California!

So...
Cali was an adventure.

For starters, there was something in the air there and it really stunk. Farm animals. Cows. Cow crap. MMMOOOOO!! That stuff that gets into your nostrils and hangs around in there, until you think you would rather die than actually inhale one more time! My body agreed with my brain - so much so that my throat and chest refused oxygen, which led to a fun trip in a hospital on wheels, getting stuck in the hand with an IV on the way, and waiting around on an emergency room gurney after taking breathing treatments and steroid meds that left me so shaky I thought the Earth was quaking, not just me!

Meanwhile, my kids remained back at my brother's house.  But neither my brother or sister in law had ever fed Cohen. Not that I didn't think they could handle it.  I talked sister in law through it over the phone and it worked out fine.  It couldn't have been easy, but they didn't complain. I worry too much.

Then I get back to my brother's house, chest aching, jittery, and tired, with the depressing guarantee of yet more medical bills, and my poor little guy is so constipated he's grunting and grunting and screaming.  He can't get comfortable. So off I go to the grocery store for some suppositories, thinking is this really happening? Am I making something outta nothing? Or...?

Two days later, after three suppositories and some prune juice (does that ever really work?), he still won't go poo and refuses to eat - every time I try to hook up his feeding tube, he writhes and cries. So, off to the ER, where they x-ray his belly and find he had lots of stopped-up poo in his intestines. It's this liquid treatment first, and if that doesn't work, surgery. So we began the treatment to wash it all out, putting liquid into his tube every hour.  We didn't leave the hospital until 1am, with a jug of the stuff to continue every hour until 5am. I missed my hubs more than ever at this point. Help!  But he was halfway across the country.

Good news:  poo!  And lots of it!  Bad news:  mommy is so freakin tired!

**

During this trip, I learned an important lesson from my three year old.

It all started when I almost got in a head-on collision leaving a friend's house. A car heading towards me in the opposite lane suddenly veered off the road, spewing up dirt as its tires spun off the side of the road, then lurched back onto the road and into my lane, narrowly missing me as I watched its brake lights directly behind me in my rear view mirror. This was such a close call I could see the faces of the two people in the front seats. The driver, a male, then over corrected and lurched back into the other lane before ending up back in my lane again. I don't know what happened after that, but I do know that I saw all of the cars in the opposite lane come to a dead stop behind me. Hope he didn't hit someone. I was a little shaken by the close call, so when I got back to my parents' house, I explained - calmly - what happened and how crazy it was, not really paying attention, as I told my story, to my three year old, who was leaning her elbows on the back of the couch and hanging onto every word I said.

All of a sudden I hear a little whimper and I glance her way as she wails, Moooommmmmy!Her mouth quivers. Mommy, don't do that, mommy... I don't want you to do that!
She swallows and waves her pointer finger back and forth, whispering once more, Don't do that, Mommy. Her eyes fill with tears and one actually slips down her cheek.

She understood what I was talking about and it seemed as if she believed I would willingly have an accident that would take me from her. So, with that said, I definitely won't be throwing my vehicle in front of oncoming traffic anytime soon - for her sake!  :)

The next day, Hannah was talking to her cousin on the phone and she began to tell him, "My Mommy went this way, and he went that way, and then my Mommy went the 'nother way, and he went that way..." criss-crossing her hands, one over the other, as she explained like I had the night before.

I guess it's a good idea to be really careful what you say in front of your kids.  Note to self: No more discussing serious crises in front of little pint-sized ears!

***

And I'll finish with a lighter subject:  Everyone in California kept jokin' around, askin' me where I left my cowgirl hat and what hitchin' post I tied my horse up to, cuz now I live in Texas, Y'ALL. And I have some news for you.  Crazy but true: Central Valley, Cali is WAY MORE HICK than my new neck o' the woods out in Texas. Some reasons why I know this:

• We drove out to see our old house by the lake. As we were driving, my silly little Jenna-bug starts shouting something. Takes me a coupla seconds to figure out what in the heck she's sayin. Then I laugh. Cows are blanketing the countryside we're driving through, horses are scattered here and there, and she's yellin YEE-HAW! over and over again as she watches the animals pass by out her window. 
• My friend is moving to what is deemed the cowboy capital of the area. I went to see her new house in progress and guess what I saw out my window...

Bar for those rough-and-tumble, beer-guzzling hicks who don't know how to play nice.

Saddles! Tack! Yee-Haw!



Cowboy Museum.  Yes.

I love it. I love boots and wranglers and I still blare country music from time to time, just like in high school.

Seriously, though, I was soooo glad that I could share my friend's excitement about her new house. I'm happy I got to see it before she moved in and I'm looking forward to visiting again when she's all settled.

Alright, I'm just about finished!

Thought I would leave ya with two pics of our trip en route to my hubby's grandparents' house on my birthday. F-U-N! A two lane desert highway in the middle of nowhere, but at least on the WAY to somewhere...

Totally worth it to see Craig's grandparents, although I'm not so sure what kind of company I was, since I was so darn tired from all the driving!

But I did have these guys to keep me ENTERTAINED, which is one way to look at it ;)

Nine hours into our trip and in surprisingly good spirits.

Jenna was very grateful for the DVD player (and so was mommy, I might add - how in the world did we survive without it?)..Cohen's on the other side of Hannah, but I couldn't fit him in.

Wanna guess how many times you can sing the ABC song; Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; or Hey, Hey, There Playmate, while simultaneously watching Strawberry Shortcake or Care Bears over a 12 hour trip? A gazillion. Or so it seemed. :) Straw-ba-ba-ba-ba-berry, Extraor-di-di-dinary... In the Land of Joke-A-Lot, everyone laughs a lot... Memories of a time when I used to watch this stuff as a kid. Crazy.

On the Road Again...

I was going to post more about our trip down to Corpus, but before I knew it, I was off again on another adventure. And let me tell you, this adventure has not turned out like I expected it to so far!

First of all, I officially graduated from 20s to 30s this week. My actual birthday was spent driving through the desert with my three kids. Crazy? Maybe. But that's how it turned out. At least I could get text messages on my brand-new cell phone (my b-day gift from hubby before I left him back home) and I got some great b-day greetings, which made the empty desert seem less lonely, at least! And my new cell phone is blue-tooth enabled, so I was able to talk hands free.

But my plans changed, everything sorta went - POOF! - up in the air... here's how: 

My sister-in-law and nephew were supposed to drive all the way to Cali with me, with a short pit-stop and energy fuel-up at my Mother-in-law's house in Arizona - which is also SIL and nephew's house... Well, after being gone for the summer visiting us, SIL decided to end the journey early at home in lieu of traveling out to Cali and staying for a few weeks. So be it! There I was, in Arizona, faced with two choices: head home alone with three kids, or continue on with three kids. The distance was just about equal either way, so I decided to forage ahead! I wanted to take this trip so badly - had planned it since we moved away last year - and nothing was gonna deter me! Not even miles and miles of lonely desert highway on my birthday.

Now this is where the new DVD player in my new car came in handy. I kept remembering our trip out to TX in the BEAST and thanked my lucky stars I got my new car in time. The DVD player saved my sanity, let me tell you! Despite hours and hours of Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake, I was in a much happier state as long as my kiddos were content in the backseat. Plus, the comfort factor of this car made mommy very happy, also! And I didn't have to worry about breaking down on the side of the highway somewhere...

We stopped in a small lake community outside of Bakersfield to visit my husband's grandparents for the night and, although I am very glad we made the extra detour, it was exhausting after a long day's trip - 6:30am to 7:00pm with three bathroom stops and four feedings for Cohen. And then, wouldn't ya just know it? Cohen had a rough night, screaming off and on into the wee hours of the morning. I felt very bad for him, but at the same time I was sure I would keel over any minute!!! Exhaustion vs empathy vs exhaustion vs empathy... The next morning, I was a walking zombie with fatigue-induced nausea, but I managed to bathe the kiddos and we were off once again to complete the final six hours of our incredibly long journey!

But I am here at last, at my parent's house, safe and sound. I am missing hubs, but glad to be here. Tomorrow we are heading up to my Grandma's house for a visit and I am excited to see some of my family again, including my brother and his wife and son. This will make everything worth the hassle - seeing the people I love after being away for so long!

When Going to the Beach, Plan Your Menu Carefully...

So about our vacation...

My parents flew in on Saturday; we headed down to Corpus Christi Sunday. This was interesting. The first time away from home overnight with Cohen on his feeding pump. We rented a 3 bedroom condo on the beach - sorta. It was actually next to a private beach, but ya could still see the ocean and stuff so it still counts right? The condo had a nice pool/BBQ area with palm trees for shade and you could float and see the ocean at the same time, so you could at least imagine you were swimming in the ocean ;)

Hannah with her "boat"

Jenna telling a story...

Jenna still telling a story... :)

Cohen admiring cousin Josh's hair cuz he still doesn't have much of his own ;)

But we wanted some real ocean action, so we all drove down to the local beach, which was only a few blocks up from us. By all, I mean my cousin plus five kids, my SIL and son, my parents, my aunt plus husband, and me plus my other half and three kids. Back home, pre-journey, we had loaded up the back of the truck will all kinds of beach toy goodies, so the kids littered the beach with colorful plastic while we ran around trying to keep the cheap stuff from flying away! Is it always windy at the beach? 

The kids had fun, though. They played with an existing sand castle and splashed around in the water.

Workin on a castle fit for a princess

Jenna playing with cousins, who were very, very nice to her.

I was very impressed with how patient they were and how much they were willing to include her... that's sometimes rare to find in kids who don't understand...

The kids waded through the water, testing its depth (and their parents!) cuz you could walk so far out, you looked like a speck on the horizon, a bird flitting around on the waves...

See the speck way out there? That's Josh...

Jenna, enjoying the baby waves as they came in.

Which reminds me. The birds at the beach were insane! Literally. Maybe sippin the salt water or something ;)

I think they should seriously consider putting a sign up out there:

Birds Will Kill For Food.

So the stingy birds wanted our food and they had a preference, if you can believe that. Cheetos. Oh, yeah! They went ape-shit over them - oh wait, wrong animal... So anyways, the birds loved our Cheetos so much, they stole em from chewing mouths.

My cousin and her daughter both experienced the mouthy cheese-napping first-hand. Mom laughed, though she seemed a little shaken - daughter cried cuz it was darn scary (I think I woulda cried too...)

Want some Cheetos, Sherry?

Umm...Yeah...Thanks but no thanks!
I was not planning on touching the bag, much less the chips. :)

My SIL said it was like the movie The Birds, but I wouldn't know cuz I've never seen it.

Ummm...Cheeto-breath?

So anyways, we all had fun. The beach was really nice and the company was even better (MINUS the birds, of course!)

Reflecting on the day...

All in all, a fun time! We all arrived back at the condo tired, sandy, and a little sun-burnt (despite slathering on the sun screen), with a new loathing of greedy white beach-birds, but definitely happy we got the chance to romp around in the sand and experience the amazingly shallow ocean and sandy beach.

Hannah and her cousin - BFF after spending a few days together :)

Swiper, That Sneaky Fox, is Always Stealin' Stuff...

I haven't had much time to post with all three kids at home this summer, especially with extra house guests around, so I'm doing my best to keep up. When the girls start school in August I will have more time to write...and stuff! ;) I can hardly wait - I am so excited to have little breaks during the week. Looks like Hannah might be on a half day schedule, so I get about 3 1/2 hours with my little guy to work on all the things the physical therapist tells us to work on without kids swarming around us, stepping on us, pulling on my shirt - or hands or arms or hair - cuz they want something RIGHT NOW!

First - we went to Sea World yesterday. It started out okay. I just wish it wasn't so humid. It didn't seem so bad at first. But then the moisture spawns droplets of sweat on every inch of your body, which eventually feels like creepy crawling spiders sliding all over your skin when they drip, drip, drip downward... ew!

Once we returned home, I decided that so much of my impression of a place depends upon the time I spend there - isn't this the case for everyone? I mean, one day you could go to a place, let's say Sea World, and have a GREAT time. The lines might be short, the weather might be good, and people might be really nice and friendly and stuff. And on THAT day, you walk away thinking, "I'd really like to come back here again sometime."

That is sooooo NOT what I was saying yesterday!

Cuz while I was waiting for my SIL and her son to ride Journey to Atlantis, someone snuck up behind us and stole my wallet from directly below my kid! I had just tucked my wallet into the net underneath our double stroller where a whole lotta other crap was. Tucked it in good and tight, but accessible enough for those drinks we so desperately needed when SIL and son got off the ride. A few minutes later, it suddenly vanishes into thin air. Oh yeah. Poof! Whoever lifted my wallet was good. Really, really, good. I remember bending down to talk to Hannah directly in front of the stroller (we had taken up spots at the rail so we could watch the final plunge -- over and over and over again) when a boat came splashing through at the end of a not-worth-waiting-in-line-for-over-an-hour "journey." The next thing I remember, I stood up and found a Sierra Mist soda bottle sitting on the front seat of the stroller where Hannah usually sits, and no, I didn't buy any Sierra Mist - none of us did.  And Hannah was just sitting there, no soda bottle in sight. Our perp apparently has a sense of humor.  Not only a sneaky bastard, but a wise ass. I was fumin' mad, but I wasted no time: I called the bank immediately, shut the cards down (SUCKER!).  I only had $40 in cash in it.  Ugh.  I felt so violated. My kid was in that stroller. In fact, he probably saw the idiot.

Definitely creeped out! And I certainly didn't need droplets of humidity-induced sweat to make my skin crawl at that point.

At that point I disliked being there very, very much. And I'm not sure I'll return again soon.

Which just sucks, because I want to be taken in by the amazing sights/sounds/magic of it all. I want to feel like a kid again. And it took a selfish crook with sticky fingers to reel me back to adulthood! But like I said, I think your opinion of any place depends upon your experience there. So while I was fumin' mad and calling up the bank, countless people drifted by, smiling happy people who loved being there and loved the experience. Good for them. Hope they're hanging on tight to their wallets!

But the good news? My wallet is now in lost and found - minus the cash, of course - so at least I can go reclaim my old CA ID and the already useless check cards! YAY! Oh, and did I mention that the check card was my only access to money for the weekend? Oh, yes! If your wallet or purse is ever stolen (and I would not wish this on anyone, of course!) pray that it is taken on a day the banks are open and not on a Saturday evening when you still have a day and a half till the bank opens again and you can actually access your own money!!!

So, although I did, admittedly, enjoy some of the time we were there, it did not end the way I expected...

Maybe - maybe! - there will be a better next time.  :)