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...ring.....ring.....

"Elementary school"
"Hi, this is Mrs. Nelson calling to let you know that Terra won't be there again today."
"Oh, ok, we'll mark her down as excused then."
"Just an fyi, it MIGHT be chicken pox."
"....."
(I almost say 'hello?' when she comes back on)
"Have you had this confirmed by a doctor?"
"No."
"Well, then how do you know it's chicken pox?"
(is she serious?!)
"Well, she's been exposed to it because my husband just got over them. We'll know for sure tomorrow."
"Well, we have to have confirmation from tri-county health before we tell anyone about it."
(now, I can understand the need to avoid a "mass histeria" from telling other families about this when it might not be true....which is fine with me....but this whole conversation will soon start taking a turn for the worse"
"Does it have to be tri-county or can it be our regular pediatrician that I take my kids to?"
"....uh....Why don't I just have the nurse call you when she gets in and we'll see if we can't figure out what this REALLY is."
(WHAT?!!! I am almost offended by that whole conversation....does she really think that I wouldn't know what the pox were or looked like, especially when Chris just got over them?!)
"Ok, thanks! Bye!" (I'm trying to stay calm as I finish off the conversation)

This was the start of my day! So, I called Chris and asked him what I should do about my appointment that afternoon and he reassured me that it would be ok and that he'd meet me there and sit in the car with the kids so that it wouldn't get spread to anyone. I was actually rather grateful for that because I was looking forward to getting out of the house after this past week I've been through. Now, you KNOW things are bad when you're looking forward to an after noon out to an appt. where you're asked to strip from the waist down for an exam. No, really, I love the ladies at the office....even the one man there too...they're all awesome and fun to talk to (the talking is what I was really looking forward to...LOL)!

After getting home from the appt., I got the kids lunch, and then came in here to feed Celeste and call the office back to make the final payment on my account there. While I was in here, there was (as usual) something going on in the rest of the house with the kids. I put the baby down and go to check on their progress with lunch, only to find James running around with a can of Pledge spraying it into his bowl of food, chasing the cats with it....there's also foamy stuff on the benches and the garbage can and the floor from him spraying in one spot too long. So, I take it from him and put it up and then clean up the mess and toss his food. He started crying telling me that he wasn't done with that food so I responded, "now you are!" to which he stops crying and said "no I wasn't, there was still food there!" (this child is the most literal person I have EVER come across...I'll post past stories below when I'm done here) The cats were running in terror from Tyler for who KNOWS what reason and then Terra started crying about her head hurting. So I go find my homeopathic drops and give her a few things to try and sooth her owies and get her pillow and blanket and have her lay down on the couch for a while. Then I had to change Tyler, and then Celeste (as they seemed to think they had to have a "blowout" at the same time), and when I was finished with that, I come back and guess who has the Pledge again? Yup, James! I take it from him again and put it someplace else and then clean up some chips that Tyler decided to dump out while that was going on. I'm SO ready for a vacation!

Last night, Chris made brownies for me....trying to cheer me up! And then he started teasing the cats. Now, I really think the only reason he let me get them for the kids was so he could spend his time pesterring them! I bought a "mouse" toy that you can stuff cat nip into. I really shouldn't have bought it because it freaks me out every time I see it! Well, Chris decided to tie some yarn to the end of it's tail and and drag it around the room. Then he tied it to a part of Tyler's jammies and made him run around the house (sounds mean and cruel, but the kids were getting a kick out of it too). After we put the kids in bed, Chris decided to have more fun. He made a lasso and put it around BamBam's neck and the Ariel started chasing him around. He was getting pretty upset and just laid down after a while. Chris kept trying to get him to run around more, but BamBam wouldn't have it. And thus ended the evening entertainment!

Now for those stories of James I promised (these'll make you smile, if nothing else)! He's turning out more and more like his father everyday! When we first got the cats, he was running around teasing them and just wouldn't leave them alone, so I told him to "leave those poor cats alone!" He just looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and kept going. Finally I said "JAMES!!! What did I just tell you?!" (blank stare) "I told you to leave those cats alone, didn't I?!" "No....you said to leave the POOR cats alone!" Then on another day, I asked him if he wanted to run to the mailbox with me (which is about a mile down the road). He said "No, it'll take too long...lets go in the car." Then one day he kept getting into the movies, pulling them out and making a big mess with them. Everytime I'd see him, I'd tell him to stop. Finally one time when I walked by I said, "James, do you want me to swat your pants?!" "No, mom, cuz I'm wearing them."