just about to taste the wand

touch my chair and I scream

anybody wanna help with dog poop?!

colors look good AND taste good!

this is serious business!

Yesterday I text Dana that the kiddos were still asleep and all was well. He wrote back "they are so sweet looking as the contemplate our demise". Isn't that the truth! We have had an interesting week with Autumn running a fever for the first four days of it. Fevers suck. There is never a moment that we feel "this is okay", when one of the kids is running hot. With the RSV deal last year a fever is like setting us on the ledge of a 20 story building and saying don't worry about it, the worst that could happen is a strong wind. Thankfully on the first day of our week of sickness Grammie took Dominic. It helped so much! Autumn only wanted to be held and rubbed and was in and out of normalcy the entire day. We brought her to our bed (Yay!) since her coughing was making her gag which was making her throw up any solid she ate. Dana is great with clean up, not the act of watching and catching puke. That's my department. So with a couple late night changing of the sheets, re-brushing teeth, rubbing cool towels on a hot forehead, and praying ever second we were awake we made it through the week. Dana even had a free day Thursday so I was FREE! I ran some errands and re powered just by being out of the house. Dana is convinced that Autumn gets "sicker" when I am around. That's okay. I like that she needs me right now. Friday morning I wasn't so sure about that;)
Dominic is a screamer. The type of scream that your ears ring for a few minutes after he is done or while he is taking a breath. My nerves were rattled and frayed and bleeding by the end of this week. I adore my babies. I love their feet, even when they stink, I love their cute little bottoms even after I have just wiped a nasty poop, I love the first morning kiss with NASTY morning breath (theirs, not mine, my breath is always fresh) I love to hear them smack when they eat even though we are trying to encourage "mouth closed while you eat", I love every thing about them. However, after a few days alone with a very sick two year old and a perfectly healthy active needs to go go go one year old, I didn't know if I was running into walls or if they pain in my mind was real. I couldn't help Autumn anymore than with what we had been doing. I just held her, but I could see Dominic wanting to play. "Please God make me two people just for this week!". Dana as always stepped up the second he got home but the funny thing about kids, they just wanted me. I kept saying it's okay, their fine, don't worry, I will hold her, I've got him, it's okay. I didn't realize until I left the house on Thursday I was run down just like our baby girl. So, Friday started as any other day. Autumn on the mend and Dominic everywhere. I could tell Miss A. was feeling better because she wanted to play and was dancing. "Thank you God today is going to be a great day". I started to clean up the house. Just a baby steps, don't want to get to involved in case someone needs me. I told myself this is what I need. I don't have the personality to be on the floor with them all day, I need just a few minutes to get the floors done. "WAAAAAAAA!!!!" I'm running down the hall and jumping the barrier to the living room "What's going on Autumn". "I pushed him". So honest. Okay, I can handle this. Let's take a new route since "No pushing, no screaming, no no no..." isn't working. I think to myself "Gemini was a great dog. How did I train her? Repetition. Here goes. "Dominic, no screaming." He screams and I put him in his crib. "I love you buddy, no screaming, see you in one minute." Back to the livingroom, "Autumn, you can not push your brother. Sit on the couch. Time out, no t.v. no toys and no talking". "But Mom...." "NO TALKING". Tears.  Minute up grab brother. (Read somewhere that timeouts this young should be their age, he is one, one minute). Playing, laughing and we dance for a bit, more laughing. They love when I try to kick my hips with my ankle. Get the visual? Okay, happy tired kids I have a few swipes of the mop left I can do this. I leave the room and hear a bit of confrontation starting and a scream. One warning. "Dom, no screaming. Autumn sit on the couch and calm down a second." "Okay Mom." I turn around and hear fast, deliberate footsteps, I peek around the corner just in time to see Autumn rip a book out of Dominic's hands and shove him like she is a first draft tail back (for non football fans that means it was hard, and I had to ask Dana the position). Honest, that was it for this Mama. "ENOUGH! No more screaming I don't care if she pushed you! YOU DO NOT SCREAM (yes I was screaming, way to lead by example psycho) AUTUMN!!! AUTUMN YOU DO NOT PUSH YOUR BROTHER...EVER! To your rooms (my heart is about to come out of my chest and I think I spit my tonsils out)." Off they go to their rooms. I gave them each two minutes. Ha. Take that. See how strong I am. We had another early morning clashing of the minds but it ended with me holding Dom on my lap getting kisses from him and Autumn leaning into us giving us both kisses. Holy wiped out. I checked out the clock. We had been alone for one hour. Oh crap. Needless to say the rest of the day went great. I kept up the no screaming and took him to his crib when he did scream (today he is back to square one, no one said it would work, remember it took 13 years for Gemini to be incredible!) Autumn stopped pushing for the most part but started to pout when she felt the urge to shove so spent some quality time in her room too.  Autumn took a 2.5 hour nap and Dominic a 3 hour. Discipline wears us all out! I sat in the quiet afraid to breathe and plucked my nose hair. Yeah, did I mention I now have nose hair. What the...I don't recommend plucking. I was crying and snotting all  over myself...wonder if you can Nair it?;) Dana came home early so I could go to my friend Kristys' daughters basketball game. I ran out of here. The weather was terrible and I went anyway!!!! So, this a.m I have returned (I didn't stay out all night silly I came home but left again this a.m) after picking up our fruit, veggies and bread basket. Sit her with no visible hair in my nose and nearly healed nerves. Nearly.