Why Is It?

Riddle me this Batman...
Why is it that your child gets better the day you decide to finally take her to the doctor?
Anyone... anyone... Bueller... Bueller...???

Please tell me I'm not the only one that this happens to.

K woke up with a temp of 100, after fighting to keep her under 105 again all of last night. So off we went to the doctor and let me tell you it was a real gem of a visit. Yup, restraining your 3 year old, listening to her scream bloody murder while the doctor attempts to clear wax from her ears, pure bliss, nothing better.
In the end after many, many tears the doctor decided to wait out the fever for another day.
By the end of the night Scott and I were trying to peel Kate off the walls. Me thinks that Miss Thing is all better now. Let's hope I'm right.

I have a confession to make. My dinner tonight consisted of cookie dough and 2 cookies, oh and a bite or two of Scott's chicken, mushroom pasta. And for lunch, I had some grapes and a few pretzels. Well, I should probably make this a full confession and tell you that I had not 1 but 2 Starbucks coffees for breakfast. To my defense the second drink was a mistake the baristas made and it was free. Hey, who am I to turn down a FREE, tall, non-fat, white chocolate mocha?
I officially feel ill. My stellar eating habits today were purely my fault, we have food (Scott and Kate were both served decent meals) I just wasn't in the mood to have a real meal so I ate junk. Oh well.

On that note I leave you with this....
BURP

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Face

Isn't this face absolutely adorable? Truly beautiful.


Now picture this face asking
"Mommy, what's a butthole?"

Yeah, go ahead and pass over the Mother of the Year Award again. I'm batting 1,000 this week.
As an aside, it's really hard to keep a straight face when your 3 year old uses the word butthole. I know, I know, I'm like a 15 year old boy.

In other news, this face is still sick. Woke up without a fever and over the course of the day the fever slowly kept building. I checked her about 15 minutes ago and it's back up to 104.3. Sigh... another night of keeping her temp under 105.
Sleep...???? Sleep....???? Where are you sleep...???

Had Scotty at an emergency trip to the general practitioner. He's developed a new complication. It's not life threatening but it definitely adds to the list of shitty side effects that we have to deal with every day. You know you're in trouble when the doctor looks at you and says "I've never seen anything like this. Wow!".

That's my husband, Circus Freak. His goal in life is to keep these doctors on their toes. He's really good at it.

It was a long day at the Witt house, needless to say. But, it was a good day. Kate's latest thing (besides the butthole inquisition) is asking...
"What's your special, favorite today?"
Which translates to - What was your favorite thing today?
She wants to know every persons favorite part of their day, listening intently and then "ooohhh's" and "aaaahhh's" over their answers.
How in the world did I get to be so blessed with such an amazing little soul?

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Relief

I'm looking for some relief for poor Miss K. She's spent most of the day with her fever between 103 and 104. We had a few moments where it would come down to just under 102 but those would only last for about 20-30 minutes.

For the most part she's been in decent spirits, all things considered. We've watched more TV today than ever before.
I'm sure I didn't rot her brain too much but I don't think the same can be said for mine. I'm sitting here humming the Little Einstein theme song.

What? Some of you don't know the pain and suffering that I'm experiencing in my own head. Well, here you go.


There now you're all looking for relief.

I'm crossing my fingers that the bug that Scott is fighting isn't the same bug that is kicking K's ass. Scott wouldn't handle fevers this high without hospitalization. Lots of hand washing and door knob cleaning going on over here.

Go in peace, loved ones. Go in peace and be well.

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102.7

Hand over the Mother of the Year Award please. I'd like to touch it while I make my acceptance speech.

I would like to first thank my beautiful daughter. Had I not given birth to her I would not be eligible for such an award.
Next in my line of Thank Yous would be my husband. I was so busy worrying about him that I somehow neglected her.
The internet, is always a helpful distraction. And tonight the air conditioning played a pivotal role in missing my daughters fever.
Without all of you I would have never been able to spend an entire afternoon with my daughter having a 102.7 fever and not noticed. Thank you for all helping make this shinning moment in my mommy career possible.


Sigh... a rough end to an even rougher day.
We, us parents, all have days like the one I've had. Here's to making tomorrow better.

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Witch

Do you ever just get a bad feeling? A feeling like something is going wrong, horribly wrong?
Please tell me I'm not the only one that gets the impending feeling of doom from time to time.
I can't quite escape it today. I had these little moments with it this weekend that I was able to dismiss as a little bit of fear and trepidation that comes with navigating new situations.
But today, I have no good reason to have this "feeling" I have. We're home, life is back to normal, or our version of normal anyways. Kate had school. Scott spent the morning and most of the afternoon resting and I did the usual tasks, groceries, laundry, dishes. So why can't I get rid of this?

There isn't any single item that stands out as a problem. There are a few little things that could easily turn into big things but I feel like I have those things under control.
This feeling does help keep things in perspective. Maybe it's just a reminder to slow down and enjoy those little moments. A reminder to linger a little longer while tucking in Kate.. to call my Grams just to chat for an hour... to postpone doing dishes and watch Scott and Kate hide under the blanket, and best of all a reminder that there is a beach just down the road that needs to see a little more of us.
Hmmm... or maybe I just need more sleep. Yes, that's it more sleep.

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In unrelated news. Is anyone else having trouble posting comments to the blog? I've heard it's been giving some problems as of late. I've been thinking about using a different comment provider but didn't really have a good reason to make the change, or so I thought. If you are experiencing trouble posting send me a regular email (address on the right side of the screen) so I can try to get a handle on the problem. Muchas Gracias!

Here's a quick share of one of my favorite pictures from the weekend. I've got others that will be highlighted this week.

Does this make anyone else think of the "hatch" in Lost?

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A Weekend In Numbers

A long weekend spent away visiting my family in Iowa. Here's a recap...

569+ miles round trip
12+ hours spent in the car
5 vehicle occupants
2 states
3 days
229 photos
10 photos worth keeping
3,245 times I cursed my camera and complained about needing a new lens and camera
3 days without naps for the littlest Witt
0 episodes of vomiting
1 accidental potty incident - Don't judge me I had a lot of iced tea.
7 kid shows/movies watched
2 beautiful newlyweds
2 wonderful people celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary
3 new "friends" for Kate
1 baby to ga-ga over
10,745 times my ovaries ached longingly while playing with said baby
20,345 approximate calories consumed by me
4 slices of pizza
1 upset stomach
4 antacids consumed
344 rants about how small towns need Starbucks too
4 new sore spots on Scott's ass
212 new gray hairs on my head
3 new wrinkles on my face

59,456 smiles, laughs and giggles
1,429,367 fantastic memories

Wouldn't change a moment. How did you spend your weekend?

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Junior Miss

Poor Miss K is feeling a little under the weather today. Just a little cold. She spent the day wiping snot from her beautiful little face and amusing us with her antics.
Tonight as I tucked her into bed she gave me this little gem
"Mommy, people are always looking at me cause I'm so adorable. I am so dang adorable. Right Mom?"

Then there was this morning while I was driving the car.
"Excuse me Mommy?"
"Yes, Katie."
"I'm not going to do this."
"Do what Katie?"
"Be good girl Mommy. I want to be a silly girl instead ok?"


Story time at nap brought out this tidbit.
"Wets read the black book again. Me read it for hundred days."
I have a barely audible sigh.
"Why you say "uuhhh" this good book. You not understand it Mommy?"


She a brilliant, sassy little girl and I couldn't love her more.

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Foggy

Do you ever have one of those blank days? A day where your head is so full of stuff it's just blank.
I'm having one of those days today. We had a good day. I got to have a little "adult" time this afternoon which is always good for me but my head is still swimming.
Nothing crazy or terribly upsetting just stuff. A gray, fuzzy haze.

Ah, tomorrow is another day. I'm thinking it will be partly sunny.

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A Trip to the Dentist

Way back when Scott was at Rush you may remember that he broke a tooth. We finally got around to taking him into the dentist today. It only took 4 rescheduled appointments to make it happen.

I've introduced you all to our dentist before. He's the one digging up dinosaur bones in this photo.

He was also the winner of the "Name Scott's Tendon" Contest. To which he finally got his winnings today.

Yes, that contest was months ago but beef jerky and a t-shirt don't ever go bad.

So anyways, back to Scott's trip.
Things went well.
Except, for the part where Scott got nasty vertigo and almost threw up all over everything. Oh and the part where they couldn't get Scott's mouth numb no matter how much "fun stuff" they gave him.
In the end Scott had to do a little white knuckling it to get through.

Kevin and Jen worked as fast as they could.

They stepped over Kate while she colored and they supplied her with Princess Ariel toothbrushes after a through search for Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) had been declared a failure.

They kept us laughing during our two hour visit and hopefully Scott came home with a fixed tooth.
Most importantly it wasn't me sitting in the dentist chair. I find I like Kevin and Jen much more when I'm not the one with the drill shoved in her mouth.

I'm going to go brush my teeth for a full 3 minutes right after I floss.

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Summer Lovin' Happened So Fast

We spent the weekend fully embracing the prime days of summer.
By we, I mean Kate and I. Scott was fully embracing some serious summer air conditioning. As the temps soared well into the 90's with 100percent humidity it was certainly no place to have Scott. Rest assured though he was not left out of the summer fun.

Had a house full of people on Saturday. Eleven adults and seven children all hanging out in the backyard playing in the kiddie pool and going down the ginormous slide that Rob and Becky so graciously brought over.
The kids all seven of them were terrific.

Well, except for this one time for Brogan.

Oh and maybe this one time for Maddie.

And Savannah did yell at me once.


Then we fed their faces and magically, things got better.
Burger and dogs - hot off the grill. Fresh picked (as in came out of the field right by our house a measly 20 hours before we ate it) sweet corn, baked beans, fruit salad, a homemade chocolate cake in honor of S12's birthday and a french silk pie that would prove to add an extra size to my jeans.



Happy

smiling

playful faces emerged once again.

As did evidence of my daughters vanity.
I have no idea where she gets this from. Nope, no idea at all

And then something truly magical happened.

Picture this -
fireflies just coming out to play, the kids returning inside in search of dryer clothes or leaving with their mothers to find the comfort of their beds, the crickets chirping their evening song as the sun begins to set in a fiery blaze behind our big cottonwood tree.
Three friends emerged to toss a little football around. S12, Becky Jo and I alone with nothing but the sounds of summer. A wonderful summer moment, one I haven't had in so many years.

Rob came out to check in with his beloved wife and toss a few balls with us. There is no polite way to say what I witnessed when Rob threw the ball. It was tragic. It made the crap throws I had look like beautiful swans soaring through the air. Turns out that in 35 years Rob had never been able to properly learn the art of throwing a football.
Being the wonderful woman she is, Becky Jo gave him a 15 second pep talk and a few tips and wouldn't you know it, Rob threw that football at S12 like Brett Farve before Brett Farve sucked. Ok, bad analogy because Brett Farve has never not sucked but you get the idea.



Can we all gather around and give Rob a big pat on the back?

Magical summer nights. There can't be enough of them.

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The Future Mr. and Mrs.

Can you see it?


Lots more to share, with photos of course. A very busy day today. Lots of time spent with some of the best people on earth. Good times.

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A Girl and Her Cups

You all saw Kate's newest "toys" yesterday. Well she was at it again today.



She even got Grandpa in on the action.

If this photo was taken in the other direction you all would see the thousands of dollars worth of toys thrown by the wayside so she could play with $2 worth of plastic cups. sigh... At least Christmas will be cheap. Empty cardboard boxes for everyone!

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This Ain't Barbie's Dream House

I came across a blog out there in the world wide web today that was beautiful. Completely and totally stunning.
This blogger had all these magical pictures of her life. Depicting perfectly dimpled cheeks, children's clothes that would make the Pitt-Jolie kids drool, gorgeous surroundings - completely idyllic.

I fell in love.

In this particular post that I was reading the author was talking about enjoying the small things. You know all the little details that we miss everyday. It got me thinking, that I need a little dose of "small things therapy".

Then I got thinking a little more (yes, I over think everything, what of it?). I thought about how I needed perfect pictures of all my small things. I needed flawless words and precise grammar.

Then I thought a little more and decided that this world I live in "Ain't Barbie's Dream House". Hell, the closest I could come to Barbie's Dream House is the Barbie Corvette up on blocks in the front drive way.

You know what, I'm glad. I don't want Barbie's life, I want my life. For all it's heartache, stress, worry, and frustration this life is mine and I wouldn't change it. Changing it might mean I would miss my "little things".


Kate and Scott playing "cups" this morning. Scott would tell her a color and Kate would take a cup from the stack and put it around her in a "circle that looks like an O".


I would miss playing birdies with Kate and Scott. Kate insisting that our wiffle ball is a bird feeder.


I would miss seeing the look on my doctors face when during a conversation about my continued weight loss I say "I don't mind a little extra cushion I just don't want it on my butt".

I would miss the hopeful feeling that comes with once again meeting my dear friend Mr. Lex-A-Pro.

I would miss the way Kate sneaks into Scott's bedroom in the morning and says "boo" to wake him up.

I would miss hearing Scott make Kate laugh so hard that she starts to choke.

I would miss how Kate "reads" me stories that always end with Princess Katie telling Queen Mommy "I love you" and gives her a kiss.

I would miss loving, honest, heartfelt conversations with friends that have to happen over email and text because while our lives may be to busy to see each other it's still that important that we stay connected.

I would miss this.


For all the crappy lighting, bad cell phone pictures and lack of awe inspiring words, this is my version of the Barbie Dream House so what if it's really a broken down mobile home. Embrace your Barbie Dream House.

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Wordless Wednesday

Christmas in July edition-



Christmas Day 2007

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Another Day, Another Trip to Rush

All is well with Scotty. Dr. Jacobs had nothing but good things to say. We removed a piece of suture that was slowing down the healing of his thigh incision and some necrotic tissue on the back of the calf. Good times! Back again in five weeks, we're just hoping he makes it that long.
We also got the all clear for Scott to travel. Dr. Jacobs recommended stopping every 45 minutes to reposition Scott's leg. I started having seizures thinking about the six hour trip to Iowa stopping every 45 minutes with a drama queen three year old. Mmmm... not so much fun.
We think with the assistance of my parents fully loaded, very comfy mini-van we'll be able to prop Scott up in the backseat with a movie on the DVD and only stop every 2-3 hours. We're hoping to take the maiden voyage next weekend to celebrate my cousin Jason's marriage to Chelsea. As with anything in the WWW I'll plan, prepare and make myself neurotic trying to decide if we should go right up until the last second.
Kate had a fantastic day at Grandma's. She covered Papa in stickers, 11 of them to be exact. Got to spend some time playing a unicorn game with Auntie Blue and Uncle Justin. She's been missing Uncle Justin terribly since he returned to work. Uncle Matty has been working on her guitar lessons and reports that my child can already play three cords. That's exactly three more cords than her mother will every play. She's only three and has already surpassed me. Sigh... it will only get worse from here.
The highlight of my day... the bratwurst from Hot Dougs that Kathy brought for us. Seriously, I know I've said it 100 times but, it's the best brat ever!
I must sleep now so I can dream of eating another brat. Farewell....

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That Post That Would Not End Part 2

Ready to go round 2 kids?

To bad we're doing it anyways. It's my blog and I'll do whatever I want to. So there!
*end temper tantrum*

So Friday evening my Aunt Karen (mom's younger sister) her husband Uncle Doug and Uncle Jeff (dad's brother from another mother) and his wife Aunt Beth drove out from Iowa to spend Saturday with us.
Had a great grill out and visit with everyone. We decided to take a group photo. I was more than happy to bust out my tripod and remote shutter and take a little photo action.


This was the best of the 20 or so that I took. Turns out I have really crappy lighting and space for this large of a shot. Who knew? Live and learn.

Lots of laughs to go around. Kate loved "Red Guy" and "Blue Guy". she's got a thing with using people names at the moment. Odd kid. Poor Aunt Beth read more kids books than ever before. At one point though Kate did let Beth, Karen and Grandma lay on the floor and "nap" with her.

Just as the visitors were just about to leave we got a call from Uncle LaVerne (mom's oldest brother) and Aunt Lynn and they were on their way to visit us. The way I figure it the two groups of family passed at the 3 hour half way mark.
Sunday brought a visit from the new "visitors". We went out to pick up Scott's new motorized wheelchair There will be an entire new post on this soon. and have some lunch. Another great visit with more fantastic family.

Today, Scott had a little visit with the podiatrist and Kate spent the morning at school.
Speaking of Kate, I must share a story with all of you. Those of you that are my "friends" on Facebook already know this story but it simply must be repeated.

While Karen, Doug, Jeff and Beth were visiting something came up at lunchtime and I found myself singing "bow, chicka, bow, wow" (read: bad 70's porn music). Didn't think much of it. This is something that I've done before.
Fast forward to Sunday night. I turn on Kate's monitor after putting her to bed and what do Scott and I hear? That's right "bow, chicka, bow, wow" said from my beautiful 3 year old little girl. My perfect angel is singing my interpretation of bad porn music. Scott and I crack up and talk about how funny she is.
Get up this morning and take Kate to school. She runs right in, as usual, this time saying "Hey guys, I have a new song. Want to hear?" and with that my beautiful little girl sings the porn song and does a little hip thrust dance.
The look on the teachers face was priceless. I did what any self respecting parent would do in this position, I ran out of the room as fast as I could, laughing all the way.

Tomorrow another afternoon at Rush. Time to clean up Scott's leg again.

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The Post That Would Not End

Oh gosh, where has the time gone since last I did a proper blog? I don't even remember where we left off.
Let's see... I have no update as of yet on the house showing. I was disappointed to walk in after the showing and not see a check for the full asking price sitting on the counter. Sigh...maybe some day. I wish it would really work that way. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Let's start where we left off.

Aunt Marie was right. This is my dad and I rescuing a chipmunk from the window well. Talk about hysterical. Just a few short days later the cable guy had two other to save.
What the hell chipmunks! Stay out of my window wells.

That brings us to the 4th. Sent Kate to grandma and grandpa's house for the afternoon so Mommy and Daddy could go play with their friends.





Left the comfort of the Steven's home with their beautiful 150+ year old shade tree and headed to Palatine to catch the fireworks and carnival with the family. I've been going to the Palatine fireworks since we moved here when I was 3 years old. Only missing one year to attend Dan and Alli's wedding.

We ate

Spent time with friends. Dad, S1 and S4

Took pictures.

Talked with the carni workers.
This guy was resting so he could go out dancing later.

Kate enjoyed all the rides.



Jen and I got in on the action too. Kate did great with her first Tilt-A-Whirl ride.

I have about 10 pictures like this.

All trying to get a photo like this.

There was only a little bit of this.

And Grandma was happy to make it all better.


After the 4th life went on as usual. Therapy, doctors, errands, school for Kate. With a highlight being an afternoon trip to the beach with S12 his two beautiful boys and Alli with her two equally fabulous boys.
Poor Kate was quite out numbered.











And I shall leave it here until tomorrow when I will catch you up on all the visitors from this weekend.
Another busy week planned. I'm afraid it's filled with stuff that isn't nearly as fun as this past week. I'm going to have to make sure we do something fun though. Not wasting another moment.

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