And the Word of the Day is: VOMIT!

Yesterday morning, Josh woke up with a cough and a runny nose.  He acted like himself, so I didn't think much of it--really just thinking it was a cold that would pass.  Well, last night, after his bath, he was still acting normal, but he threw up all over the couch.  Scot was downstairs with Tim and Josh while I was putting Daniel down.  That quickly changed because Scot had to work, so I put Daniel in the swing and took Josh upstairs where he threw up again (this time in a bowl).

Of course, this had to happen after he ate a HUGE dinner....right?!  Not like there's any "good time" for vomiting, but right after a big meal--that has to be the worst.

With Scot having to work, I was so worried that I would need to be in two places at once--feeding Daniel while holding Josh's head over the toilet.  Luckily, that didn't happen, but Josh was awake for a good hour and a half begging for something to drink.  I slowly gave him some soda and he held that down all night.  This morning, he woke up bright and bushy tailed!  He continued to pour SEVERAL bowls of Lucky Charms in which he only ate the marshmellows.  He no longer has a fever, but still has a runny nose...poor guy.  Now, I just hope/pray that Tim, Daniel, Scot, and I steer clear of this nasty bug!

Another thing:  Kids always get sick right after a big, family event....we just had my adorable nephew, Brendan's 1st birthday party.  I'm so worried that Josh will have passed the bug on to Brendan or one of the other guests.  :-(

Here is Grandmom (my Mother-in-Law), Kelli (my Sister-in-Law), me, and Daniel

I try to start dinners in the middle of the day (using the crockpot) to make my life easier in the evening hours.  For today, I bought some pork tenderloins and browned them on all sides.  While they were browning, I put some BBQ sauce and water in a crock pot.  Then, I added the browned tenderloins and turned the crock pot on Low!  Come 5/6 p.m., our pulled pork BBQ sammys will be ready!  YUM!

Pork Tenderloins

                                                                                                                                                                   


Brown in Pan



Add to Crock Pot!



Needless to say, Josh didn't attend school today.  So...we've been working on our own September Pre School projects.

We did the Five Senses, how to stay healthy--lots of coloring and pasting

I would Say Josh is just about back to normal :-)

And, finally...here's Daniel!  I even caught him mid-roll!

Down by ONE!

As any new mom will learn, weight gain comes with pregnancy.  With Tim, I gained 40 pounds, Joshua, I gained 60, and with Daniel, I gained about 65.  I hit a plateau for about 3-4 weeks.  It's very frustrating when you are working out EVERY day (and I'm talking about a 30-60 minute work out--EVERY DAY) and there is NO CHANGE on the scale.  Well, I FINALLY saw a change yesterday--down another 4 pounds!!!!  I am also happy to report that I went down a pant size!!!!  SO....19 more pounds to go and 2 more pant sizes to get where I need/want to be!  WHOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!

My workout routine consists of Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Level 3 (that's where I really started seeing an improvement) and then I try to do 30 minutes on the elliptical on top of that.  I haven't done much with the elliptical this week because Scot moved it to the basement....but after the busy day today (I doubt I'll get a work out in), I should be able to get back in my groove.

I also tend to eat either a flat bread bagel for breakfast with whipped cream cheese or an egg white flatbread sammy from Dunkin Donuts.  I do lean cuisine for lunch and whatever I make for dinner (that tends to be healthy with plenty of veggies and fruit).  :-)

And to end on a Joshy note (because all 3 year olds are hilarious)....

The other day, Josh sat on the potty to go pee pee.  As all little boys do, and as many hubbys have told you, after peeing, there is usually a drop or two left on the private area (which is why men "shake" it after using the restroom so their underwear doesn't get wet).  Anyway....we found out what Josh does.  He uses his finger to get the drop off and then wipes it on his shirt!  GROSS!!!!!!!

Next Josh story--this JUST happened.  Tim had some friends come over to ask him to play.  Josh decides to go outside and pee on the grass....IN THE FRONT YARD AND IN FRONT OF TIMMY'S FRIENDS!  I am SHAKING MY HEAD right now as we speak!  Oh, Josh!!!!!!

Inspiration

I must share with EVERYONE what my inspiration for this blog was....first, becoming a stay-at-home mom and all the craziness and fun that goes along with it.  The title came from my favorite movie, "Billy Madison."  They (Adam Sandler and his friends) decide to do their trick of putting poop in a paper bag, putting it on Old Man Clemon's doorstep, and they light it on fire.  SO...the old man comes out, sees the paper bag on fire, and stomps on it with his boot (thereby getting poop on his boot).  When he does this, he shouts, "It's POOP again" and then (quite possibly) my favorite line, Adam Sandler starts laughing and says, "He called the shit POOP" and his friend says, "This is the best night of my life." 

I can only explain it so-so.  You really have to see it.  I giggle like a crazy person every time I see this scene--to the point that tears stream down my face.  Yes--I have the maturity of a 12 year old boy.  What can I say?

Billy Madison YouTube

Two Steps Forward...Two Steps Back

I've come to the conclusion that Josh is too smart for his own good.  You may think I'm nuts--"How is it that Josh is so smart if he chooses to poop his pants?"  Well, he CHOOSES.  He does it when it's convenient for him.  For example, we were having a really good stretch.  Come night time, it's time for a pull up (I'm not so sure about putting him in underwear overnight yet even though 95% of the time, he wakes up dry).  Well, he KNOWS he's in a pull up, so he'll POOP in his pull up!  Then, today....we get home from preschool and he's being his loud, boisterous self.  I told him to be quiet because Daniel was sleeping.  He got all upset, threw a tantrum and  ran in the basement to scream and cry.  I went down there to talk to him and he had pooped in his underwear.  :-/  He made up for that now because he has diarrhea and has pooped in the potty about 4 times in the last 30 minutes.  :-(

Just so it's known...he requested to have his picture taken on the potty...


Anyway...I've been busy canning.  Last night, Tim helped me can hot, cinnamon apples.  They are YUUUUUUMMMMMY!!!!!  I've got pears I'm tempted to can, but I think we might just eat them normally.  I've got so much canned goods that I think I need to take a break from my canning and have my family eat all of our goodies!  Canning is so fun, though!  It's like an art.  I really like taking the bubbles out of the goods.  Once you've put the food in and poured the liquid over, you have to take a small spatula and go around the container to let any loose bubbles out.  It sounds like it would be tedious, but it's my favorite part.  :-)

 

I don't have any pics to post of Tim because it's mostly just me, Joshy, and Daniel!  I'll need to get more of Tim to add.  :-)

Today, I'm going to start off with a Josh story....

It's a weekend morning, and Josh, Scot, and I are watching Spongebob in bed.  Josh says, "Mommy, smell my face!" (which makes me giggle because of Elliot in the Morning).  Josh says, "Does it smell delicious?!"  I say, "yes!"  Then he asks me to smell his mustache (his chin), his belly, his hands "Do they smell good?  Are they delicious?"  THEN..."Smell my PETER!" (which is his PENIS!).  At that point, Scot and I crack up laughing and Josh says, "Is that SILLY?!"  Oh, Josh...

Josh had preschool again today.  We have to take them to the bathroom before we bring them to their classrooms.  Josh peed (yay), but I had to bribe him to wash his hands.  He doesn't like to use soap--WHY?!  AND...I find out today that a case of MRSA has already been reported at his preschool.  :-/  

Josh had a great day...and it obviously wore him out, because here's a picture of him taken at 2:30!!!!

Here's Joshy's first preschool project from last Thursday.  :-)

While Tim was at school and Josh was at preschool, Daniel and I made Watermelon Rind Pickles (3 jars) and Dilly Beans (5 jars).  I was also able to clean a bit.  I had to change the sheets on our bed because Josh got cracker crumbs all over it.  Last night was not a comfortable sleep...

 

SPEAKING OF SLEEP....DANIEL ONLY WOKE UP ONCE LAST NIGHT!  I didn't know what to do with myself, but man....I was soooo engorged this morning!!!!  But, hey...I'll take that with some more sleep any day!  :-)

Dan the Man in his swing!  Thanks, Daniel for a great night sleep!  Can you do it again tonight?!  :-)

Whew!  What a crazy couple of days it has been.  Josh has had some good days and some bad.  We had a good weekend with only one accident...but he pooped his pants today.  I have a good idea of what Buzz Lightyear would look like if he were African American.  :-/

I did catch him mid-victory run after another poop in the potty.  Enjoy Josh in all his Joshyness!

JOSHY STARTED PRESCHOOL!  So far, so good.  No tears--just a lot of fun!  Here's a picture of him on his first day.

When asked what was on his shirt, he replied, "A train track!"  He refused to believe it was a guitar!!!


Today was a WHIRLWIND of activities.  We were a bit rushed this morning (I never thought I'd say that after having to get two boys dressed, fed, teeth brushed, and out of the house by 6:30!).  We dropped Tim off at school, ran to the grocery store (but I had to nurse Daniel in the parking lot of Bloom first--I got lot's of "Mamacita" yells from the landscapers), came home, unpacked groceries, I nursed Daniel again, we headed to the post office, did a quick Mary Kay drop off, ran to WalMart for more canning supplies, hit up the library, came home, nursed Daniel again (he's a big boy), got Joshy settled, and went in for my Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Level 3.  Then, it was time to pick Tim up from school and get started on my pickled asparagus and watermelon rind.  Oh yeah...can't forget about dinner.  Thank goodness I have Apple Juice Chicken in the freezer (so all I need to make is rice and veggies).


You may be surprised that I'm canning.  Well, if I'm going to stay at home, I might as well become super domestic.  I like the term domestic goddess.  Kinda has a nice ring to it.  Anyway, here are pics of my current projects.  I will update you as the come along and include reports on how tasty (or yucky) they are.

Yup--here I am in all my domestic loveliness. 

And here are the projects I'm currently working on:

Pickled Asparagus

Pickled Watermelon Rind (notice the waste is minimal!)

 Joshy and I also worked on a project today consisting of what is HEALTHY and what is NOT HEALTHY.  He refused to say that ice cream and corn dogs were NOT HEALTHY. 

And Daniel and Tim had to get in on the action as well!  :-)

A Revelation....

Okay...something WONDERFUL happened today.  Joshua POOPED in the POTTY!  WHOOOO HOOOO! 

Many of you know that we've been having difficulty potty training Josh.  It's been frustrating because Timmy was potty trained by the time he was 3.  Josh...well, he's about 3 and 1/2 and it's been VERY difficult to get him to poop in the potty.  

Last week, I laid down the law.  If he was passing gas, I made him sit on the potty until he pushed the turd out!  Here's a picture of this experience:

Yes, he's screaming.  Yes, he's pissed.  Me????  I felt like screaming as well.

So...a couple of days ago, I was able to coax him on the potty.  He pooped....and when he did, I screamed like a little girl...I jumped up and down...I clapped my hands....and I think I twirled around once or twice.  Actually, I know it was twice because that's what got Josh going--he started cracking up...LAUGHING AT ME because I was sooooooo excited that he had squeezed a turd in the toilet and I didn't have to wipe the smashed up poo from his butt.  WHOO HOOOO!!!!!!!  He was rewarded with Bubble Tape.  Which he ate.  Like swallowed.  So he's got a huge wad of gum in his stomach that will stay there for 10 years.  When do I get a parent of the year award?

That victory was short-lived.  Last night, as soon as Josh was put in his pull up, he dropped a bomb.  It was enough to evacuate everyone from the upper level.  Back to square one.......

Today....Josh was pant less.  I mean...no pants...no underwear....no pull up....you know, free ballin' it.  I started smelling something a little off (it was time for our daily movie--after I work out and when Daniel's asleep...I generally nod off).  Immediately, I freak out thinking I'm going to find a big, brown log on my leg.  Thank goodness, it wasn't the case.  To quote one of my favs, "A fart is but the lonely cry of an imprisoned turd."  This was the case.  The turd was speaking--he wanted to come out.

Josh RAN to the bathroom...."MOMMY, I HAVE TO POOP!"  I said, "REALLY?!"  I ran after him...he's shouting, "MOMMY, I POOPED IN THE POTTY!  I TOLD YOU I COULD DO IT!"  I felt like saying "I've KNOWN you could do it...you've just chosen NOT to."  He's a hard head like his Aunt Pam!  Here's a pic from today's victory

Today, he was rewarded with Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.  Oh, wait.  Chocolate is a laxative.  What have I done?!

I've toyed with the idea of creating a blog about the trials, tribulations, and JOY of being a stay-at-home mom...and I finally bit the bullet and DID IT!  I hope those that choose to read will find some humor in parenting. :-)

What better title than, "It's POOP Again" (coming from one of my favorite movies of all time.)  If I had a quarter...even a nickle for every time I've uttered those words........

The stay-at-home life: we finally got into a routine when the end of August hit and it was time to get Timmy running off to first grade.  Once we got the hang of that, it was time for Josh to start pre-school.  I'm hoping we're able to settle in to a nice routine now that Tim and Josh are settled in school. 

Quick introduction to my three sons:

Here's a pic of Tim reading...

Here's a rare pic of Josh.  He was so worn out after running arround and vaccuming, that he passed out right on the floor.

 And here's Daniel

That's enough for today....tomorrow, on to some humor!