them up. 

By 8:30 I was back to having 3 kids again. All told, I had about 58 hours of Me (well and Kaley) time. It was nice to get back to caring for just one kid, it allowed me to really focus on Kaley who often times gets swept up in the flow of 2 older siblings.

Today? Gone are the nice quiet afternoons free of bickering and constant calls of "Mama, so-and-so hit me" but you know what? Good, bad or just plain frustrating, it just isn't the same without all the commotion that 3 kids bring.

Week in Review

I haven't been good at updating lately, so I'll make up for a week in one post.

It has been a weird week for us. Did you know Daylight Savings does not go into effect for Mexico until April 5? So we are not trying to catch up on sleep, but some things have gotten out of whack. I mentioned before that we have Dish Network, so our television programming is out of Atlanta (and also San Diego) which is great because we are getting American programming. It is not so great due to Daylight Savings Time. All the primetime shows are starting at 6. Since I don't get home from taking Ella to her tutor until 6:30 and then have to make dinner, this is not boding well for my American Idol (and Dancing with the Stars) viewing. The bright side: At least I can watch the West Coast showing at 9. How I wish we had DVR, but apparently it hasn't made it south of the border yet. 

In other news, Kaley and Jackson had their own Mini-Olympics on Saturday. It was a little different from Ella's. It was more like an obstacle course than separate "events" but they still had a lot of fun and everyone got medals at the end.

Maho is still establishing her place in the family. She can now jump up on the couch/ottomon and she gets a little jealous when one of the kids is in "her" spot leaning right up against me!! She will climb over the kids, pushing and annoying them until they move and she can lounge right next to me. She has also learned that food is up on the table and I found her on top of the kitchen table cleaning off the kids plates last night after I had gone into my bedroom for a few minutes. Naughty, naughty puppy. She started some obedience training this week, so she is working on walking properly on a leash, sitting and staying and not jumping on new people.

I also recently realized that she has two different shaped ears. One is long and floppy and one is short and roundy. You can kind of tell in the photo below.

Tuesday afternoon when I picked Kaley up from school she was in the nurses office sleeping and her teacher said she had been complaining that her tummy hurt. She milked that for all it was worth and stayed home from school yesterday. I did make her practice writing letters in a pan of lotion, so it was messy fun. She doesn't look sick, does she?? (can you read what she wrote? I {heart} U Mom)

Do you hear what I hear?

Heard around my house in the past few days:

Ella opening refrigerator and saying, "Oh good, Daddy didn't find that Oatmeal Creme Pie that I hid." 

See, having Patrick around is making my kids learn important survival skills, like if you like something that Daddy also likes and you want it for later you better eat it now or hide it good.

Jackson wandering in from the living room saying, "Mom, do you know what SkinID is?" Obviously they are now showing acne commercials on Cartoon Network. "No Jackson, what is it?" "It's this stuff that you put on your face and then it washes all your freckles off." Hmm, good thing the commercials are targeting 6 year olds cause, you know, they really understand the product.

Ella calling to Kaley: "Hey, Mini-Me come here"

Kaley: "My name's not Mini-Me, it's Kaley"

Ella: "Well, from now on I'm calling you Mini-Me"

So there. Not sure where she got the idea to call Kaley Mini-Me, but it is kind of entertaining.

Jackson returning from a solo trip to the bathroom in the grocery store that had taken entirely too long and had prompted me to start worrying a little bit. "Hey Ella, guess what? I had a WON-derful time." (In the bathroom?) "I went through all the toy aisles." Ah-ha! What was that I said about coming RIGHT BACK??

Jackson: "That was the worstest challenge we had to do"

Ella: "Jackson it wasn't the worst"

Jackson: "Oh, my bad, I mean hardest"

MY BAD?? Good lord when did my 6 year old start saying slang?

Kaley (all exaggerated and self important): "Duh, I told you the crayons were in the backseat." Okay and the 4 year old is on the slang-wagon too.