Category Archives: Grumpy Nico

Dec 22

Day Two

Well last night was another rough one. Agnes finally was starting to feel a bit better, and then Thade woke up late, sick again. Really, really, really, miserably ill. It was not a good night at all.

I caught up the eight loads of laundry yesterday, and ran out of supplies along the way. I have another eight loads waiting for me today. I was going to take the kids out for a bit this morning, but Agnes’ hasn’t felt good again, and Dylan is acting up. Thade is better for the moment.

I’m waiting for my hubby to get home so I can head out for laundry detergent and more cleaning supplies. My goodness the kids have to get better soon.

 

 

Oct 12

Some of This… Some of That

Well October hasn’t been the best month over here… We’ve been sick, the kids have been sick, and the house hasn’t been on it’s best behavior.

It all started with an early October cold snap. We were getting ready to turn on the heater for the first time this year, and it kicked on, but it didn’t work. No hot air… We called a few places, got a crazy estimate, and then decided to get space heaters, and wait out the cold.

The space heaters worked well, but the kiddos were still not too happy without the heater. We finally got in touch with the awesome repair-man who worked on our heater a few years ago.

We were all happy to have the heater fixed, and he didn’t charge us an arm and a leg. Thank goodness for a very kind repair-man.I baked him some chocolate chip cookies to say thanks.

On to the next troublesome issue…

The downstairs plumbing is on the fritz. The washer was backing up into the shower, and the sink too. We got out the auger and the snake. I went out for drain cleaner, we were hoping it was just a clog.

We called the plumber, and he brought out the giant auger.

He found roots in the line.

It looks like we have some big repairs in our future. Ugh, what a month.

Aug 16

Two Days Of Fail

This week I’ve made it my goal to get to bed earlier, and wake up at an earlier hour too. I decided to start Monday, then I remembered that James was off work, and I decided to start Tuesday.

Monday night Agnes was up all night, and she finally crashed out after 2:00 a.m. When 6:00 a.m. rolled around and my alarm went off I decided to hit snooze, and start on Wednesday.

Wednesday the sun was up, and I woke up to the start of a Cluster Headache. I was up a little earlier, but it wasn’t 6:00 a.m.

So here we are today… Again I set my alarm for 6:00 a.m., Agnes didn’t sleep well again last night. I finally got to bed around 2:30 a.m. I’m now two days in to my cluster headache, and I feel miserable. This morning when the alarm rang, I glared at it, and took some migraine medicine, and I went back to sleep. Thade came in at 7:00 a.m., and asked if I was feeling better, I wasn’t, so he let me sleep in. My kids are awesome, I got to sleep in a bit, but my head is still throbbing.

We’ll see how tomorrow goes.

Jul 25

Toddler Blackout Zone

Screaming, kicking, flailing, fighting… Tantrums, terrible two’s, the toddler blackout zone, whatever you call it, we are in it.

It started about a year ago exactly. Our sweet, smiley one and a half year old hit angry toddlerdom with a scream that could break glass. One year later, she hasn’t stopped. This Summer the tantrums have escalated, and sleepless nights full of separation anxiety have ensued.

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I’ve been researching all about tantrums, how to deal with them, and what causes them, but I haven’t been able to prevent one of them… I am exhausted by my strong-willed-screaming-little gal, and I would love a tantrum free outing back. I am already worried about the back to school routine, Agnes does not want to get up, or dressed, or leave the house without a struggle. I’ve even tried taking her out for errands at all different times, they all end with an ear-shattering tantrum.

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I don’t want to generalize, but girls really are different from boys. I don’t remember Thade throwing as many tantrums, but when he was little, he was the only. I remember Dylan throwing a major tantrum about every single afternoon, he didn’t want to nap, and he was exhausted, and hence the twenty minute scream-fest. Once he got it out of his system, he was good to go. Agnes will pitch a fit at the drop of a hat, about anything, I just don’t get it.

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The tantrums, yes they are loud, and in public they are embarrassing, but she is two… The separation-anxiety at night is what really gets to me. Agnes fights sleep, we have the routine of bath, pj’s on, brush her teeth, read a book or two, and she is supposed to be in bed snoozing by 8:30 p.m.  It seems calm, and relaxing, but as soon as I try to leave, the screaming starts. I get her calmed back down, and one of the boys will come by her room to ask a question, then the screaming starts up again, and once she is calm, the other little guy drops by. So of course I have to tell the boys to please stay in their room until Agnes is asleep, and then the cat will jump the gate and wake her up. Last night I sat with her for two hours until she finally gave up the grouchiness and went to sleep. She was promptly back up at 1:3o a.m., and I finally got to go back to sleep at 5:30 a.m. There is no way this is going to work when school starts…

I’m hoping that this is phase, and it will get better, but I am one frustrated mommy at the moment.

May 31

We’ve Reached That Point

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Well, we hit that point of Summer break a little earlier than I had expected… You know that point, it’s the one where all the kiddos are bored and completely sick of one another… Oh yes, one week in, and we hit it. This is going to be one very long Summer.