TMI alert! If you continue to read, you asked for it.......

My oh-so-light beginning on Sunday wonderfully turned into a real AF visit all week so far. Granted, it's only Wednesday, but WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! And it's 36 days, identical to the last one. Course the first one was barely there, but enough. So my HSG is scheduled for Monday, May 5. GREAT, Cinco de Mayo.......................I guess it's as good a reason as any to have a special drink afterward. I'll commiserate with my toddler until his daddy gets home.

Duck is now SAYING "mo" for more while signing it. He identified a cat and dog in his book, and and ICE CREAM CONE (i eeeem). He's very vowel oriented. Need to work on those consonants. He's saying "cheese" and grinning on demand, so pictures this year will be SO MUCH BETTER than the "which way did he go George" look of previous years.

And I'm proud to say that the paci is now a bed time and Mommy's car only thing! And he did it all by himself. Ok, no he didn't. Mostly it's because the sitter won't let him have it during the day, not even at nap. He's been chattering up a storm!!

The apartment is about 70% packed and once we get some of this stuff out of here, it should be easier tomorrow night to get the rest packed up. OOOOOOOOOOH, brain release! I know which boxes contain clothing, so if I take those boxes down and empty them tomorrow night, I can repack them Friday afternoon. I ARE SMART!

I want to get some good moving pictures of Duck.........wish me luck on that one.

New packing update

Let's see, went to bed at 3:00 a.m. and woke up at 6:45 to a very light AF beginning. WAHOOOOOOOO! (Calling Monday to schedule HSG.)

I went to Walmart ALONE because Duck slept in a bit and I knew E wasn't going to wake up either. Got back, cleaned up the kitchen and then A was here to help me out. I made us breakfast of pancakes and eggs. I did really well, actually because I got SEVEN pancakes out of a batter that would have made SIX....do I get brownie points for WW for that? And I did PHENOMENAL on my sunny side up eggs. Duck decided that he'd only take ONE bite of his chocolate chip pancakes I made for him.

Then we got busy packing and moving. We finished up Duck's room by doing the closet. She packed a few boxes and three suitcases. She repacked a box of books that Duck had unpacked. I love A. She's such an awesome person!

(going to tangent here for a moment)
You know how they say "might not be today, might not be tomorrow, but eventually it all comes around?" okay, not exactly that, but close..... Anyway, I think I was a good babysitter when I was in high school and college. I mean, I must have been, I had the same families calling me all the time. Once by two families for the same night for the same event (HINT: don't share your babysitter's name unless you're willing to share your babysitter---which I'm not willing to share, okay, I am, but it would be tough to share her) I did the extras like dishes and putting things away....I got to deal with a lot of strange things, like kittens knocking over red candles onto wood floors and puppies that find snags in carpet and make it worse.....(um, yeah same family). This is why I believe in the saying. We have such a gem in A and she knows it. She's truly a wonderful person and we're lucky to know her. Duck's loved her from day one.
(tangent over)

Unfortunately, after she left, I lost my momentum and ambition. Not that I sat on my butt all day, but I didn't really do any more packing. Just laundry and the kitchen. I did, however, come up with a mental plan on how to get it all done by Thursday. Yes, I know JUST DO IT.

I have found, though, that my best laid plans are ones I stew on for days on end. Then I have the mental commitment to get things done. Right now I think the biggest hurdles I face are my kitchen and my dresser. Both are full of stuff that I don't need. And I need to remind myself that if I don't need it before Friday, it needs to go in a box.

So, it's 11:00, and I want to get to work early tomorrow morning.

Packing update

Duck's bathroom is completely done except wiping the mirrors, scrubbing the tub (it's pretty much clean now, but I'll do a final once over), and the floor. I already wiped down the countertop and washed the fronts of the cupboards.

The kitchen ........ wa-ellll (think Bewitched when you read that)..............Of 16 cupboards and 4 drawers, I have 5.5 cupboards cleaned out/packed and 1 drawer. They've all been wiped down on the front. I just have to pack them. Hard to pack the kitchen though. I don't want to wait til the end. OH, DUH.

I'm so stupid sometimes. I should move the kitchen stuff on Thursday night. That way all my cold stuff is moved and I'm not worried about it Friday. DUH DUH DUH!

I wish I could do Duck's closet right now. That's what I have the ambition to do right this very minute. But it's 1:30 a.m. and I don't feel like dealing with a cranky Duck. Yes, I know it would be a BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD idea, but still. It's what I really want to do right now.

And it's CD 36 and no sign of AF. Guess it's a phone call to the RE on Monday.

Way to go GIRLS!!

How two girls scouts are protecting the environment and the health of others by boycotting their own brand.

AMAZING. These girls have accomplished a lot in such a short time. Only 12 years old and they are changing the world.

Give them 23 years and I'll bet one is running for office.

Save the Orangutans

VERY long day.....I still have HOURS to go!

We went to a local park today and had a mommy group get together. It was SO MUCH FUN! I got to see one mommy I hadn't seen in person since a year ago. The other two are big goofballs that I see all the time. I'm glad to call all three of them my friends! We really did have some fun, the kids had a blast and the parents got to talk. I wish I had more courage to let Duck run around and just watch him. But with him not answering all that great to his name....I'ma bit leery doing it. WHY can't they make playgrounds that are totally "gated" so that I can relax a little rather than hovering over him worse than a sheriff's helicopter on a high speed chase?!??!?!?!?!?!?

Here's Duck on the swings:












Here's Duck on the playscape running around:












I had too much to eat: a hot dog with bun and mustard, 2 strawberries, 2 big scoops of my taco salad and 2 chocolate chip cookies. I did have mac-n-cheese on my plate, but Duck ate that rather than his hot dog. Apparently he only likes his hot dogs covered in baked beans.

I really should take Duck to the pool to help us both cool off, but E's on his way home and I want to be here when he arrives.

I got to see our new place!! I had talked to our complex manager earlier Tuesday about the A/C mess and casually asked about a 3-bdrm. We've been on the waitlist about a month, but didnt' think anything would come up soon. But, she had one available NOW. So, basically I did the CRAZY (read: totally me) thing to do and said YES. We get the keys May 1 and I have 6 more days left to get everything packed, ready to move. We'll get the truck on Thursday, move it Friday and turn in keys on the old place on Saturday.

Gotta tell ya, for having been gone most of the day....I got a lot done. I'm hoping that Seriously, if this move doesn't help me lose some weight, I'm totally up a creek.

I've been sweating my rear end off in Duck's bathroom for the last 90 minutes packing up all the toiletries, towels and countertop crap. Duck was in the MASTER bedroom, so we had all the extras in his bathroom. I also had a lot of baloney in there that I just threw away. I'm not moving anything that's not going to get used and that includes make-up. Especially not any that i know is more than 4 years old. I also switched out the showerheads so that as soon as I clean the floor, I'll only have his closet to do. That's tomorrow's chore.

So, Duck had chicken fingers (I love that Tyson is doing these now) and he's ignoring his carrots. I took cabbage soup out for me since I ate all my points at lunch! (breakfast was my usual: 1 cup Honey Nut Cheerios and ½ cup 2% milk)

Tomorrow Duck's night sitter is coming over. I can't wait, we haven't seen her in a while. It will be really nice to spend some time with her. She's a HUGE help.

My goals....
Saturday night

• Sink side of kitchen....empty cupboards
• Oven side of kitchen....empty cupboards

Sunday

• Duck's closet
• Our dresser hutch
• Our closet

Monday

• Finish our closet
• Our bedroom
• Front closet

Thursday

• Pick up the truck
• Pick up new keys
• Start loading....though there's some debate about taking the truck to the storage unit and loading it up...will depend on E's schedule Thursday. Duck's going to the sitter's, then to my friend's house for the evening.

Friday

• Finish loading the truck. Duck's going to the sitter again. I have the afternoon off and we'll move everything in to the new apartment. The kicker will be the couch. It's a queen sofa sleeper and heavier than anything I can think of. A general PITA to move and even moreso to get out of our apartment.
• Final cleaning Friday night after we get Duck from the sitter's (my mom's helping out with that) and into bed. I'll clean by myself most likely....but I do have help coming Saturday if needed
  

Another loss......0.8 pounds this week

and that really SUCKS.

could have been a lot more, but i've been eating horribly and the only I had to eat all day Wednesday was 3 chocolate chip cookies and a can of Pepsi. I even managed to resist the temptation Tuesday night to eat cookie dough and at work on Wednesday during our Admin Prof Day celebration (I mean, who turns down ice cream cake?). but with continuing drama in the a/c saga.....I lost it when I got home.

but I managed to lose 0.8 pounds, which is definitely better than a gain. So, i think next week will be the big loss again. With having to pack up a two-bedroom apartment in 7 days, I've got a lot of work ahead of me and it's all physical.

Debating my walk tonight. i need the me time (though I'm taking Duck with me). but I also need to get moving on packing. Eh, that can wait til the weekend!

PA VOTERS.........GO TO THE POLLS!

Please, make a Michigan-born Florida girl proud and please vote. PLEASE?


Neither my home state nor my current state's votes will count, so please, take the time to go vote in your primary. While I am a staunch Obama supporter, I'd still like to see everyone with the ability to vote, to go do so, regardless of their candidate.

So, GO VOTE!!


(vote for change, vote OBAMA!)

My new fave blog

Bottles, Barbies and Boys is my new fave blog. (2 under 2 will always get top billing) check it out when you have a few moments!

A/C is STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLL out. Now it's a bad coil. Isn't no A/C an emergency in Florida? Not to mention my toddler who has severe allergies and taking a daily allergy med is really sick because I've had to have my windows open for 10 days now. I'm really NOT happy about this whole situation.

It's CD #31.....still waiting. Keep your fingers crossed it's an AF week so we can go for further testing!

how do YOU do it?

This was the question E asked me yesterday afternoon as he was telling me the disaster area that had happened in our living room. Keep in mind, the man was a SAHD for over a year and still can't find a way to pick up, fix a meal and take care of Duck. I'm not even asking for all three at the same time........but damn, two at a time would be great. This conversation happened after he called me at work to see if *I* called about the a/c being out again/still. UM YOU'RE HOME, TAKE A FREAKING WALK TO THE OFFICE!

Yeah, I'm aware that it's a woman's special talent to do all that and chores, too. (I didn't say mom because I know plenty of non-mom women that can multi-task with the best.) Men just aren't attuned to multi-tasking.

Take for example the last two hours. My kitchen is clean, the dishwasher has been loaded and ran, I washed literally 15 medicine syringes (gotta love having a sick kid), I can see my living room floor after picking up two decks of Diego cards, two decks of Baby Einstein cards, three puzzles and a book shelf full of books, one load of laundry is in the dryer and one in the washer. All this while Duck was AWAKE and wandering the apartment.

I still take to hear my newborn mommy advice: rest when he rests. Heck yeah. When he's running around or just watching tv or eating breakfast (wait, he's two and usually does all three at the same time).......I'm picking up and cleaning. Right now, I'm taking a break. He's watching Diego, then we're going to have some lunch and he's going for a nap.

So, dear husband, THAT is how I do it. I take it one room at a time and take a short break in between rooms. The next big project? That damn toy store exploded again. Can't wait til the IRS gets in gear and sends us our refund and I can get back to Ikea for the system I want.

ps.....Still no Puppy!

I really don't know where this kid hides things. I'm sure when we move, we'll find it. That or somehow we lost him between the park and home. Which I am 1000% sure he had Puppy in the house that night.

The "good" news is that he hasn't run around looking for Puppy and Pluto, Mickey and his new car seem to be a good substitute.

What a crappy week

I wish I had the wherewithall to post it all, but I don't. So here's the highlights:

Tuesday was our appointment day. Duck's was "okay" as in the Dev. Pedi. used terminology I'm not comfortable, but ultimately said that we don't have to go back unless the Neuro or Pedi feel it's warranted. Doesn't want us to have "too many" doctors treating Duck.

My RE appointment was better. Dr. L at the Center for Reproductive Medicine is my RE and is FABULOUS. He took a lot of time explaining things to me, including the labs from the ob's office that never got explained from a PCOS standpoint. He said that with the dose of Met i'm taking, I could still O on my own. Then it was exam time. And sure, enough....I had O'd on my own in the "not so distant past." I have two weeks to have a cycle on my own. If I do, then I get to have an HSG, if not, it's on to more meds.

Wednesday Duck's cough was getting worse, he puked up dinner (oh yes that means I got to CLEAN CARPET after I baby-wiped Duck up enough for E to give him a bath). Subsequently neither of us got any sleep that night. We took him to the Pedi Thursday morning to learn his Zyrtec wasn't working as much and his allergies were in overdrive and caused an ear infection with all the drainage. That led to a wonderful (haha) $79 prescription for THE GENERIC of Omnicef. didn't pay that, made the Pedi call in something different. Pharmacy deductibles SUCK.

Of course, if I wasn't trying "save money" by turning the a/c off and bringing in fresh air, Duck's allergies wouldn't be in overdrive right now.

Duck got more sleep last night, but still isn't eating great. I can't even get him to eat grilled cheese or peanut butter bread. I'll have to stop and get Pediasure on my way home.

Thursday was weigh-in day. I lost 3.4 pounds this week (for you BL fans, that's 1.93% of my weight). If I lose that much again this next week, I'll lose a point. That's okay though. Course, it helps the Met is kicking my butt.

Thursday was also our 4th anniversary. It sucked overall. not because of anything that we did or didn't do. Just that we didn't feel like celebrating with Duck sick and me not feeling so great.


today I feel like crap still, Duck seems to be doing better aside from not eating. Happy weekend to me!

REALLY bad headache

I hate headaches. I feel like I can't function properly as a human being, let alone like a mommy with a two year old and daddy's at work. Yes, I took something, I just wish it would kick in. Sam's finally settled down.

I just want to crawl into a very dark, quiet cave.

Craptacular weekend

Well it all started Friday. In fact, it all happened Friday really.

1. We lost Puppy.
2. The A/C went out in our apartment sometime Friday afternoon when the temp Saturday was forecast to be over 85 degrees.
3. Our federal refund was not deposited.

#1: Puppy still lost, see blog entry "Worse than losing Puppy in public?"

#2: I get home Friday and the apartment is warm. The thermostat is set at 75....um, I don't set it lower than 77 becuase then it freezes up. So I turned it off for a little bit thinking E turned it down and it had started to freeze up. A couple hours later, it's not blowing cool air. We opened the house for the night because it was already after 8, dark, and they wouldn't come anyway. Saturday I call, the maintenance man comes. He turns it on and sure enough the fan outside isn't blowing. He checks both inside and outside breakers. Not that either, the whole unit has to be replaced. CRAP. The thing is less than two years old. They just replaced all the units in the complex after we moved into this apartment. So, he offers me a window unit. Normally I'd comply. But, I also know that he'll never get the screen back in the right position afterward and I'll be dealing with bugs. (note: not because HE can't but because that's track record for our complex) Plus, it was supposed to get down to 75 Saturday night. I figured E was at work til late and Duck and I could go to the pool and then Target to stay cool. Maintenance man was good with that and it was much cooler Sunday and last night. I'll have a new A/C unit tonight. Florida spring/summer without A/C is not an option. We did, however, buy another oscillating fan and learned that we really could sleep without it if we had to. So, I hope that means lower electric bills this summer.

#3 I had to talked to an IRS agent 12 days ago regarding our refund status. We owed some back taxes for 2006 and they were supposed to take that out of the refund. The lady said we'd get our refund deposited on the 11th. Nope. Didn't happen. CRAP. That was something I was counting on. Stupid I know, but still! Based on our e-file date, we *should* have had it the 4th. So, here it is the 14th and no refund. I called and got another agent who said yes, our back taxes had been paid, but it could be another THREE WEEKS before we see the balance! She went on to say that they could take it for wage garnishment, child support or student loans. Well, the first two don't apply and the third's in good standing. But will only stay that way when I get the refund.

Duck had a HORRIBLE eating weekend. I don't think the kid ate two full meals all weekend long. In fact, breakfast Saturday and dinner last night were about it. He's gotten so darn picky recently....chicken nuggets, pears and pudding. And last night, E had to make him a grilled cheese at 8:00 for him to eat at all.

HOWEVER.........he had an AWESOME weekend with development. He's started to point out objects and identify them without prompting, he's mimicking actions and words, and he even "consoled" me when I threw a fake tantrum to get his attention. (Dr. Harvey Karp, your book "Happiest Toddler on the Block" is pure GENIUS.)

That's three major milestones in about 10 days time. He also spent the majority of the weekend without the pacifier in his mouth. (no comments from the peanut gallery about the correlation between speech and pacifiers.....at least he didn't have Puppy in his mouth which would have been the case if we knew where Puppy is/was)

Go figure.....we see the developmental pediatrician tomorrow.

WW is going okay. We grocery shopped for 90 minutes on Saturday night. I took ONE pill yesterday rather than FOUR. Back on track today, though. I see the RE tomorrow afternoon. Should be a fun day of running around for me.

Worse than losing Puppy in public?

Losing Puppy in the freaking house!

It took us two hours to get Duck down Friday night without Puppy. We came straight home from our walk Thursday night, he had milk then went to bed with Puppy. He came wandering into our bedroom at 6:30 am Friday with Puppy in tow. But E never saw Puppy all day and now we can't find Puppy.

We've checked every nook and cranny in the house for two days.........Puppy is nowhere to be found.

My anxiety is THROUGH THE ROOF right now because we can't find it. It's in this damn house, I know it is.

We've looked under the bed, in the dressers, toilets, showers, under the bathroom cupboards, behind every electronic, in and under the washer and dryer, behind the computer, in the appliances even though he's gated out of the kitchen, in our closets.....we cannot find it. Of course, every time we go through this, it's somewhere really obscure. Like the last time was behind the surround system, time before that was in one of our dresser drawers. We know it's NOT in his room because we picked up every toy and put it where it belonged and his bathroom and closet doors are kept shut with door knob covers.

I even went through the trash piece by piece

For the last year, we've been saying we were going to put a GPS chip in it like those teddy bears they have.

The one ride on toy he has in the house doesn't have a storage piece. The other two are in his closet that he can't get to.

I have pulled everything out of our front closet, everything off the floor in our closet and in our bedroom (even my scrapbooking containers). E even pulled the subwoofer apart....didn't find Puppy, but he did find two Hotwheels cars and a pacifier.

There's a part of me that agrees with E in that we should be "grateful" that he lost it. The good thing is that he's started to cling to his new Pluto we got him a few weeks ago. That I can replace easily.

Honestly, though, it's kind of a comfort thing for me too. Just knowing he has something that instantly calms him down, especially since we're already trying to break the pacifier during the day.

I even pulled out the sofabed completely and it's not there either. At the suggestion of a friend....I looked on top of things like our dresser hutch, the refrigerator, behind the dryer....I keep thinking it went out in the trash.

Thankfully, he really is taking to Pluto fairly well. We'd bought Pluto in hopes of transitioning him anyway since Pluto is so much easier to replace. But, I'm hoping St. Anthony can help us find him.

45 minute walk and cake for dinner

So, after work, I buzzed home and picked up Duck to go to the park. We met our new friends K and her kids D and H. D is just a month older than Duck and H was born in February. We had a blast talking and walking around the lakefront. We let the boys play for a little bit, D was very sad to say goodbye to us. K said he asked for Duck this morning! Aw, how sweet!

Anyway, I'd made a bad lunch choice yesterday....I just had a hamburger patty with lettuce and tomato. I paid for it all afternoon. Even with taking Nexium.....it didn't help. So, when I got home after our walk, absolutely nothing sounded good. Well, except cake. I'd bought a half cake the other night at Publix because it was easier than spending $4 for a cake mix and frosting, then baking it. anyway, I chunked out a good-sized piece and poured a big glass of milk. MMMMMM nothing like chocolate cake and 2% milk to settle a tummy. So I probably just undid my wonderful walk, but I probably balanced it out.

We're going grocery shopping tonight thankfully.

I started Weight Watchers today

It's an at-work program, so I should have no problem making it to meetings. Two friends joined as well, so we can keep each other accountable. Hopefully this will help me get my hormones in order and TTC #2 will go more smoothly.

Five more days til the big appointment. My mom was able to get my shot records (ain't she great?) from my previous doctor. Apparently I'm 4 years overdue for a tetanus shot. OOPS! Also says I need a varicella vax.....um, I had the chicken pox when I was 4 thank you very much.


I think the best way to keep me accountable is to actually divulge my weight: 175.8 pounds. I'm still 12 pounds over pre-Duck weight, but I am 5 pounds down from wedding-day weight. So, I look at it as being a good starting point. I'm just bummed I started this so far into the Biggest Loser season......I even missed the start of my toddler mom BL group. Oh well.....10% at a time, right?

So, I think we'll be grocery shopping tonight or tomorrow night. And I'll be taking Duck to the playground each night after work, or at the minimum for a walk up to the mailbox.

Crap, now I need new sandals

I was just telling E the other day I need new sandals and new loafers before they completely give out. I haven't bought new of either one since we moved here four years ago (white shoes and black sandals for working at Disney do NOT count!)

These are my favorite navy blue Naturalizer sandals. I love these shoes. My brown ones are still somewhat intact, though getting ready to fall apart. And my loafers have just about had it.

Four years is pretty darn good for shoes I wear nearly every single day. Wait, make that 4+ years considering in 10 days time, we will have been in FL for 4 years and I had all three pairs well before we moved here.

Anyway, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Naturalizer shoes. They come narrow and I have the best luck finding ones with rubber soles. After all, having a spinal defect means it's really important to buy good shoes.

So, to the garbage go my navy blue sandals. I'm sad, really. Also makes me wonder when it will be the brown pair's turn.

I think there's a DSW near me, maybe I can find a nice new pair rather cheaply. Come to think of it, I think I bought all three pairs of these shoes at the same time at DSW.....fall of 2003.

Oh well, the search begins.

For Autism

Autism diagnoses are on the rise. While it is gaining the recognition it deserves, there is so much more to be done.

Visit Help Chevy Help Autism (http://www.chevrolet.com/autismspeaks) and see how you can help too.

Not only do I have a developmentally delayed son, but I also have friends and family with children who suffer from Autism, Aspberger's and other Pervasive Developmental Delay disorders. Please take time out of your day to help Autism!

SIGN the petition

Please read this and sign the petition:

Proposed Mastectomy Law Change

(written by a surgeon)

I'll never forget the look in my patients eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the Doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies.

So there I sat with my patient giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank you' they muttered.

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

Mastectomy Bill in Congress it takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important .. please take the time and do it really quick!
Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill - Important legislation for all women.

Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same.

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through mastectomy' where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with
drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed on. PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below.
You need not give more than your name and zip code number.

http://www.lifetimetv.com/health/breast ... pledgehtml

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends

WHY am I cleaning so much?

Not just picking up, but deep cleaning?

Last weekend I cleaned off our screened porch aka E's private little scum-hole. (granted he's grown up a lot in five years, but being Oscar's mentor for messiness has got to stop....I'm no Felix, but OMG the nastiness has to go)

Anyway, I went to empty the trash out there last weekend and got bombarded by fruit flies and ants. No wonder I had ff in the apartment.....they were coming in from outside when he'd come in from his cigarette. Trash hadn't been emptied in months.....I could tell because it had A&W cans in it and I haven't bought any of that since January. Anyway, I had it all cleaned up, I even had to throw out the trashcan, there was no way I could get it cleaned up enough.

Then today, I noticed our BIG cooler that's sitting out there is covered in ants. And so are the two pop cans he's left out there. OMFG I hate ants. and here we have an entire collection on the porch where they could easily get in through the slider door. So I just spent an hour in the bathroom scrubbing the cooler with dish soap and baking soda. It's supposed to rain the majority of the week, so I'm letting the cooler dry in Duck's bathtub, then I'll take it to our storage unit this week.

I want to move this summer. Either a 3-bedroom apartment or a 3-bedroom house with garage. I want to be able to get rid of our storage unit to save some money. I know I can get rid of some stuff in there.

But, if I can't get him to help keep stuff clean here, how can I expect him to help in a bigger space?

I'm a clutter-bug pack rat. E's just a nasty pack rat. His mom had to GUT his room when he moved out because it was so bad.

I can't wait to BUY a house, though. That way I can do whatever I want as far as making more space out of nothing.

Back to the topic, though. I can't sit still lately. I've been cleaning up and out. Maybe it's because it's the first part of April and I want to move in two months. And I will likely be doing 95% of the packing by myself, so I want it to go smoothly and not have to take an immense amount of time off work.

Edited at 8:00 p.m.:
Let's see, I also did four loads of laundry from wash to dry to fold to actually putting away. In addition, I put away probably another 7 loads of laundry--some folded, some not--that had been piling up in our bedroom. That means I can actually see my bedroom carpet. Of course, that means keeping Duck out of there so that he can't pull everything off the shelves in order to climb on them. (his new trick--emptying any kind of shelf, then climbing onto it.)

I stripped Duck's bed and put a fresh mattress pad and sheet on. (my baby gets clean body, clean jammies and a clean bed tonight....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)

Did I mention that after I cleaned the cooler, I scrubbed Duck's tub with Ajax? Yep.

The kitchen sink is empty because I've been putting dirty dishes away as we used them. (novel concept here) The trash is gathered, ready to go out in the morning.

Once Duck goes to bed, I can pick up the toys in the living room.

I did NOT manage to vacuum the living room, but I think if I can get E and Duck out of the house on time in the morning, I should be able to do it before work.

WHY am I cleaning so much?
****************************
I'm finally getting up to 1500 mg of Metformin. I had a terrible time this week remembering to take two. But, today I'm on track for three pills. By next week, I have to be up to four a day.

Finally starting to feel a little better. Still have a slight cough, but nothing horrible.

Duck, well, he's just PERFECT. I love him so much. He's been really social and played well with my friend's daughter C yesterday. It was kind of funny because the last time, they played together, C was pretty bossy and not letting Duck play with some of her toys. Yesterday, though, she took something from him and HE TOOK IT BACK! I think she was in so much shock, she didn't say anything but went about playing with something else. I laughed because I'd never seen him take a toy from another child. Usually, he doesn't care and just plays with something else.......like he's in his own little world and doesn't notice. But he noticed yesterday. Kind of awesome when you think about it.

Dammit, should have woke him up ......

or rather not even let him go to bed to begin with. Duck fell back to sleep around 5:30 last night. The sedated nap really hadn't done much for him. So, I let him sleep. At 9:00 I got him up, changed his diaper, he never stirred.

The next thing I know it's 3 a.m. and he'd run into the corner of the wall trying to get into our room. Poor kid. E was still up playing WoW, so he said he'd stay up with him. Duck wasn't having any of that. He wanted me.

So, it's 5:50 now and we're WIDE awake and I have to go to work today. Dammit. I was up with him all night Wednesday, no nap yesterday and I have a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG day today.

Only good thing about this is that I bagged him for his urine collection. Yeah, let me tell you, THAT'S FUN! Then I have to freeze it and get it to the lab Saturday morning.

This morning went better than expected. We got all our running around done and then Duck started signing/saying "eat." He's never signed it unprompted or asked to eat. I felt so incredibly horrible for not being able to give him food.

We got to Dr. D's office just before noon. We got him signed in and they said to go ahead and give him the sedative. They were really surprised that he took it so well. Apparently it's bitter. He didn't even want the sucker they had given him. He was OUT OUT OUT within 5 minutes. They said they'd never seen a toddler go out that fast. I said, "well, he's had 5 hours of sleep and nothing to eat since 6:30."

So, there was no fussing or whining before during or after the EEG.

UNTIL...........we went to do the blood draw. I had called earlier in the week and was told by the Medical Pavilion staff that the Ambulatory Care Center could/would do a pediatric draw. So, we get and NOPE. We had to go to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children or Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies. So, rather than move the car and have to pay another $4 for parking, we walked the four blocks to APH.

Thank God they'd written STAT on his draw orders. They got us right in.

The two ladies that did his draw were so incredibly sweet. They got the needle in without stirring him. But, he woke up about 3/4 of the way through and it was all over at that point. He tensed up again and wiggled the needle right out of the vein.

They didn't get enough, so they had to stick him again, this time in his hand. He was SOOOOO brave and good about it.

They did it totally different at APH and I'll never, never, never use Quest again for him.

Then, we were in the lobby where the characters are and one comes back after us and says, "we need him back, we need a urine sample."

I'm like, "What? He hasn't had anythign to eat or drink since 6:30 this morning because of the EEG and we came right here from there. He has nothing to give."

So, they gave me a couple bags and a cup. I have to freeze it, then run it to the APH lab Saturday morning at 9:00. I had the option to run it back there before 6:00 tonight and not have to re-register, but after all the running around we'd been doing since 7:30, I decided Saturday was better.

That's how it went. Duck's having "quiet time" in his room and E's sleeping. So I got to enjoy my chocolate Oreo shake from Burger King all by myself. A big thing lately since now Duck thinks that everything in a cup belongs to him.

My two year old can.......Why can't YOU?

My two year old knows that the toilet lid and trash lid both go down after using. Why can't all men know how to do this?

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Note: it's 11:48, I just put Duck in his room. It'll take him a few minutes to fall asleep, even now. Had to break out CleoTasha at 11:00 to get him dancing around the room. Then Bear in the Big Blue House. I'll be back up at 5:00 a.m.

It's 8:10 p.m......and Duck is eating M&Ms

Yep, it's sleep deprivation day. Four more hours to go. Then it's up at 5:00 a.m. for me and Duck. I decided to let E sleep in for the morning so that when we get home that way I can take a nap and then work for a few hours. Especially since I missed three days last week and used my sick time that I had saved for tomorrow.

So, I held off dinner until about 7:30. An hour and a half later than usual. He's having M&Ms now.....and E just walked in. So, I think I might get him to change so we can go for a family walk.

Tomorrow should be *fun*. I think I have it all worked out. We have a few errands that have to be run between 9 and 11:30. And I really think that we'll still have time for the park to run around.

I have to get his stuff around....like his blanket, sedative, snacks and I think I'll scramble his eggs up tonight for breakfast tomorrow. Duck LOVES eggs. (that sounds bad doesn't it?)

We're also on hour #2 of Dora. Next, I'm putting in Diego for 90 minutes, then whatever else I can find to keep his butt awake.

Might even go for a late night Walmart run. Who knows?!?!

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Oh, and I have to recognize my friend's little boy Liam. Go to 2under2whoknew under "These Blogs are Really Cool" and read all about Liam's successes. Michelle's an AWESOME mom and it really shows with her dedication to Liam (and his sister Lily). Liam's made a ton of progress lately and it's all due to Michelle and her husband and all the help they've gotten Liam.

I love........

my husband because he's grown up so much in the past 5 years. He's really not the same person I met 5 years ago this week. Other than my family, a handful of friends back home and my car, he is the longest relationship I've ever had. And most certainly the best. We've recently started spending more time talking at night. We're not hibernating in our corners (me at the tv, him on the computer). The past two nights, we were up til close to midnight, just talking. It reminds me of the first year we were together and we'd talk til all hours of the night. There's something comforting and safe about hearing his voice as I drift off to sleep. He knows I fall asleep, he just keeps talking. It helps him sleep better too because then the thoughts aren't racing around his mind. We've had a rough road getting here, but it was well worth the pay off.

my child because he is such a sweet, affectionate, cute, lovable, funny little boy. He's made great strides in the past few weeks. I'm so freaking proud of my boy. Duck is the reason for everything I do. He's given me a renewed outlook on losing weight and getting healthy for playtime.

my job because it's totally my dream job. Sure I'd like to be permanent, but even though I'm not, I love the work I do. I have an exceptional boss and the ability to flex schedule around Duck's appointments.