Crazy Memphis Weather

Ok. I mentioned in a previous post about how it is impossible to dress my children appropriately because of our crazy Memphis weather. Well, now I have proof.

Thursday, it was very warm. It was 72 degrees for a high. I dressed Jack in shorts with a light jacket because the weather was so mild. When we got home that afternoon, I took both boys out to swing because the weather was so nice.

Here's a picture of Jack swinging. He really didn't know what to think about it.

Matt and I had plans for tonight. We hired Tina to keep Jack so that I could go to dinner with some girlfriends, and Matt was planning to take Trent to a wrestling event here in Memphis. Well, about 2:00 the sky opened up and the snow started. It has been snowing hard all afternoon. We both had to cancel our plans for tonight for fear of driving conditions. It stinks, but here is my proof of our crazy weather. Check out this snow!

So there is my proof of our crazy weather. 72 degrees and warm to 32 degrees and snowing in a 48 hour time span. Ridiculous!

Jack has been pretty good this week. He seems to be getting a little congestion, but the humidifier and nasal suction seem to be working. He is back to being his happy self. He thinks that his exersaucers are jumparoos. He is constantly jumping and shaking them everywhere. Too cute!

Not My Day.... Heck, Not My Week!!

Each day it seems to be a little worse. Jack had a clean bill of health on Monday. I have been following doctor's orders, but he still has a snotty nose and congestion. Trent started the week off great with MUCH less whining and doing as he was told. He is slipping down the hill again. He has cried and whined a lot tonight.

On the way to the doctor on Monday, I looked down at my speedometer while driving down Houston Levee Rd, and it said I was going 90 mph. I freaked out thinking that my blood sugar was low, and I was really doing 90. Wrong. My speedometer is broken. I never know how fast I am going, so I just pray that I am "guesstimating" correctly. A speeding ticket would really top off my week!

At school the language arts teachers are under scrutiny because of grade distribution. Yep, you guessed it! I am a language arts teacher. I have had administrators in my room twice this week. I have to turn in my lesson plans and all of my assessments. AND, I know that someone at the school board is peeking into my gradebook (they're online) and judging me without ever stepping foot in my classroom.

I have tried to have a good attitude about all of this, but today has been a rough day. First, Jack woke at 5 AM. Well, my alarm clock goes off at 5:45 and those 45 minutes are important to me. :( Then I headed to school. I had a decent morning, but after lunch things went downhill fast. We are reading the novel Farewell to Manzanar in my classes. I always walk around the room while we read, and I sit in empty student desks. I sat down in the back of the room by a male student. He asked to go to the restroom while we were reading and I let him go, not thinking about why he couldn't wait until we were done. He came back, and I started reading one of the more difficult paragraphs. When I was about halfway done, he bent over and threw up everywhere. Three times. I stood up and walked to the hallway and told him to go to the restroom. I pushed the call button and asked for assistance ASAP. Of course, my classroom was in an uproar by then. The kids were grossed out. I was grossed out. It took a little while for the custodian to make it to my room. He used the stinky sawdust junk and then mopped my floor. It was nearly impossible to finish class during this process.

I had another class after that one. I had every student clean the desks with Clorox wipes. Then I sprayed Febreeze to help the smell. I was going to work for a while after school, but the thought of what happened in my room and the smell sent me heading home earlier than I wanted. I went home, stripped down, threw my clothes in the washer, and took a hot shower. I didn't want to pick up Trent and Jack with any germs on me. I was late picking them up, but I think it was a good idea to try to keep them away from the germs.

So, as you can see, I have had better days. I took an Airborne a little while ago, and I am glad that tomorrow is Fun Friday. I can wear jeans, and hopefully, I can get some things accomplished before leaving tomorrow. Please join me in crossing your fingers that all of the stomach bug germs have left my room by the time I return in the morning.

Sweet Trent

Well, we have been working really hard with Trent to get him to stop whining, and start being a big boy. He has had two great mornings (knock on wood) this week with no whining. He has also taken a bath each night without a fight. These are big steps in the right direction in our eyes. I just hope I don't jinx it with this blog.

When I picked Trent up from school today, his teacher pointed out his work on the wall. Check out his pot of gold!

Isn't that so sweet? His daddy hasn't even been talking about getting a new truck. I had to take a picture with my phone and send it to Matt. We really have two SWEET boys. They just aren't always sweet at the same time! :)

My only concern with Trent right now is that he LOVES orange, and being from Tennessee that causes us great pain. We want to hear that MAROON is his favorite color! Heck, I would take blue! Just not ORANGE!

This shows you how much he loves orange too.

I hope to get Matt to hook up the scanner so that I can scan the infamous Potato Head color sheet. Trent needs it saved for when we embarrass him and tell the story of him sticking a green crayon up his nose. So on that note, to be continued....

Well, I now have to add one more picture. After I posted this blog, I went to the livng room to see Jack asleep on his blanket. You can also see where Trent tried to cover him up so he wouldn't be cold. What a good big brother!

Latest Update on Jack

I took Jack back to see Dr. Ellis today. Dr. Ellis wanted to check his ears after 10 days on Augmentin. I honestly expected to hear bad news, but to my surprise, Jack's ears are clear. Now we just have to do "regular maintenance" to keep him from getting another ear infection. "Regular Maintenance" includes using saline and suction in his nose (I hate this process as much as he does), using a cool mist humidifier every night, and keeping him appropriately dressed for the weather.

Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but keeping my child dressed appropriately has the be the hardest thing to do - EVER! This weather in Memphis is ridiculous! It is sunny and 70 degrees one day, and icy and 20 degrees the next. Some days we see both of those temps in the same 24 hours. The other problem with dressing Jack appropriately lately has been the Augmentin. He has had more "blow out" diapers in the last week than I could ever count. That also means that he has gone through countless outfits per day. His teacher even described putting Jack into the Jumperoo and turning her back for one minute, only to turn around to poop on the floor, in his socks, all over the jumperoo, and who knows where else! God bless his sweet teachers because they have dealt with the mess more than me this week. He even had to have a bath one day at school!

Hopefully, we will have a return to sweet and happy Jack. No more Augmentin which will hopefully lead to no more blow outs or wardrobe changes. He has been a very happy baby the last few days, and it has been WONDERFUL! To all of the other mothers out there - may you have a wonderful week with no illnesses, no bugs, and lots of sweet love from your children.

Smiling Jack :)

Jack got his second tooth today!

We haven't had super exciting Sunday, but we have been busy. Today I finished grading a box full of projects that I brought home. Matt finished folding and putting away an enormous amount of laundry. Trent took a long nap and practiced the skill of not whining. I will try to find something exciting to blog about soon... I hope...

Crayons and Noses Don't Go Together....

Well, I have had a rough couple of days. I don't want to get into all of it, but here are some funny parts.

Background Info: Flight of the Conchords sings a song with the lyrics, "I Got Hurt Feelings."

Now, the last couple of days Trent has been a real handful with all the whining! Matt and I are making a united front and always "living up to" what we say we are going to do. Trent has gone to bed crying and lost a few crayons in the last week during this process.

Today, Trent came home and cleaned his room to get a Little Debbie snack. Since he started the afternoon off on a good foot, I printed out a Mr. Potato Head color sheet for him to color. I told him that if he stayed in the lines, his daddy would print another sheet for him when he got home. Here is the website for you other moms and grandmas who want it - http://www.coloring-book.info/coloring/


Here is Trent doing a GREAT job staying in the lines! (with his tongue out just like his mommy)

He was doing such a great job. Then Matt got home with dinner from Zaxby's. We ate our food, and then Jack and I headed to my school for the PTSA meeting. I was sitting in the quiet cafeteria filled with 100+ people when my phone started singing, "I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars, no handlebars." That was Matt's ringtone, and my face turned bright red. :)
I went into the hallway and called him back to find out that Trent had stuck a green crayon up his nose, and it was not coming out. Matt tried to get him to blow it out, he tried massaging down, and he tried with tweezers. Finally, he buckled Trent in and headed to the emergency room.

After the meeting at school, I headed home and tried calling Matt, but there was no answer. Once home, Joey explained to me the story of what happened, and then Matt called. He was in the car on the way home.

The story... Trent told Matt that he saw the guys with hurt feelings in his magazine in the bathroom. It took Matt a minute to catch on to what he was saying. Trent saw an article about Flight of the Conchords in Matt's Blender magazine. This made Matt start to really laugh which caused Trent to really laugh and PLOP! Out came the green crayon. Matt had already done all the paperwork and paid, but the people gave him his money back, and now we have this funny story to tell. :)

What a day!!!!

In closing, Jack has started falling asleep in his high chair A LOT lately. Here is a pic from yesterday that we thought was hilarious!

Jack has his 1st tooth!

Can you see it? It has barely broken through his gums.

Well, since my post on Saturday there have been a lot of goings-on around our house. On Saturday, Jack got sick with a stomach bug. He got sick on me and once more before the babysitter came over. We really thought he was just nauseated from his antibiotic. Matt and I went to Floyd and Mel's, and we had a three course fondue dinner. It was so yummy and lots of fun. Then we went to Comedy, TN. It was really funny.

Then on Sunday, I woke up to the stomach bug. Lucky me! I spent the entire day in our bedroom or bathroom. Matt tried his best to keep the kids away from me so as to not get them sick too. After spending about 36 hours in the bed or bathroom I started to feel better today. So far, no other flies have dropped. We'll see if I was able to contain the sickness.

Then today, Jack threw up his morning bottle, so we kept him at home again. Trent went to school. It is amazing to me that Jack can be such a sweet, happy baby when he is sick. Right now, he is a Daddy's boy. I think it's because Matt has been taking care of him so much while I was sick. Anyway, I hope that my next post won't include any new illnesses.

How cute is this picture of Matt and Jack?