MOUSTACHE

Lucas sporting his first ever "Moustache"..... Well, at least that is what he was calling it.

I will forever wonder what brought on my children's obsession with personal care products for women. 'Cause this is not the first time Lucas (and the other stinkers for that matter) have gotten into such things.

One time I caught the boys playing "shooter guns" with my tampons, another time they were using them as earplugs. And the mini-pads? They have managed to find many uses for those. As I mentioned above, Lucas has used one as a make-shift moustache [which technically would be a beard if you look at the placement, but close enough, right?] I have also found the kids sticking sticking them all over their bodies, claiming they were covering themselves in protective armor, and they also found them quite useful as eyepatches when playing pirates.

Their imaginations seem to be endless when it comes to playing with mini-pads and tampons.

Funny thing is, Ava never is a part of all this. Just the boys - little partners in crime.

THE PAST SIX DAYS ~ IN A NUT SHELL

Very, very long post, filled with ramblings about my very long week that most likely will be boring for most to read. Just wanted to warn, so that if you choose, you can skip it altogether.

Wednesday Morning, the Mr. got himself up out of bed at the ripe hour of 4am and left on a little road trip to Ohio. What for? To deliver a boat to a customer.

Me? I got up at about 6am and started the daily routine. Drag kids out of bed, dress them, feed them, and race to get them on the bus by 7:30am. Then it was on to Anthony. Pull the PSP out of his hands, get him dressed, lunch made, and off to preschool for the day. The rest of the day was spent with Sam and Liv - play, lunch, nap time. Kids off the bus at 2:45, Ava with a friend for an afternoon playdate. Snacks are given, pizza ordered, quickly eat, drop of Ava's friend, race to Lucas' Karate graduation. Thank heaven for the little miracles known as Grandma and Grandpa, as they were there to help me with the kids. Lord knows I needed it seeing I had to reenact some moves with Lucas on the mat, and take pictures. I would not have been able to do either if I didn't have them to hold Olivia and keep Anthony entertained. Thankfully Ava is old enough now to sit down quietly and behave. After the little ceremony, we made our way home got the kids in jammies, settled, and into bed.

Thursday morning, up again at 6am only to repeat Wednesdays activities. (minus the playdate and Karate - oh, and instead of Pizza for dinner, I threw them all some happy meals.) In place of Lucas and the whole Karate thing, we had Ava's dance class. I loaded all the kids (pajamas on) into the car in order to get Ava to her class at 6:50pm. As I raced in I got some weird looks from people, most likely wondering why my children were dressed for bed.

Why the pajamas? Well because the dance class goes until 7:40pm, and by the time I would get them all home they would be asleep in their car seats. SO, it only makes sense to have them in their pajamas when I go - then I do not have to wake them all up and try to get cranky, sleepy kids into their pajamas and back to bed. This convienence trumps all the weird looks I was getting, so I simply disregarded them.

So, the dance class ended, I got the kids loaded into the car, and home. As expected, they all fell asleep in the car enroute to home sweet home - so I spent the next 10 minutes carrying each one up to bed, and having to wake Ava to get her in pajamas as she was in her leotard. [No, I did not put her in her pajamas before going to dance class, as even I know, that would have been going a bit too far.] Finally everyone was in bed, with me following shortly after.

Was woken up at about midnight to the sound of Mr. Shelton crawling in bed, back from delivering the boat. Only problem was, he still had the boat. Turns out he drove 12 hours to Ohio, delivered the boat to the guys door only to find the guy did not like the trailer the boat was on. The trailer. So he decided to go back on his word, and not buy the boat. Never mind my husband taking two days out of his schedule to deliver the dang thing. Nope, he didn't care, he decided he didn't want it. Douchebag. Two days away from family and work all for nothing. Grrrrrr, I say, Grrrrrr.

Friday morning came, and again, I repeated the activities of both Wednesday and Thursday. Afterward, I drove Mr. Shelton to the airport. Yes, he was leaving us again, this time for a fun trip to Las Vegas with a friend. surprisingly a pretty uneventful afternoon followed. The kids came home from school and we had our neighbor friends come over to play. After playing for some time I was somehow convinced to take all four of my kids to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. So we piled into the car and headed over to the kids favorite restaurant to meet our friends for a nice, peaceful, relaxing dinner. [Yah, right.]

The kids were pretty great, sat and colored, the food came they started eating, and then one of them [Ava] realized they did not have balloons and crowns yet. Oh the outrage. A nice girl working there (not our server, let's just say patience was not her strong suit) came over and gave the kids the balloons. Immediately two went right up to the ceiling, crying ensued. The nice girl brought two more balloons over - this time tying them to everyones wrists. By this time the kids were done eating and thought it would be fun to run in circles around the table. We were trying to pay our bill, but our ever so lovely server was no where to be seen. Finally we gave the bill to someone else and got the heck out of there. We made our way home, played for a few more minutes with friends, said our goodbyes and started the bedtime routine. Another day done.

Saturday morning came all too soon. I was up again at 6am, dragging the kiddos out of bed as well, dressed and fed them all, piled them into the car and raced over to Grandma and Papa's house to drop everyone off but Anthony. Anthony and I had an appointment at the Early Childhood center to have his mandatory screening before starting Kindergarten. We managed to make it to the appointment on time and started in on his testing. As I suspected, Anthony was nervous and a had a bit of anxiety going on. He spent most of the time sitting in a seat, head down, biting his nails. Occasionally he would whisper an answer to a question that the lovely lady who was testing him asked. It was all frustrating to watch, knowing he knew the answers but was too nervous and overwhelmed to answer many of them. I guess it all went well enough, as he did "pass". After all that rigamaroll, we headed home, I got myself all gussied up and again we headed over to grandma and papa's. This time I dropped Anthony off and picked Grandma up.

Where did we go? A Bunko party. I had never played Bunko before, did not really know much about it, but at this point in my week I was just so happy to get out of the house sans kids I did not care what I was doing. Turned out to be quite a fun afternoon, rolling dice to play a mindless game, drinking wine, eating food, talking with adults... what's not to like, right?

Alas, the party ended, so we made our way home to relieve Papa of his duties. I headed home, did the whole bedtime routine as usual, and drifted off to dream land in the hopes of a nice relaxing Sunday.

I woke up Sunday morning, and for some reason thought it would be fun to decorate the house for Christmas. 'Cause you know I have not had a busy enough week. Of course the kids were just thrilled, so I made my way to the basement and dragged up all the Christmas stuff. We spent a few hours decorating the house and the Christmas tree, and had a grand time doing it.

Then our neighbor friends called to play. So we played and went to lunch at Culver's. I guess I am a glutton for punishment with this going out to eat thing lately. We ate and everything went pretty smoothly. We made our way home and I was ready to relax when Lucas asked when he got to go to the birthday party. Uh-oh. I forgot about the birthday party Lucas was supposed to be at.... in one hour. So I got him ready, threw everyone in the car, and headed out to the birthday party. Driving there I realized what a long week it had been with the constant running and always having to be somewhere. As I was lost in my thoughts Anthony was crying and yelling because he could not pass a level on his PSP, Olivia was screaming out of sheer exhaustion because she was missing her morning nap, and Ava and Lucas were in the back arguing about something. I was feeling overwhelmed and very ready for the Mr. to arrive home.

As I pulled into the parking lot at the location of this party, I went to pull into a parking spot and realized it was much to tight for me to fit into. So, I put my car in reverse, stepped on the gas to back out - and CRASH. Apparently there was a car right behind me trying to park as well that I did not see. I swear it came out of nowhere. As all the kids were crying, clearly shook up from the little fender bender I just go intot, I looked in my rear view mirror to find a lady throwing her arms up in the air and yelling. I could tell this was not going to be good. I parked the car, got out, walked up and said

"I am so sorry!"

[Accompanied by a very nasty look:] " You better be!"

"Gosh, I did not mean to run into you, I just did not see you."

"This is a brand new car you know!"

"Again, I am sorry. It has been a really long week, I am feeling crazed and was late getting here."

"Well, I sure hope you have insurance."

Alright, now I was getting pissed. I had already had a very long week, and I did not need to end it like this. With a mean woman yelling at me over a small fender bender that resulted in a little nick to the front bumper of her beloved spankin' new Saturn.

"Listen lady, do you have to be so rude? Relax, it's a car and it can be fixed, no need to be so snotty about all of this. Oh, and yes, I do have insurance."

"My God, you are the one being rude, AND acting like this is my fault!."

"I clearly stated when I got out of my car that it was my fault and that I was sorry, so what part of that did you not understand?" I never said it was your fault as I backed into you. I don't need this, I have 4 little kids in the car."

"Well I have kids in my car too you know!" [From what I saw, she had 1 teenager in the front seat. Not quite the same as 4 kids age 6 and under.]

"You really don't have to be such a brat about the whole situation."

"Takes one to know one!" Yes, she did say that.

"Wow, how very classy of you."

This was getting ridiculous.

I made my way back to my car to get my insurance info, when my girlfriend (mom of the little boy who was having the birthday party) walked up and said to the other woman, "oh, it's alright, this stuff happens, really I don't even see any damage!" She was chatting some more but I could not make out what they were saying. I only heard the very end where she told her to talk to me because she sure wasen't going to. My girlfriend then walked up to me to ask how I was, which was when I started crying and babbling on about how crazy my week had been and how this was just topping it all off, etc. etc. She then said how sorry she was, and that she could be mean sometimes. This is where I stopped, looked at her and said:

"She? Do you know her??"

Well of course she did, it was her sister. Her sister. Of all people to back into, and end up having a not so pleasant confrontation. Truly unbelievable. Of course I apologized ten times over to her, but was assured by my ever so understanding friend that her sister was not a very nice person at times, and that she tended to overreact about things.

All this time the kids were sitting patiently in the car, wondering what was going on. I just explained there was a little accident, and hoped they did not hear the nasty exchange that went on between this woman and I.

I finally got Lucas into the birthday party and headed home to get my insurance info ready for when I picked Lucas up. When I arrived, I handed over my insurance info to my friend (her sister was no longer there, which was probably a very good thing) and apologized again, and was again told not to worry.

As we were driving home, Lucas told me all about the party. How he played, had cake but not ice cream and he did not want any ice cream, how it was a Pirate party and got an eye patch, hat and "sword hand thingy". When we got home, he did not waste a moment getting into his Pirate garb and showing it off to his brother, sisters and I.

I was happy he had a good time and that all the kids seemed unscathed by Mom's little ordeal.

And now we are at today. Today I again went through the whole getting the kids off to school routine. I have my little day care boy over, Sam. He and Olivia just ate lunch and will soon be taking naps. Grandpa will come over today at 2pm to watch those two, and get Ava and Lucas off the bus while I am at Anthony's preschool for Friendship day. A day where they sing songs and put on a little show for Mom's and Dad's and then end with a snack and some juice. I will then head back home, let the kids play for awhile, then get myself ready before the babysitter gets here at 5pm.

Yep, I got myself a babysitter. And let's just say her arrival has been much anticipated over the past few days. [She will be taking care of the kids until the Mr. arrives home from his relaxing vacation in Las Vegas at about 7pm.] I will then steal away to the Olive Garden to meet a very close friend of mine from Highschool for some dinner and drinks. A friend I have not seen for over a year and miss tremendously. I will eat, talk, drink wine, and take my time. Because come 5pm, I am officially "punching out" and putting Mr. Shelton in charge.

TELL ME HOW YOU REALLY FEEL

I love babies. I love the way they smell, the way they coo when they are happy, the way they kick their little legs and arms around when they are excited, they way the toot and manage to make it seem cute, the way the sleep, and look around at the world in sheer wonderment. It is safe to say that I love every darn little thing about them. I also love who these little babies morph into - infants, then toddlers then little kids, onto teenagers and finally adults.

Because of my undying love for babies, I frequently find my mind wandering to thoughts of adding another one to our brood. I wander to thoughts of how fun it would be to have an extra large family - 5 little crumb snatchers running around the house, playing, fighting, and reaking havoc on the house. 5 little crumb snatchers loving eachother, loving Brian and I. 5 little crumb snatchers eating us out of house and home, and putting us into the poor house. Actually, this is pretty much how it is now with 4 of 'em - Chaos in it's purest form. So why not add one more to the mix?

Well, I figure since I want another baby it is only wise to ask the kids what they think of all of this. To heck with what Mr. Shelton thinks, right?

I have actually asked them their thoughts on this subject many times. Just to see what they will say, and also because I think their responses are always so funny and sweet. Surprisingly, their answers are usually pretty consistent.

Ava's thoughts? She would love another baby to play Momma to. She is so very sweet with Olivia, helping to her dressed in the morning, feeding her, playing baby dolls with her, and even on occasion changing a diaper. She is quite the mother. But, she does have on stipulation to this whole one more baby thing - it needs to be a girl.

Lucas? Well, he seems quite alright with having another baby too. In fact, he says that he will take two. At the same time. And they must be boys. Oh, and he just wants to see what they will look like and then send them back.

And Anthony? Well, he usually just ignores the question but today was different. Today we had quite the discussion about babies.

"Anthony, should we have another baby?"

[With a very exasperated sigh] "No Momma. I don't want any more babies in this house."

"Why not?"

"Because. Then we will just have hundreds and hundreds of babies. And I don't want hundreds and hundreds of babies. They just cry too much."

"Oh, but Momma really wants another baby."

Apparently this sent him right off the deep end as he started sobbing out of control. [And me being the sympathetic Mom I am, took this opportunity to snap some pictures of the turmoil as it unfolded.]

I am going to say it would be wise for me to leave the whole baby thing alone for now. 'Cause really, no matter how much I want another little bundle o' joy, I just don't think it is in the cards for us. And seeing from Anthony's little production, I am thinking he will be quite happy with my decision.

GREEN BELT

Someone has been working very hard over the past few months, perfecting all of his yellow belt karate moves,

and kicks.

As a result, there was a little ceremony that took place last evening,

in which my Lucas was rewarded with a brand spankin' new belt from his teacher.

A green belt.

Was he ever proud - and frankly, so was I.

White belt, done. Yellow belt, done. Now onto the task of that green belt.

A PERFECT LITTLE SPOT

Apparently Liv found the lighting to be insufficient when sitting on the couch to read her magazine. So, she did what any other smart little one year old would do,

and planted her little butt directly on the end table, right underneath the lamp.

I started to make my way over to get her down, but stopped. She seemed very content and really wasn't hurting anything, so why not let her be, right?

SHELTON FOOD DRIVE

Since the kids are getting older, I decided it would be a good idea to start teaching them how to give back to the community. I have been trying to come up with ideas as to how to go about this for a while now and have really come up with nothing. That is until last week, when a friend from Mom's Club sent an email out to our club with a grand idea. An idea that would be hugely successful in teaching the kids how to give back to the community. An idea that would be fun and engaging for both them and myself - I was thrilled to say the least.

The idea? Have the kids do a food drive for Valley Outreach, our local food shelf.

Once I had the idea, I put myself to work and made my way over to Kowalski's to ask the manager if he would be ever so nice as to donate 75 of his bags, which he was. I then put together a flyer that could be attached to the bags in order to explain what the kids were asking our neighbors for, which I did.

Then we put on our walking shoes, got out there and delivered all of the bags to our lovely neighbors doorsteps. The kids had a wonderful time running up to each doorstep delivering their bags they help put together. At times someone would come to the door and they would proudly explain that they were having a food drive to help other kids and families. Surprisingly as we finished up, they did not seem to be tired out from all of the excitement and running around.

All this, in the hopes that come Sunday evening we would find a plethera of bags throughout the neighborhood full of food.

Sunday afternoon came, and that is exactly what we found.

Daddy took the car seats out of the car, and put down the back seats for us to fill the back with all of the donations. The kids hopped into the car excited as ever to be able to ride around the neighborhood without being strapped into their car seats, and off we went. I was amazed by the generosity of all of our wonderful neighbors - as pretty much every other house we passed had a bag waiting on the doorstep for us to collect.

The kids really enjoyed running up to each house in an attempt to drag the bags back to the car. Sometimes they were successful, but most often I had to run up there and grab the bags for them as they were so full! Another great testament to how generous our neighbors were.

I was sure that by the time we were finished collecting all the bags the kids would be exhausted and ready to rest for the evening, but I was wrong. We returned back to our house with a car packed full of food - once we parked the kids were out of the car and anxious to unload it all into the garage, and with help from both Mom and Dad, they were successful in doing so.

After all their hard work, I decided a special treat was in order. I told the kids that they could choose whatever they wanted to eat for dinner and I would let them have it.

What did they request? Happy Meals from McDonalds!

And that is what they got.


As we sat at the table eating our dinner, we talked about what a great thing they had done. Both Dad and I explained to them how wonderful it was for them to work so hard to help out other families. We explained how all of this food was going to go to other kids, Moms and Dads that do not have enough money to buy food, soap, diapers and other things. We explained how much these families will appreciate all this food that they collected for them. And we explained how it was a great way for us to show that we are thankful for what we have, and compassionate toward those who are less fortunate. The kids did not really say much in return, but I could tell from the smiles on their faces and the way the looked at eachother how very proud they were of themselves.

I know sometimes (well, a lot of times) I am feeling frustrated, like I just want to "pull my hair out." Always feeling like the kids are yelling at eachother, fighting, saying naughty things, and just plain old not getting along. Sometimes I feel as if I am failing somehow, not being a good enough parent, not discipling them the right way, and just not getting through to them.

But then there are times like tonight, where all that is forgotten, and I understand that I have to be doing something right. That I have 4 wonderful, giving, loving, compassionate kids who have the ability to help others out who are in need and have a great time doing it.

This makes me so very proud to be their Mom, what great kids I have.

THE OBSESSION IS GROWING STRONGER

Brian and I were laying in bed this morning, chatting, being lazy and trying to get ourselves out of bed for the day. While consumed in our laziness, this little one

happened to meander up the stairs and plop his little self right next to the Mr. and I with his beloved playstation in hand. It was not surprising to me that it was only 7:30am and he already was well into passing the next level on his Indiana Jones game. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the child is obsessed with video games. So much so that I am thinking I need to limit his use of them, as if I didn't, I think he would permantley glue his hands to the thing and play forever. No jokes.

Anyway, he was deep in concentration with his face inches away from his playstation, when suddenly he bent all the way in and planted a big wet kiss on the screen. Brian and I both stopped and thought about what we had just witnessed. Our son had just kissed his video game.

"Anthony, what did you just do?"

"I gave Indiana Jones a kiss Mom."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I love him. I am going to give him a hug too."

He stopped playing for a moment, brought that beloved playstation of his close to his head, pulled his shoulder up against it, gave it a nice big squeeze and said:

"I really love me ESP Momma." [PSP]

As I made my way out of bed [laughing a bit], I thought to myself, really? I would have never guessed.

SNACK TIME

Someone managed to get on her tipiest of tippy toes and grab her ever beloved snack out of the pantry. Without me knowing.

But have no fear, I found out soon enough when I made my way over to the stove. Turns out the culprit decided to dump the cheetos out on the floor, in an attempt to reach them a bit easier when in need of one.

After surveying the mess for a while, I realized that the culprit was no where in site. I made the decision to leave the mess there and go in search. It did not take long before I found her, in the back hallway, happy as could be with a cheeto in her hand.

Little stinker.

SOME MAD WRITING SKILLS

As I have mentioned in a previous post, Ava and Lucas have really been into practicing their writing skills lately. They have been even adding a bit of artwork into the mix as well, which is always nice.

They both decided to make a picture for Grandma the other day, and I think they both turned out quite nice.

Ava seems to be a bit more into practicing her writing and artwork, which makes sense as girls generally enjoy that kind of stuff more than boys do. Lately, she seems to enjoy writing down things that tickle her fancy, such as "I like reading books, or I like riding my bike, or I like playing with my baby sister. Below she mentions how she likes to play at the park with her friends, and draws a lovely picture illlustrating this.

In addition to enjoying writing down whatever seems to be tickling her fancy at a particular time, she also enjoys using her new found writing skills for a different kind of outlet.

Yesterday she came stomping out of the playroom, grabbed a piece of paper and her pencil, plopped her little butt on her chair, and started writing. When she finished, she gave quite the dramatic sigh, turned around and headed back into the playroom.

A few minutes later Lucas came out of the playroom crying. "Mom, Ava wrote me a mean note." And he handed me this.

Apparently she finds getting her agression out on paper quite cathartic. Just like her Mother.

HALLOWEEN

Halloween at the Shelton house.

Turns out the kids were not into being photographed that day. I guess sometimes a 6 year old, 5 year old, 3 year old, and 1 year old just don't feel like cooperating for picture time all at the same time. What do you do? I guess you just take comfort in the fact that you know you did your best with what you were given. At least I managed to get a few pictures of them in their costumes to remember this Halloween year.

And in the end, it really isn't about the pictures at all, it is about the fun they had and the memories that were made. The excitement and anticipation leading up to finally being able to get their costumes on, to getting out there and running from house to house wanting to fill their bags up until they were overflowing, to realizing their little legs could not carry them to one more house without giving out, to getting home and in their jammies, and to finally being able to eat some of that candy they worked so hard to get before climbing into bed after a long day of Halloween fun.

So good pictures or not, it was a happy Halloween. A happy Halloween indeed.

ONE HECK OF A MONTH

What a crazy whirlwind month I have had. Crazy, crazy, crazy. Yes, I had to say that 3 times over again to get the full affect, as it really has been that crazy.

Shall we have a little bit of a "month in review" on this here blog? Sure, why not.

I started out the month by coming down with some nasty virus that kicked my butt, literally. Along with the sore throat, stuffy head, cough, I had a stomach thing going on too. I had it all, and let me tell you, it was NOT pleasant. Fortunately, as bad as this was, it did not confine me to my bed. This "yuck" stuck around for a week and then subsided-Over the weekend I was feeling great, getting back to myself.

Then Monday came.

I sent the kids off to school for the day and received a feverish child back at the end of the day. Yes, just as I was feeling better Miss Ava came home from school with a raging fever, sore throat, cough, etc. On Tuesday afternoon I began to get a sore throat and congested. Darn it, my "yuck" was coming back to haunt me.

So Miss Ava and I spent the whole week on the couch, watching movies, eating soup, trying to get over this crud, but it just would not go away. It was so bad, she was home from school all week. I should mention that during this particular week Olivia woke up with a runny nose and a cough - turns out she got sick as well. Also, on Thursday of that week Lucas came home from school running a fever, so he ended up staying home the remainder of the week with Ava and I, miserable, with our butts planted on the couch.

So by the end of this week I had three sick kids, and one sick Mom. I was ready for this all to be over, and now. I decided a trip to the Dr. was in order for both Ava and myself. Turns out it was a good idea that we went - Ava had a horrible virus, along with an ear infection. And me? I had bronchitis, which was days away from turning into walking pneumonia. What luck.

We made our way to the pharmacy and picked up our much needed drugs to make ourselves better, marched on back home and planted our butts back on the couch. We spent the weekend there, slowly getting better, with me unfortunately making numerous bathroom breaks due to this wonderful antibiotic I was put on to rid myself of bronchitis. 2 different viruses, over a 2 week period that blessed me with the extra lovely symptom of "stomach issues". What more could go wrong?

Finally, everyone was healthy - well, everyone but me. Turns out my "stomach issues" decided to stick around. All month I have been dealing with a growly, upset, angry, pissed off, unpredicitable digestive system. So much so that I had to make a trip to the Dr. in desperate need of some answers as to why my digestive system was revolting so.

His answer? "your colon is most likely all out of whack from that virus you had, from the side affects of those antibiotics, and from your change in diet. Start taking Metamucil twice daily for a month to see if that helps. If not, then we will schedule a colonoscopy." Oh, did I mention that I changed my diet drastically? Cut out all fast food, a lot of caffeine, most red meat, etc. Also, did I mention I actually told the Dr. I thought I needed a colonoscopy as I feared I had colon cancer? And again, out comes my hypochondria.

I agreed to try out his Metamucil idea, and if that did not solve my "issues" I would be back for that colonoscopy. So I started on the Metamucil and noticed another not so pleasant change. A change that I decided was worthy of throwing out this whole Metamucil thing and going straight to the colonoscopy.

The colonoscopy was ordered by my Dr. per my request, and I started my low fiber diet on Friday and Saturday, did my liquid diet on Sunday along with my gatorade cleanse solution that evening, and spent the whole night on the toliet, cleansing. As if this was not miserable enough, Olivia woke up in the middle of the night screaming out in pain. She screamed and screamed for over an hour, the Mr. tried to soothe her pain, as did inbetween bathroom breaks. Finally she stopped and fell asleep, only to wake up again screaming in pain. This went on all night, along with my bathroom breaks.

As you can imagine, I was dog tired the morning of my colonoscopy. I finished my cleansing, and made a call into the pediatrician to set up an appointment to see what was wrong with my Olivia Grace.

I went in to the hospital for my procedure, got nice and drugged up to calm my nerves, and had a camera stuck up my rear end. Turns out my colon was as healthy as ever, nothing wrong there. This Dr. seemed to think the same thing as my other Dr. - that my colon is out of whack because of that virus, antibiotic, change in diet, and that it should correct itself on its own over time.

The Mr. and I celebrated my healthy colon by going out to lunch, which was well received by me seeing I had not eaten in almost 2 days. We then made our way home to spend the rest of the day with the kids and relax. We got the kids in bed early, along with ourselves and fell fast asleep.

10:30 rolled around and Olivia woke up again, screaming. I got up and tried to comfort her, nothing. Brian took over and tried to comfort her, nothing. She screamed and screamed, until 11:45 when she finally calmed down. Thankfully tomorrow we will be going to the Dr. to find out what exactly is wrong with my little peanut.

Oh, and did I mention that in the midst of all of this I had a birthday? Yes, on Halloween I turned 33. Happy Birthday to me, right?

So, this has been my month. One very long, very unhealthy month. I am hoping and praying that this is all over with now and that we will all be healthy and happy for the winter. God knows we deserve it.