You Say It's Your Birthday

Yesterday was my 36th birthday. I realized this morning that it's been twenty years since I got my driver's license. TWENTY YEARS! How's that for making you feel old mom?

My birthday always makes me reflect on my life, kind of like my own personal New Year's. Last year I had a hard time with 35. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm not where I thought I would be at this point in my life. I mean I was supposed to have at least two Emmy's on my shelf by now. I really did want to be an actress when I first came out here. My problem was I was afraid if I put my dream of getting married and having kids on hold for acting, neither one would happen. Living out here you see many people still working in a restaurant at 45 never getting anywhere. Acting, relationships, kids or anything else. I didn't want to be one of those people. So I chose the husband and kids. That's not to say I can't go BACK to acting at some point. Maybe I will. I do know the one thing that has helped me most in this past year, is starting this blog. Writing these stories has made me feel like I am more than just a mom, that I am still achieving another dream I let go of years ago. The one where I was a writer. I suppose I am technically a writer. I mean I have made $100 off this site. I thank all of you who have supported me in the past year with this little venture and given me feedback. I'm also glad to have helped some of you with my stories. So in that spirit, here's how my birthday went!

I decided for my birthday that we would take the girls to play mini-golf. We haven't done that with them yet, and I thought it would be fun. Well, at least I thought it would be something we could do together outside of the house that wouldn't cost a bunch of money. My only stipulation for yesterday was that I didn't cook or clean the kitchen. I didn't care if we went out for every meal or Andy cooked and cleaned himself, I just wasn't doing it. I got that wish. Plus I got to sleep in! Until 7:45 to be exact! How lazy am I?!

Sonya was the first to wake me, running into the room with pictures she had colored and drawn. Then Andy got up with all of them to take care of the morning rituals of potty, diaper changing and milk giving. I laid in bed and watched some of my backed up DVRd shows. It was nice being alone... for a minute. That was pretty much the extent of my relaxation for the day though. They all came in around 8:30 with more cards and a present for me. Then the girls decided to play the music on the keyboard in our room and dance around, while Andy played the electronic drums. This is an event that occurs daily in our house. Usually, I'm making breakfast or cleaning when it happens, but today I relaxed and watched the girls twirl in circles around the room, giggling the whole time. It was one of those moments I wanted to bottle up and let out in about another twenty years.

Andy went and picked up breakfast for all of us at a diner down the street. No cooking, no cleaning! Then we went to play mini-golf. Now, I knew up front this was NOT going to go smoothly, but I was okay with that. I knew Georgia wouldn't really care much about it and Lana was for sure to lose interest after ten minutes, but Sonya might enjoy it. It went pretty much that exact way. Lana and G were done at about hole 3. Sonya would have played all day if we let her and she was doing really well by the end. And yes, it was a bit crazy and Lana got cranky for about half of it, but we were out as a family doing something fun. Or funish.

We went home and put Lana and Georgia down for a nap, and my grandfather, who turned 83 the day before, stopped by with a card for me. Lana wouldn't nap. That wasn't going to be good for dinner, but oh well. Later on in the day we played outside for a bit, because it was a gorgeous day. Around 4pm we headed to dinner. Gotta hit the Early Bird Specials with this group! We went to a local place that is on the kid friendly side, without being a Chuck-E-Cheese. It was going okay and then Lana started to meltdown when Andy tried to get her to taste some of the mac and cheese we ordered as an appetizer. I know-what kid doesn't like mac and cheese?? Lana. The answer is Lana. So I picked her up and took her outside where she sat on a bench for a couple minutes in "time-out", screaming. I finally got her to calm down and brought her back inside. We finished our meal in peace, and they brought a little ice cream sundae with a candle in it. The girls and Andy sang Happy Birthday to me and then they devoured the ice cream.

On the way home in the car Sonya said to me,

"Did you have a good birthday mom?"

"I did, Sonya," I told her. "Thank you."

Andy scoffed at me and said, "Good? It wasn't relaxing for you at all, and you had to deal with their craziness all day."

I just shrugged my shoulders. I mean, at least there wasn't a mess in the kitchen, so I considered that relaxing. Then I started to really think about what he said, because I had enjoyed my day, despite the fact that I was mom all day and not relaxing by myself in a spa somewhere. Don't get me wrong, I do love going to the spa, but on my birthday I wanted to be with my family. I've had a lot of birthdays where I've gotten to relax and do nothing, before having the girls and I'll have plenty more in about 15 years. However, how many birthdays am I going to have where my kids WANT to hang out with me and draw me pictures? I know I'm not going to to have a lot of birthdays doing what I got to do yesterday. This is my life right now. Early mornings, diaper changes, dancing around the house, naps or lack thereof, screaming kids on mini-golf courses and restaurants, no relaxing during the day whether it's my birthday or not. I am a mom. This is what I do. I work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. So why fight it? I always wanted this and even though I do need some spa days here and there, yesterday I wanted to be a family day and everything that comes with it. I know in 20 years or even 10 years when I turn 46, it won't be like this. I probably will be sitting by myself in the spa, relaxing and missing the birthdays that were anything but. That's when I'll have to open the bottled up moment of the girls twirling around and giggling in my room, and remember one of the best birthdays I ever had.

Twins

I went to Costco on Thursday with Lana and Georgia. They sat side by side in the shopping cart, as they always do. In the past few months, since Georgia has been looking more like a toddler and less like a baby, people have been asking me if they're twins. Usually it's when we're out shopping somewhere and they're sitting down. The other day at Costco I had four different people at four different times ask me that question. FOUR! I wasn't even there that long. I don't think they look like twins, but then again, I know them and know I was pregnant at two different times, so I could be biased. What do the rest of you think?

Girls Behaving Badly

Yesterday I broke down and decided to call the Doctor for myself. I've been feeling crappy, but mostly I was tired of getting only three hours of sleep every night. I was spending the rest of the night coughing up my left lung. Or my right. Who can tell, really?

My regular physician had no appointment times, but the nice receptionist found me an appointment with another doctor at 1pm. This was not exactly the best time for me, but I had to take what I could get. Since it was a last minute appointment, the girls had to come with me, because I had nobody to watch them. Oh, and it was in the middle of Lana and GG's nap time. I was hoping for something fun like this to happen! Then I could write about it on here!

I explained to them all, when I picked Sonya up from school, that we were going to the doctor's for Mommy and everyone was to be on their VERY best behavior. I told them if they were really good, they would get a treat later. Perhaps a popsicle when they played outside in the afternoon. They all agreed they were going to be very good and listen to me. Well, Sonya and Lana promised. Georgia would go along with whatever the other two were doing. I reminded them and gave them this speech again on the way to the doctor's and then on our way up in the elevator. They once again swore they would be extra good.

We walked into the waiting room and, thankfully, there was nobody else there. I checked in, and the girls found chairs to sit on. Then they decided to see what was in my backpack to keep them busy. Sonya and Lana found something to color and Georgia occupied herself with some shiny Mardi-Gras type beads. They were all quiet and behaving nicely. Then Lana decided she needed to pee-pee RIGHT NOW! We quickly packed everything up and the receptionist pointed us in the direction of the rest room. When we came out there was a nurse waiting to take me to a room. She led us to a bigger room to accommodate my stroller and even got an extra chair so the girls could all sit. She kept commenting on how cute and sweet they were. And they were. They were being extremely pleasant... at that moment.

After the nurse took my blood pressure, and my reason for the visit, she left while telling me the doctor would be in shortly. I praised the girls on how great they were acting and told them to keep it up. I took out some snacks to make sure we got through the rest of the appointment quietly.

Then the doctor walked in.

My quiet sweet girls immediatly left the room and were replaced with screaming, rambunctious demon children. I really have no idea what happened. One minute they were sitting there calmly eating their goldfish, and the next they were fighting over the bag and who was sitting where on the chairs. At one point Lana screamed. Piercingly loud. Meanwhile, I'm trying to referee them while telling the nice doctor lady how I couldn't sleep because of my cough. She just gave me a look, that said maybe it was more than the cough keeping me up. I apologized a few times for them, but she didn't seem too bothered by it. I, however, was a bit mortified by how my children were acting. Then, as she was leaving the room to write me a couple prescriptions, she looked around and said,

"Maybe we can find a plastic glove to blow up and entertain them with." Which pretty much translates to- "Wow! Your kids are bad!"

No, no, don't worry, because I'm going to entertain them with my mad mommy face and hushed can't-really-yell-in-here mad mommy voice. Oh and the promise of no treats. If that doesn't work, I'll take away Christmas. So after the door was closed that's just what I did. I told them how badly they were behaving and that there would be no popsicle if this didn't stop RIGHT NOW. They all looked at me wide eyed and innocent, like they had no idea they were doing wrong. Then Sonya said,

"But this is booooring!"

"I understand that, and I don't want to be here either, but we have to be so PLEASE! Just behave for five more minutes," I asked.

They did manage to redeem themselves when the doctor walked back in to give me my prescriptions. They sat and didn't fight or argue. Even if it was only for a couple minutes this time. The good news is that doctor was not my normal doctor and I most likely won't ever have to see her again. This way she can't think of me as the patient with those, "out of control kids." Hopefully, that's not the kind of thing they write down in your chart, otherwise I am SO screwed.

Bucket O' Money

Now that everyone in my house is almost completely healthy, I of course, started to get sick on Friday. I had no time to be sick.

Saturday, Sonya had a school carnival, and I had volunteered weeks ago to work one of the game booths for a couple hours. Even though I wasn't feeling my best, off we went for fun and games. I was actually not feeling that badly most of the day. Andy was there with the little girls for a bit, then took them home for a nap. Sonya stayed with me, to play more games and help me with the booth. After I was done we walked around a bit more. I bought some tickets to try and win a few things they were giving away. I'll just tell you right here. I have ZERO luck. I never win in Vegas, unless it's winning money I've already lost. Unlike my friend Melissa who wins EVERY TIME she goes. I'm not even kidding about that. Even though I've bought tickets for raffles and such throughout my life, I've never been the lucky recipient. I can't even win office Super Bowl pools. Okay there was the one time I won tickets to a Poison concert on the radio when I was fifteen. That was 20 years ago, though. So when I was buying the tickets for the raffles, I just looked at it as more money I was contributing to support the school.

Sonya finished playing the games. When she did, she got a special prize for playing them all and a ticket to put into a raffle to win either a Nintendo DS or a Bucket o' Money. We opted for the money, since my kids have NO idea what a Nintendo DS is, and that's just fine by me for now. We left as the carnival was winding down and they were starting to call out the names of those who had won the prizes. I was sure Dadekian wouldn't be one of those names, so we headed home.

Yesterday I was talking to one of the other mom's, who has a kid in Sonya's class, and she asked me if we won anything. Of course we had not. Her kid had won lunch with their teacher, which was one of the raffles I tried for. Oh well! Better luck next time.

Then this morning around 9:30 my phone rang. I was changing G's diaper and just assumed it was one of my sister's, and I figured I'd call them back. I grabbed the phone, when I was done, and called my voice mail. I was completely surprised to hear the voice of a woman, I didn't recognize, informing me I had WON THE BUCKET O' MONEY!! I WON! Or Sonya had. Not sure which now. I mean it was because of her playing the games we got into the raffle, but it was my money that bought the tickets to play the games. No matter. We were getting a BUCKET O' MONEY!! I made arrangements with the lovely woman, and asked if she knew just how much was in a Bucket o' Money. She told me $100. Okay so it wasn't the 25 grand I was hoping for, but still! I actually WON SOMETHING. Or Sonya and I did. Either way. BUCKET O' MONEY!!

I stopped to claim my prize before I picked up Sonya from school. When we were walking back to the car I told her I had a surprise. I opened the door to the car and she saw Lana holding the bucket. She gasped, threw her hand over her mouth and said,

"Mom WE WON!!"

"I KNOW!" I yelled back.

Then she said to me, "I've never won ANYTHING!"

"Me Either!" I told her.

So I guess we both kinda won. I figured we could all do something fun together this weekend, since my birthday is on Sunday. Maybe some mini golf or bowling followed by a meal out. Who knows if $100 will even cover that, but at least it'll pay for most of it. As far as I'm concerned won money should be spent having fun. Well, when it's not 25 grand anyway. It almost makes up for the two weeks of sickness we've had to deal with. Almost.

BUCKET O' MONEY!!!

The Dadekian Infirmary Part 2

Okay, so here is the next part of the ongoing saga of my life in the petri dish.

Wednesday morning Sonya started the day telling me that she kept waking up and taking "sleepbuggers" out of her eyes all night.

"Let me see your eyes," I ordered.

Sure enough, the right one was red. Great. I threw a couple drops in and sent her to school. I noticed Georgia also had an abundance of eye buggers which looked a lot like pink-eye. I made a phone call to the pediatrician's office and asked if they could call in another prescription. I wasn't sure I'd have enough with the first one. They asked if I wanted to bring them in to confirm that was what it was. No thanks. I know. No need to make ANOTHER trip in there. Little did I know I would be back there anyway that day.

The most unfortunate part about Wednesday, was my parents leaving. I had no backup once I dropped them off at the Burbank/Bob Hope Airport. I felt bad they spent most of their time visiting, helping with sick children. I was very appreciative of it, however. Andy was back at work, even though still not feeling well, and I had another kid with pink eye at the very least. When I returned from picking Sonya up from school yesterday, Lana was a hot mess and I mean that literally. Her fever was back up and Georgia's was just back. I, once again, called the ped, who I now had on speed dial number 2, and made an appointment for that afternoon.

Now, at first I felt stupid going in yet AGAIN. I mean Georgia and Lana were in on Friday and he didn't see anything serious, and the Dr on Monday checked Lana's ears finding nothing. Turns out bacteria grows fast. Here's the list of ailments we walked out of there with:

Sonya-Pink Eye (so far)

Lana-Bad ear infection in the left ear, pink-eye

Georgia (the worst one) double ear infection, pink eye, sinus infection, bronchitis

Needless to say, two of them were put on antibiotics, which taste yucky, according to them. So THAT'S been fun trying to make them take it. Georgia has an inhaler, which she doesn't "yike". And they all have to have the eye drops, not twice a day, but FOUR TIMES A DAY, for FIVE DAYS! Damn you Boxstein! The other doctor only said twice! You have not lived until you've had to give three kids eye drops in their eyes, FOUR TIMES A DAY! I'm thinking of developing it into a game show.

I'd like to tell you that is where the story stops everyone is better now, the end. But you come here for more fun than that right? Well we deliver!

Wednesday night, Sonya started to act lethargic and said her throat was hurting. I was hoping it was all in her head, since everyone else had been sick. I had felt the same way most days at one point in time. It was not. She woke up Thursday morning with a slight fever and not acting like herself at all. I called the school and let them know she would be out sick, and turned on the TV for everyone. For the day. I didn't care anymore. I wanted them all to sit and relax as much as possible, so that's just the way it was going to be. They decided to watch Cinderella and I went to my room to workout. In the middle of my workout, Sonya walked in nearly in tears, telling me her ear hurt. This was NOT possible. The doctor checked her YESTERDAY, and she had nothing but the pink eye.

I gave her some Motrin and called my good friends to let them know I'd be visiting once again that afternoon.

"Can ear infections happen this fast, she was just checked yesterday?" I asked the nurse on the phone.

"Oh yeah," was her response.

So after naps off we went to see David. We're on a first name basis now. I mean this is four times in ONE week. I think I saw him more than my husband at this point. When he walked into the room and saw us, he just said,

"But I checked her yesterday!"

"I know, but she was complaining that her ear hurt and she had a little fever this morning," I told him.

He took a look in her ear and looked over at me nodding his head.

"Yup. Ear infection. Just starting," he informed me.

Then he looked at her throat, and added possible strep throat to that list. Good news though! The antibiotics for the ear infection will clear up any possible strep.

So let's review, just in case you're having a hard time keeping up. Between everyone sick in my house the ailments are: pink eye, sinus infections, ear infections, bronchitis, and strep throat. The medications are: antibiotics, eye drops and an inhaler.

By this morning, everyone seems to be feeling much better. I guess it's only natural, that I started to feel like crap. I've been warding it off for two weeks now with Emergen-C, ignoring it, and wine. I guess that only works for so long, when your surrounded by crazy germs. Unfortunately, I can not take the day off or watch TV all day, so I will power through, with Motrin and more Emergen-C. The bad news is Sonya's school carnival is tomorrow and I'm working a booth. The good news is I'm leaving all day on Sunday to get my hair done with my friends. If I wasn't a mom, I would probably stay home and rest, but since I am, I'll get more rest at the hairdressers. I'm looking forward to it.

Now, I'm off to call Terminex to see if they have a way to Lysol bomb my entire house.

On more thing-

Thanks again Mom and Dad for all your help and the day at the spa! It was so helpful having you here. I promise next time you come, I'll lock the girls up for four days beforehand to keep them away from ANY germs.

The Dadekian Infirmary Part 1

Posting has been light over the last week for a couple of reasons. The first one being EVERYONE in my house has been sick. Except me... yet. The second being, that my parents were here, which helped the first reason greatly, but left little time for my writing. I thought I'd tell you the tale of my life in the petri dish. Or the events in the HOUSE OF SICK. I think it may end up being a two parter.

It all started about a week and a half ago when Georgia developed a fever. There were no other symptoms, just the fever. That was two weekends ago. It lasted for about 5 days. Last Monday night, Andy said he wasn't feeling so great. He went to work on Tuesday, but by Wednesday he was holed up in our room armed with Motrin, a box of tissues, OJ, and the Playstation-which he never plays anymore. He got continually worse with a fever and then somehow contracted pink eye. Now for those of you who don't know, pink eye is EXTREMELY contagious. And I mean VERY. So you can see where this is going, right?

By Thursday, Georgia's fever was gone and she seemed fine, but Lana started to spike a temp. Friday, Andy went to see his doctor and was prescribed antibiotics and eye drops. He was told to stay away from everyone for two days. Kinda impossible in our house, but he remained in our bedroom. When he wasn't in there I Lysol bombed the room, with the windows open. I also took Lana and Georgia, who's fever was back, into the Pediatrician on Friday morning. Now, keep track because this was our FIRST visit. There will be a quiz at the end. Dr. Boxstein, who is a great Pediatrician, found that what they had appeared to be viral... for the moment. So Motrin, rest, and liquids, were the only prescriptions we walked away with. That afternoon the calvary arrived, and not a moment too soon. My parents were home to help me with dinner and the girls' bedtime routine that evening, since Andy wasn't much help at that point

Saturday, there was no one to add to the sick bay. Georgia seemed to be doing better but Lana was still very fevery and started her food strike. Andy was still on the crappy side of sick. And as much as I love my husband, he is not a fun sick person. Not that anyone is when they're sick, but there are levels of crankiness. He and Lana are at the bad end of that scale. We didn't do too much that day, as far as the kids were concerned. My mom and I ran some errands and the girls rested or played at home.

Sunday was Easter and we all planned on going to church in the morning. Andy was going to stay home and wait for my Grandpa and we'd see how the girls were in the morning. Sonya was still doing fine, and GG seemed to be better. The next morning appeared promising as the girls raced around the house searching for their Easter baskets that Easter Bunny had hidden. Once they found them, Sonya ate her entire bunny's head. The other two were not as interested. Lana was even striking eating chocolate. What the hell? BUT, she didn't really have a fever to speak of, so off to church we went!

As soon as we got there Georgia wanted nothing to do with my father holding her and asked for me. All morning she had been fine. All morning she was running around and ate her breakfast. A lot of it. Which is why I was surprised when I sat down with her at church, and she threw up all over herself and me. I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised, because when she did sit on my lap she laid her head on me and kept saying,

"I frow up mommy. I frow up." Then she did.

There was no cleaning that mess up easily. I went home to clean her up and left my parents and the other two kids at Easter Mass. The whole way home in the car she kept saying,

"I frow up. I frow up mommy." Yes, Georgia, I'm well aware. The horrible smell kinda gave it away.

After I got her home and got her and myself cleaned up, I left her with Andy and headed back to church. Mass was about three quarters of the way over. (Score for me! Just kidding mom.) When I got there Lana decided to lay on me and she was starting to feel warm. By the time we got home she had a fever again, and I put her right down for her nap.

The rest of the day was good. We had a nice meal and the kids had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. As long as Lana had some Motrin in her she did okay. When it wore off though, not good times. Georgia didn't get sick again for the rest of the day and even ate a bit of food later on, so I had no idea what her vomiting was about.

Monday my mom wanted to go to the outlet mall to buy the girls some new clothes. We opted to leave Lana with my father for the day to rest and not have the other two to contend with. Andy was finally on his way back to work. Even though he wasn't 100% I think he needed to go back. Okay, I needed him to go back. Georgia seemed completely better. Sonya, still good. After we picked her up from school we headed out. We had a fun day shopping and dining on In-N-Out burgers for lunch. We arrived home about 4:45 and as soon as Lana came running out to greet us, I saw it. Gunk in her eye. Uh-oh. I showed my mom and she agreed it looked like pink-eye. I ran inside, called the pediatrician, and since I live two minutes from them, was able to bring her in for a quick look. (That's the second time for those keeping track) Sure enough, that's what she had and how fun is this! I got drops to put in her eyes. TWICE A DAY!! Do you have any idea what it's like to put eye drops in a three year old? Consider yourself lucky if you don't.

I was thankful when Tuesday came, because my parents were sending me to the spa for part of the day as my birthday/Mother's Day gift. The kids were fine all day. Lana still had her fever and gunky eyes, so she was up and down and still not eating, but Sonya was still healthy. That was a plus. Georgia had a cough, but the fever hadn't come back since Friday. When I came home my father mentioned Georgia's eye looked like it had stuff in it. I checked it and didn't see anything, so I didn't worry about it. Then yesterday happened.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this riveting tale! Coming tomorrow afternoon when I have more time to write. Here's a preview:

We go back to the doctors! TWO MORE TIMES! And just WAIT until you hear what everyone has! Stay tuned...

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

This was the conversation I had with Sonya on Friday night when I was trying to get her to go to sleep.

Giggle and squeals are coming from her and Lana.

Me-"Sonya and Lana that's enough. You need to chill out and go to sleep."

Sonya-"Oookkkaayyy"

More giggles and squeals.

Me-"I'm serious you guys. That's it! Go to sleep, NOW!"

Sonya and Lana-"Hehehehe!"

Me-"If you guys don't knock it off right now, the Easter Bunny isn't going to come tomorrow night."

Sonya-"How will he know not to come?"

Me-"I'll call and tell him."

Sonya is quiet for a minute, then says, "You can't because you don't have his phone number."

I walk out of the room at a loss for something to say, and trying hard not to burst into laughter.

Mom-0

Sonya-1