Our Grand Rapids Weekend. Part One.

Last Saturday, after three weeks, my husband was FINALLY back in Michigan. Although we had planned for him to be out those three weeks it was still a LONG time. We decided to stay two nights in Grand Rapids so he could leave early on Monday. I drove down Saturday morning with the kids. I forgot a lot of the things I needed...I hate having to pack for three people and make sure it all gets to the car. I like the help but of course Mark was in Grand Rapids. Anyway I was making decent time on the road until I got just outside Muskegon. There was a huge traffic jam. Someone had driven off the hill and three lanes of traffic was at a standstill. Henry loved seeing all the state police cars, fire trucks, tow trucks, etc. After making it to Grand Rapids and picking up Mark we lunched at Chili's. It was...not that great. I just felt that we should have gone home instead of staying the weekend there. Little did I know...
We stayed at the Quality Inn Terrace Club on 28th street. It was actually very nice. Off the lobby they had a study, sitting room, and garden room (complete with birds). Also a breakfast room where they served pizza in the late afternoon and a free buffet breakfast in the mornings. The breakfast was actually really good. Way better than continental breakfasts. It had hot foods as well as breads and cereal. And it was free! Our room was large and very nice. The only problem was the crib....or lack of one. We were going to put the kids down for a nap and the front desk staff said a crib would be up shortly. An hour later still no crib. Called front desk...one is coming....still no crib. Mark went down to talk to someone and suddenly no one knew if they had one...BUT...no one would go look!!!! We went to the Goodwill to see if they might have one for sale cheap. The place was packed! Seriously fighting for parking spots. And the place was full of BMWs, Lexus, Escalades. No crib (pack-n-play) there. When we came out someone had hit our car!!!!! I was so MAD! I still get angry every time I think of it. Grrr.
So...we went back to the hotel. The kids and I stayed in the car while Mark went in to talk to someone again about the crib. I really did not want to spend a minimum of fifty bucks on purchasing one. While waiting for Mark, Henry started crying. I was soooo not in the mood for it. He kept getting louder. When I asked him what was wrong he managed to say his head hurt. I got out of the car and was holding him when Mark came out. Henry was hysterical. He kept saying his head hurt and no matter what we did he cried. We hopped into the car and were on the way to Meijer for some medicine. While stopped at a light Henry started throwing up. I was about to get out of the car to help him...forgot we were in traffic on 28th street! So now we had a crying, puking, head hurting little boy. Mark and I were....not freaked but worried...a lot. Instead of Meijer we started heading to an urgent care. Mark is from the Grand Rapids area but he was asking me where an urgent care was. Like I would know. He was flying down the road when Henry quieted down. I asked if his head still hurt. Nope. He was fine. Here we were panicked about our child and now he was fine. Thank you God! So our urgent care visit turned into a meijer visit. Our poor kid was covered in puke and did not smell good but he felt fine!
We had an uneventful dinner and went swimming. The kids love to swim! It was very busy at the pool though. A big group of adults drinking and not watching their kids. We stayed as far away as possible. Then it was off to bed...with a crib. Mark had been successful. Someone finally got off their butt to look for one. And that is my only complaint about the place.
More to come of our weekend but for now I have to make some kiddies some lunch.

My Brother...the Elbow

My big brother Matt finally got the results back from his MRI. If you may recall Matt was in the hospital last month with severe pain in his arm. Everyone was really worried but no one could give a answer to what was wrong. It turns out that back in the summer when he originally injured his elbow while wave boarding what happened was a piece of the elbow lining broke away. This piece then ended up in the joint causing it to swell, hurt, and lock up. Apparently this piece of lining can jam the joint up again if it doesn't heal properly. Right now it is wait and see if it will fuse to the bone. They are giving it six weeks and if everything is healing fine then there will be no need for surgery. Matt says he was about 90% of the movement back in his arm so everyone thinks it is on the road to recovery. Yippee!!

Oh Boy! Big Boy!

Yesterday was not a good day. I was so stressed out. And Irene has really bad diarrhea. Yuck...yes. She has had it for a week now and it is not going away. Her butt looked, and still looks, like it has been sunburned. And she was in a FOUL mood. So add that to the mix and that the dogs woke the kids up after only a half an hour nap...well the day was shot to hell.

I was suppose to go to Ludington to look at a place. I almost didn't go. But my mom and I packed the kids into the car at 5:30 and went down. It turned out to be a really good night. We stopped for dinner at Big Boy. I had a yummy chocolate shake of which Henry drank a large portion. Irene ate like a trooper! I was so surprised considering her ouchy butt. I was disappointed that the Starbucks in Ludington closed down. I really wanted some coffee but the shake made up for it. Irene fell asleep in the car on the way back home. Thankfully she did go to bed shortly after we got back. Henry was a bit hyper and he was not happy that we missed the vroom vroom show (Top Gear) since he had been talking about it all the way home. "Vroom vroom on, mommy." I managed to go to bed in a fairly decent mood considering how the day started. :-)

Sunday Pancakes and Living on Mars

Sunday dawned with....SUN! No rain no rain no rain! Finally! My mom and I got the kiddies dressed and went to the pancake breakfast at church. Roo was very good there and ate a lot of food. She was a big fan of the ham. Surprising but good. She chowed down like a trooper while Henry was his usual antsy self picking at his food like a bird. He did eat a lot of sausage. Hmmm. My kids are carnivores. As usual the breakfast was yummy and for the four of us to eat it was only ten dollars. That's a good deal! We got there at 11:30 which turned out to be a good time. After we served ourselves and sat down the place got super busy. Henry went peepee on the big potty twice while we were there. I was very pleased. My mom and I were trying to enjoy a second cup of coffee when a huge group of people came in. They filled the entire table we were at plus more. I decided it was time to leave. It was way to hot in there and getting noisy too. As soon as we stood up our places were taken.

At home I put the kids down for their nap. I was planning on enjoying the quiet and reading. Lu Lu cuddled with me in the chair. BBC America was playing a marathon of the show "Life on Mars" which I had seen a few episodes of some time ago. Mom and I decided to watch. It was very good. I loved the crappy flat that the main character lived in. What a dump. My mom, who has been to England several times including in the seventies, said the flat was typical of England in the 1970's. (And that's not a insult people!) I managed to watch the majority of the shows while doing laundry, cooking, etc. There is an American version starting this week on ABC. Since it is on Thursday at ten I think I will give the first episode a chance. TV Guide gave it an 8 out of 10 so I am hoping it will be good. I used to watch Coupling on BBC America but the American version was horrible so I am crossing my fingers on this show.

It seems like we didn't do much yesterday but it was a full day with more than just tv watching. Although I also watched Tru Blood (do they spell it with an "e"? I can't remember). I read that entire book series before I knew it was going to be a tv show. Needless to say they have changed a great many things and I am not pleased. I also watched Mad Men. And a little of Dexter which is another book series and has been greatly altered. But seriously there was more to the day then tv! I swear! Really! Why are you looking at me like that? Anyhoo...I recommend the BBC Life on Mars and the book series for Tru Blood (which is not a title for any of the books...author is Charlaine Harris...1st book Dead Until Dawn). The Dexter series is a bit gruesome but if you like that....

Anyway, it is time to go tell my noisy children that they are meant to sleep when put to bed...

Thank God it was Friday!

After a hellish week I was lucky enough to have a great friend take me out to the bar. My darling Shannon and I went out Friday night. My kind mother took care of the kiddies allowing me the chance to relax and have grown up talk. I drove to Shannon's new house and got the grand tour. I also met Peanut, a very cute doggie that I think has the hots for me. Shannon says he humps everyone but I am sure I am special...not just another leg. I love Shannon's house. It has a lot of room and is going to be a great place for Shannon and her husband to live. After the tour we went to McManigals, a bar down by Morton Salt. I am not a big drinker. I rarely drink since I have to be the one to function and take care of the kids each day (hubby is on the road) so it was a big deal. We both had a "rum runner" which is a mini pitcher of lots of rum and some fruity drink. I don't know what's in it besides that but it sure was good! After that we decided to just talk and not drink anymore. It was so great to talk about all the crazy crap going on right now and it was even better to hear someone else's stories. I love when other people have messed up relatives and can relate to my nutty family. We decided to have one more drink which later turned out to be not such a good idea. Shannon ordered us vanilla vodka and cranberry juice. Wow! For one I did not know you could get vanilla vodka and two it was sooo yummy! I highly recommend it. Anyway we left after that drink. It was a late night out for me which ended at 11pm. Yeah...late. It was such a fabulous time and a well needed break from the crazy life. Thank you Shannon!
But.....the next day.....I woke up with a bad headache and a yucky tummy. It was not the worst or even near the worst hangover I ever had (I used to party when I was young and stupid) but it was unexpected. You'd think I would have known it would happen but it has been a long time since I had that much to drink and really didn't know what I could handle. Thankfully my mom let me sleep a bit and was a great help with the kids. We didn't do much that day since it was yet another grey, wet day. It was a good day anyway. My mom can be cool when she wants.
I have a better mind set for the start of the week now.
My dog Chang and Mom's dog Heinz snooze together.

Grandma's favorite poochie Heinz a.k.a. Heiny

Mud Rucking At Grandma's

Shockingly the rain stopped for half an hour today. Long enough for us to get boots on and head outside. The rain we've had all week is just adding to the short tempers. The sunshine was a huge welcome today. We mucked about in Grandma's yard. Grandma gets a lot of deer through her yard each day and they do not have very good manners. They poop a lot and they poop anywhere and everywhere. Hence the outside boots. No deer poopy allowed in the house! The kids enjoyed the fresh air even if it was a bit on the chilly side. Henry loves to splash in puddles and today he was allowed to splash away. Irene clomped round in her boots. When we were all too cold to remain outside we decided to go for a ride just to be out of the house for a little bit longer. Thank goodness we decided to take cover because the rain rain rain came down down down and washed away our piglet (sorry too much Winnie the pooh).
The kids are actually napping right now. Surprisingly they are quiet and went down without any hassle. Of course Irene did have a HUGE temper tantrum during lunch so perhaps she is tired from all that drama. I would like a BIG glass of wine right now but it is rather early (1pm) so I think I'll wait. I don't drink except on the rare occasion but this week has been a very difficult one...so I am planning on a little outing with a certain friend tonight!!!

Why Can't My Daughter Sleep?

From the time she was born Irene has been a bad sleeper. Henry will wake up and lay in bed enjoying the quiet. He actually sleeps too. Irene hates to sleep. She gets mad when you put her to bed, anything wakes her, and she doesn't sleep for long. Right now she is crying because the dogs went crazy barking and woke her up. But will she go back to sleep like Henry? NO! There are days that by the time she goes to bed I am almost nuts with having listened to her scream and whine. Don't get me wrong...I love the stinker but she is sooooo over the top with everything. You can't look at her wrong or she is having a fit. I feel like I never get a minute to myself. And there is no letting her "cry it out." That only makes her scream...really scream, like "these people are killing me" scream.

She is a super funny girl and she knows how to cute it up but geez kid...stop with the DIVA attitude.

In all honesty our current housing situation is adding a lot to my frayed nerves. It is hard to do anything here when she is awake and since she doesn't sleep much...Well I can't get things done. Showering has become a nightmare and I NEED my shower. Gotta have it. Get really upset without it. It is a strange hold-over from the post-partum depression. So if I shower while she naps (or what I call a nip since it is so short) then I don't get any time to do other things. I am losing my mind. I wanted to banish my mother the other day for waking her up. Please don't move people! Don't even breath.

Her crying wakes Henry and then neither gets a good nap. So instead of just having a cranky Roo I also have a bratty Henry. And since I know this is how the day is heading I start getting edgy cause I know there will be no shower, no quiet, no easily made dinner. No it's going to be a hellish afternoon and evening and I am already in anxiety over it. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

-thanks for letting me vent.