The Day After Thanksgiving...and Beyond!

We had a pretty wonderful Thanksgiving this year. This was the first year my mom and I didn't cook in what seems like forever, so Anthony & I were able to just lounge around the house most of the morning with the kids and relax before the hectic afternoon at his Aunt's house. Justin and I both started getting sick on Wednesday so by Thursday I was in desperate need of sinus medication. Thanks to Mucinex D, by the time we got ready to go leave, I was able to function and had plenty of energy all day. Dinner was great (what I got to eat of it thanks to children who wanted to cling to mommy) and it was fun spending time with family. The only down side was that my brother-in-law's six-year-old is a monster and her parents are worthless! I took toys for the kids to play with as I know that Anthony's Aunt's house is not childproof and they get bored easy there. My niece (aka Damien) kept taking them away from them and refused to share. At one point she actually socked Justin in the face. We are talking closed fist to the nose and my poor little man just didn't understand what the heck was happening. I can understand that kids will push and shove a bit, but the whole aggressive thing is hard for me to take, especially from a six-year-old. I tried not to make a big deal of it even though I was fuming inside. I tried to explain to the little girl that she needed to share the toys and that she couldn't hit the kids. She quickly shouted, "I didn't!" and when I told her I saw her, she shrugged it off and said, "Oh...it was an accident." At that point her mother, who watched the whole thing without saying a word, got a little huffy with me because I corrected her child and then sent the little girl outside to play. I'm not big on disciplining other people's kids, but I refuse to let unruly children bully my kids. I just don't understand parents who allow their children to behave that way. Of course, with my sister-in-law I'm not surprised. Her six-year-old is still in a diaper, why would I think she would be able to control her child at all?

Friday was a pretty good day. I planned to get up before the sun came up for Black Friday shopping, but since I was still feeling pretty lousy, I decided to sleep in instead. Christmas shopping can wait. The kids seemed to be recovering quickly from their colds and my niece (Alexis's favorite cousin) came over for the day. We spent hours playing outside and even though neither of my children took naps yesterday, they had so much fun. Alexis roller skated and rode her tricycle. I was so excited because she finally pedalled on her own! She still doesn't quite get it, but it's close. She was so surprised when she did it that she stopped, but soon I think she'll be riding everywhere. Justin had his first day of sidewalk chalk and loved scribbling on the ground. Of course he loved eating the chalk even more and desperately wanted to roller skate with Alexis, but settled for riding on the power wheels instead. Hopefully he'll learn to push the button on his own soon. My back is killing me from bending over to make him go. My niece ended up staying the night so the kids were up really late which meant mommy had to stay up late too, so I was exhausted by the time I went to bed at 12:30.

As if the sick kids and me being sick wasn't enough, Bella decided to get sick too. Last night she had to go outside what seems like every 30 minutes. I bet she squatted to pee 10 times or more every time we took her out. The last straw was when she peed on the bed. Off to the kitchen she went whining and crying the whole way. Poor Anthony ended up sleeping on the couch with her so I had to get up extra early when he left for work to stay with her. I wasn't terribly mad because I knew she wasn't feeling good, but there is nothing worse than having to change the bedding at 5 am and get up at 7 am after very little sleep. Plus it was downright cold last night and I froze every time I had to go outside. My vet was closed this weekend! Grrr. I ended up taking her to another vet in a neighboring city that was super busy since it was a Saturday, but I managed to get her in. As soon as we pulled into the vet's parking lot, Alexis got sick. She threw up everywhere...but most of it was on her. Today was the one day I decided not to pack extra clothes, so I had to call my step mom to meet me at the vet with a change of clothes. Unfortunately, I didn't explain how severe it was and she only brought a shirt, so I ended up running to the store to buy some pants so Alexis didn't have to run around covered in vomit. I think she was just car sick because she seems to be fine now. She ate well at lunch and is running around everywhere, so I'll just have to watch her. Anyway, 4 hours and 67 dollars later, I'm finally home and hoping that the kids will nap. The vet determined that Bella "might" have a bladder infection and gave me some antibiotics, but since her bladder was empty they couldn't find out for sure. Hopefully she'll get better soon because I don't know if I can handle much more. I'm physically and emotionally exhausted. Time to take the kids to the bedroom and see if we can all take a nap. Cross your fingers!