Hey germs, viruses, bacteria! We want off this ride!

The picture above represents my daily regimen these days. Give or take a few pills, this has been my morning existence since the Things came into my life. I have had to stock up on Vitamins, antihistamines, cold and flu medication, Kleenex, antibacterial sanitizer, Lysol spray, etc, etc, etc. It’s a constant battle to keep all of us healthy.

Can I just say, toddlers are not the best in the hygiene and safety area. Anything goes for these creatures.
I have been used as a giant Kleenex at one point. Very attractive when you go into the office and you have a snail trail across the bottom of your nicely pressed black pants.  I have been sneezed on, coughed at, vomited on, it's fun really it is (insert sarcastic face here).

This cold and flu season has been especially rough. It’s amazing that I am even able to type this as I am fighting off what seems to be the third case of congestion, sniffles, sneezing, coughing, watery eyes, and headache (I think that was a quote from a commercial).  February has not been my favorite month. It started with me, I am the guilty party of this fantastic snifflefest.  I'm sure I picked it up at work because all of my co-workers have suffered from this ailment at one point in the last 2 months.  It was my turn I guess.

One week, cough, cough, sniffle, sniffle, is it a cold or an allergy?  Diagnosis after body aches:  COLD!  Alkaselzer cold and flu was my friend for many nights (at one point I was wondering . Between demanding toddlers and a job that doesn't care if your sick as a dog, you need to show up or it will reflect on your job review.  Talk about pressure!  If I got rest it was usually in the middle of typing an email at work and closing my eyes briefly. I'm surprised no one heard me snoring or that I may have shorted the keyboard from my drool. 

At least at work no one really cares if you doze off.  Once home with the Things, like most moms I am being diverted into a million different directions.  If I even blink too long one of the kids will say "Mommy wake up!".  I occasionally get poked in the eyes to pry open like little tooth picks keeping my eyelids open.  Think of that episode of Tom and Jerry when Tom tries to stay awake

I often feel like this poor cat.

So between being tired and not fully recuperating from all these nice illnesses, we just keep sharing the love in my household.  First me, then Thing One, Mami, then Thing Two.  There are so many variations to this order of getting it, that I can't list them all.  Really we just want off this train wreck now. 

What do you do to try to avoid this fun flu, cold, and allergy season?

Life's defining moments

What is Flashback Friday?  Well since parenthood for me started way before this blog.  I blogged a lot in various places like Myspace, Babycenter Community, and Facebook.  For you to better understand where I come from I have decided to bring those blogs back on Fridays.  I want to be able to relate to all of you that may be going through something similar and let you know you are not alone in your feelings. I will apologize ahead of time, this is the raw stuff before I started getting better at expressing myself via blogs.  Enjoy my friends

February 8, 2007 - The moment my direction in life made a dramatic turn and I embraced the little life that grew in me.  I finally admitted that a family is really what I wanted.

It's funny that just last year I was down in the slumps, all confused about my life and not really knowing which way to go. It took just a few events in my life to lift me out of where I was and put me on the path to a better day.

But none of those moments have topped what I have experienced in the last two weeks. All I can say is that this moment brought tears to my eyes and hope in my heart.

It's a little blurry, but that is my little squirt growing in my tummy, he or she is 13 weeks old and causing havoc in my stomach. And nothing has changed my life more than this.

So what have been your defining moments?

Taking my breath away

Thing One having a good day with Big Cheese. 

I knew that someday I was going to get questions from the Things about why Mommy and Daddy were in different homes. In my imaginary world I was hoping that this would NEVER come up since Thing One was 18 months old and Thing Two was 4 weeks old when we split up. Thing Two has never known really what it was like to live with Big Cheese, all she knows is two homes and she gets to see him Monday through Friday for a couple of hours. Thing One did however miss Big Cheese the first months he was gone from the house. He would often go and knock on the door to the garage, where he could find Big Cheese in his man cave. He would yell out “DADDY!”, his little mouth would droop down to a pout when he got no answer. It would break my heart when he would do that. Eventually Big Cheese and I set up a time and date for him to see the children, and things were ok for sometime and Thing One became adjusted to the routine.

For the past three weeks Thing One has been really whining a lot. He has not been as complacent to go to the baby sitters in the morning. He clings on for dear life and tells me “I want to stay home, pwease call daddy!”. I figured he was just going through a latent separation anxiety stage. I thought back to the day all this whining started. Then it clicked, it was the day in his Gymboree Sports class when I was the only Mommy there. All his friends had their Daddies. He turned to me and asked “Where Daddy?” I lied to him, I hated doing it, but I did. “He’s at work honey”. Big Cheese was actually home or out with his brother, watching a sports event on television, drinking beer. I had often asked him to try and do every other weekend with the kids, for their sake and for mine. He just told me not to tell him what to do and how to run his life. Big Cheese emphasized that he had things to do for himself, like laundry, on his days off. I was infuriated with that answer because in my mind parenting is not just Monday through Friday and things can get done with children around. Is it harder to do, yes. Is it impossible, no. I eventually let go of the idea of the children going to see Big Cheese every other weekend.

Last week I was teaching Thing One his last name and that we all have last names. We went down the list of his family. Big Cheese, Grandpa Cheese, Nana Cheese, Big Brothers Cheese, Thing Two, and Thing One, all had the last name “Olivas”. Thing One then asked about my last name. His little eyebrow furrowed when I told him my last name. He searched my face for an answer and questioned “You not Mommy Olivas?” I just responded quickly and simply “No, mommy is Gomez”. He still looked for more in my face. I moved on to another topic. Then later that night as I put him to bed he asked, with his very big sad baby brown eyes staring at me “Why Daddy not sleep here mommy?”. That one question took my breath away. I had to get my breath back and just had to remind him that we had different houses. I just gave simple answers to not so simple questions.

I think it is harder for me to explain it to Thing One, because I know what it is like to miss a father. I know exactly how painful that is, to know you can’t see Daddy for one reason or another and to really need that part of you. I lost my daddy at 12, and he was the best daddy ever. Even though I have my opinions of Big Cheese and his parenting style, it doesn’t stop the fact that Thing One thinks the world of him and needs him. This is why it is painful for me to explain the simple terms as to why his Daddy isn’t always there. I guess in time it will get better and I just need to trust that I am doing the right thing for him and his sister.

I am hoping this is just a phase and I will see a happier Thing One soon.