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Teething monster strikes again

Posted on October 7, 2008 8:07 am by TheAngelForever

Let me go on the record and say that the canine teeth are evil little boogers when they decide to come in. I vaguely recall these teeth being the worst when NHL was little, but my memory was quickly restored thanks to JSL. The little guy has been an absolute mess the last week or so. He does not want to eat, prefers nursing (YES he is still nursing) more often, will not settle at night to sleep, and is up many times during the night.

Last night was particularly bad. He did not settle until we pulled out the Motrin and gave it to him. Of course it helped him to get to sleep initially, but did not last. JSL was up at least 3-4 times during the night. After the second time he was up howling, he ended up in our bed where we all seem to be able to sleep some.

Prior to these evil little teeth pushing their way into JSL’s mouth, getting him to sleep at night was fairly easy. He loved to snuggle up with his new silky blanket and a pillow. Thanks to a great giveaway on An Island Life we were introduced to Kennedy Grace Boutique on Etsy. Cathi’s baby blankets are absolutely amazing. JSL quickly declared the beautiful silky soft new blanket his. We had Cathi make it with our last name so either of the boys could use it. NHL gladly allowed JSL to have it since he is quite attached to his "squeaky" blanket buddies.

Thanks again to Kailani and Cathi for helping to make our non-teething night time routines so wonderful. I can not wait until these pesky teeth are in and JSL can go back to simply curling up with his silky blanket to have sweet dreams.

Categories:
brothers contests jsl losing my mind nhl photos sleep teething vent Web business

Singular Detox

Posted on October 6, 2008 9:02 am by TheAngelForever

Nobody ever tells you that taking a child off of an allergy medicine could be hazardous to your own health. Seriously, taking NHL off of Singular, thanks to it poisoning his body, has been hellish for all involved. His mood, behavior, tantrums, and impulsivity have been better overall, but every so often the horrid Singular shows its ugly face.

Last Monday NHL had a fabulous day at school. Tuesday and Wednesday he was home for Rosh Hashana. Tuesday was not too bad. He was pretty good at services, but Wednesday was a different story. I took NHL to the services for kids in kindergarten to second grade. What I witnessed was pretty much what NHL’s teachers had been describing. He was unable to sit still, he was nervous acting, he acted on pure impulses and had no control of what he was saying/doing. It was horrible. Of course I understood that my child had no idea of what he was doing, but the other people there did not. Our of sheer horror of looks and stares I finally was able to get NHL to leave with me. Of course he came with me making a major scene. I was mortified!

Thursday NHL had another rough day in kindergarten. His teacher greeted me with the news that he had received five checks/warnings. In addition to this, she mentioned that he had actually hit another child. The consequence of this was to sit and write a letter to the other child and no recess (probably the worst thing for him). Thankfully NHL’s teacher is very understanding and knows that we have only been off the Singular for about a week and it will take 2-4 depending on who you talk to.

*sigh*

Friday was a fabulous day. I was nervous picking NHL up from school since I never know the report I am going to get. Both of his teachers were at the door and put up a "0" – telling me that he had NO warnings all day! One of the teachers actually came out to make sure that NHL told me about all of the wonderful things he had done. She also showed me his notebook with a sticker in it! The kindergarten kid was so happy. He immediately wanted to call JL to tell him about the day. We did that, stopped by Papa at work and then went home. As a treat NHL had a special Friday night with Nana. She said he was like himself again. Calm, talking, and focused. . . things that had been missing for months.

As we start a new week I am hoping for the best, but know it may still take more time. Patience for items like this have never been my thing. Hopefully Super NHL can show everyone that he can beat that horrible Singular out of his system!

Categories:
allergies health awareness nhl photos vent

Aloha Friday #16

Posted on October 3, 2008 12:05 am by TheAngelForever

Aloha and TGIF everyone!

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating.

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My question for this week is inspired by the great VP debate:

Did you watch the VP debate last night? Did it change your view or feelings about anything? No need to go into specifics if you do not want to.

My husband and I watched the debate. We were quite interested in seeing how things would shake out with Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. My feelings about qualifications going in changed a little toward one candidate, but made no difference in the way I will vote on November 4th.

Of course while we were watching we also played Palin Bingo. We each used three cards at once to make it more interesting. These are my cards from the end of the debate:

And at 9:47 EST I called out PALIN. . . . not long after I complained about having a miserable group of cards.

Thanks to TechyDad for making a fun game to play and share with everyone. Oh and we plan on making something generic for the next Presidential debate. So stay tuned!

Categories:
Aloha Friday fun jl laughs photos real world news television web fun

Days of fun for next summer

Posted on September 29, 2008 9:00 am by TheAngelForever

Have you ever done something out of the blue that just shocks you? Last Saturday JL and I did.

While at Six Flags an old friend was there and happens to work at the park. She mentioned that we may want to look into upgrading our day passes. She said that they were running a special where you could upgrade your pass from the day to a Season Pass for the 2009 season, as well as the rest of this fall. The price for this — only $40 a ticket.

I know $40 sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t when you consider that a day pass for this year was $41 alone! Mind you we were able to snag an online sale for our post-Labor Day tickets for $25 each (not bad for 6 1/2 hours of fun). Still if we go more than one time from May to September of next year the passes pay for themselves.

The really nice part, our season passes are good at all of the following parks (15 in all):

(1) La Ronde, Montreal, (2) Six Flags America, Baltimore/Washington DC, (3) Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Vallejo (does not include Waterworld), (4) Six Flags Fiesta Texas, San Antonio, (5) Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, (6) Six Flags Great America, Chicago, (7) Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Louisville, (8) Six Flags Magic Mountain, Los Angeles, (9) Six Flags Mexico, Mexico City, (10) Six Flags New England, Springfield, MA, (11) Six Flags Over Georgia, Atlanta, (12) Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, between Dallas and Ft. Worth, (13) Six Flags St. Louis, (14) Six Flags Wild Safari, New Jersey, and (15) The Great Escape, Lake George, NY

In addition to this, we also receive five free guest tickets to use on certain days and a coupon book to save within the park. Not too shabby if you ask me. So now we can think about going on trips to some other Six Flags parks close by to us next summer. The possibilities are quite nice actually.

So next year we can look forward to more memories at the park.

The best part is we are pretty much done with Chanukah gifts thanks to this!

Categories:
decisions family fun jl looking back nhl photos play time summer

Fun nearly ruined

Posted on September 27, 2008 10:49 am by TheAngelForever

A week ago at this time we were on the road to Six Flags. JSL was staying with my parents for the day and we had a special day set for NHL. Our things were ready to go, our prepaid tickets printed and everyone was excited for a fabulous day at the park.

When we arrived at our destination we opted to drive past the park and head to lunch. We quickly found a cute little pizza place and went there. After lunch we got back into our car and went to the parking area of the park. As I was loading things up to go inside the park I looked at JL and asked where my purse was.

Ever have one of those moments where your heart skips a beat and you can not breathe? This was my moment.

My purse was not there. I then recalled putting it on the seat next to me at the pizza place. I am not used to having a purse, especially a small one and just forgot it. I quickly went to an attendant in the parking lot. He told us to go to the gate and ask for our parking pass back since we had a prepaid. JL hopped out of the car and went to the gate where we had paid. They quickly gave it back to us.

As we drove a short distance it seemed like forever to me. I had to literally remind myself to breathe. My heart was ready to leap out of my throat. Everything was in that purse – cash, credit cards, gift cards, drivers license . . . the works! The tickets for the park were safely in the backpack in the car with us.

When we finally arrived back at the restaurant JL ran in. People were sititng at the table where we had been. They saw how anxious JL was and asked if he was looking for a purse. Sure enough when they sat down they saw it and gave it to the people of the restaurant. Everything was still inside – thank goodness there still are honest people.

When we drove back to the park my heart was slowly settling back down. We were lucky enough to be able to go right back to the parking spot we had left (right next to the bridge to the park) and went in.

After a few rides and watching NHL’s smiling face I was able to put the scare behind me. Thank goodness our day was not ruined by my stupidity!

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While visiting in Looney Tunes National Park NHL and JL went onto a little roller coaster. Here is a sign that we passed on the way there.

Here are the boys waiting for and then going on the ride. It was anticlimatic after the Bobsled ride, but fun none-the-less.

Of course when you are near Wile E Coyote there has to be TNT. I thought this was cute and too funny not to take a photo of.

When we were ready to head out of the area they still had the water on and JL joked that he would toss NHL in to cool off.

Clearly finding my purse was meant to be. Someone was definitely watching over us. Had something different happened in the morning, none of these memories would have happened.