9am vs. 9pm

Athos came home on Friday. He's still not able to walk - although they assure us he will.

He has 6 types of medications. I dutifully typed up signs and hung them in the front window, "1 time a day", "2 times a day", and "three times a day", to help keep track of everything.

Mike has made fun of me in the past, because I have a strict medication rule for the kids of reading the label twice and checking the measurement twice. Well, last night - I gave Athos the "1 time a day", anti-inflamatory drops. I ALSO gave them to him at 9am.

I was furious with myself. I called the vet, who to his credit, called me right back, and he assured me that it would be fine.

Today's parental lesson is to not only check the label twice, and the measurement twice, but to confirm the time.

UGH!!! I felt like a loser dog Mom, but he seems none the worse for wear this am. 

Mommy Snacks

Over Memorial Day weekend, I officially stopped nursing Olivia. 

Despite both of our fears, she did not perish. 

She was NOT pleased though, and I eventually had to hide the boppy nursing pillow, because she just kept picking it up and brining it over to me to nurse.

We have 4 nights under our belt so far, and so far, so good.

It's a little sad - but also means that we are turning the page to a new chapter which is fun too. She is becoming such a big girl, she loves to dance, and has a great giggle. She thinks it is the funniest thing ever when you turn around in the car while you are driving and say "Olivia!!!" in a loud/happy voice.

She runs over when we pick her up from school and is fabulous at giving big hugs.

Athos

Poor Athos had such the week last week. He went to the vet on Tuesday for tummy issues. Went bk to the vet on Friday for walking issues, and went to the vet on Monday (Memorial Day) because he was having difficulty walking.

All very very stressful and scary. The final diagnosis was that he had a ruptured disk.

The decision to have back surgery was made all the more difficult because it came with a huge price tag, but we both really love him and wanted him to be ok.

He had surgery on Tuesday night and should be home tomorrow night, Friday. He is still not walking, so there will be a lot of home rehab to manage, but it's a huge relief that he will be coming home - and will hopefully make a full recovery.

For anyone who prays - send out the doggie prayers!

I thought I heard a bird in the house...

Let's start with the basics, my husband is alive and my bird is alive.

This weekend, Mike took our dog Athos out the front door for a walk. As EVERYONE knows, we don't use the front door right now because we have baby birds in residence.

We came home HOURS later and were unloading groceries, and I was like, "I hear a bird in the living room". Mike said "No - those are the birds on the front door".

Five minutes later Mike announces that I was in fact correct, there is a bird in the house, and Mo our cat is stalking it. (And has probably been stalking it for hours.)

It is one of MY birds.

I rush in, and am able to scoop him up and rush outside to pop him back in the nest. I went outside later and he was on the mat, so I popped him back in the nest again. 

They were all on the verge of flying, and later that day I saw some of them fly out of the nest.

This is a bonus for Mike, because if the bird was too small to fly, and we got him kicked out of the nest, we would be feeding a bird with a dropper.

Great bird drama.

Grandy & Olivia

Grandy and Olivia at Dinosaur Land. Just before the dinosaur bit them...

Some beach pictures...

Connor with the shark mascot at the aquarium. (Sorry Carolyn...)

Olivia on the sand. Hot lava...hot lava...hot lava...

Olivia with a funny crabby hat...

Connor getting his super cool frog tattoo...

New Zealand

My friend Sarah started a blog right after I did and she just got a random comment/feedback from some lady in New Zealand. How random.

The article was about swaddling...I'm curious as to why no one has found my stories of bird poop on my front door fascinating enough to offer feedback? :)

Clearly - I need to spend the long weekend becoming more interesting.

Myrtle Beach Fun

Ok - we are officially back from vacation. Our return was greeting with a sick doggie and now Connor has an ear infection, but we had a great time.

We went to Myrtle Beach, SC. It was the first time any of us had been there and we had a blast. We stayed at the Dunes Village Resort (www.dunesvillage.com), and it was such a nice hotel.

This is a picture of the indoor waterpark. There were two of them, and Connor was in love!

Some highlights;

1. Mike and Connor got spray-on tattoos. Connor got a green frog and Mike got the Harley  Davidson logo. It was bike week while we were there. He thought the tattoo would macho him up a bit and would help him earn enough street credit to help the bikers overlook his mini-van.

2. We got to the beach fairly late on our drive down day. Connor wanted to go to the beach anyway even though the sun was setting. He dashed into the water like some long lost sea creature. Olivia acted like everything might be covered in hot lava. By the end of the trip - she was having a blast playing in the sand and romping in the waterpark.

3. After much convincing form Mike - I took Olivia down one of the waterslides. I had her facing me to decrease the splash, and she seemed to like it.

4. Connor loved the water slides. Two were deemed scary, and two were acceptable, but he still liked to ride on Mom or Dad's laps.

5. We went to an aquarium, and alligator park (very cool - 100s of alligators), two amusement parks, and a bunch of arcades. Connor is a cheap arcade date - you don't necessarily have to actually put a quarter in for him to have fun.

6. We went to a bar for lunch one day where you could throw peanuts on the floor. At home, we have had to tell Connor twice now that you can't throw stuff on the floor at home.

7. We went to Margaritaville for lunch. Connor got a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and declared it icky. Jimmy Buffet would be horrified.

8. They had a feeding time thing at the alligator park where they threw meat to a pond of alligators. The highlight of the show was two turkeys. they were not alive - but did have heads and feet - ick. One of the alligators made off with an entire turkey. We saw him later gliding along with it gripped in his mouth. It's probably like an alligator fantasy day. I can see it, five years from now, he's sunning himself on the bank, and re-telling the story of the day that he caught the whole turkey and got to eat it all by himself. Then they other alligators are like, "Larry, be quiet, you've told that story like 100 times."

9. The had the NICEST porta potties. Who knew that I'd ever get to use that phrase? They had porta potties for hotel guests to use if they were on the beach. They were air conditioned, had wall paper, hardwood floors, and crown molding. Very fancy.

10. The kids were great on the drive down, about 9 hours. On the way back - Olivia was a little cranky, but overall, not too bad.

A great adventure!

Birds

Ok - I have totally turned into that crazy lady who freaks out when the front door is used. We have three new baby birds. They are about 2.5 weeks old right now, and it's amazing how much they grew up while we were on vacation last week. They are no longer quivering piles of fuzz. They look like birds and are starting to get feathers.

Turns out that baby birds poop, a lot. Who knew?

I have not, and don't plan on, telling Mike that our front door is covered with bird poop. They will fly the proverbial nest soon enough and I'll scrub down the door.

I have gone to peek at them a few times and they just stare at me. The mom bird who was so diligent before must be off getting worms or something, because she is now MIA.

If I have to start getting worms and cutting them up for these guys - I will be highly displeased, but I don't think it will come to that.

Mother's Day Card

Ok - I got the best Mother's Day card from Connor. If left up to his own devices, I 100% know that this is the card that he would design. So funny. The front says "Happy Mother's Day" and has a sparkly heart sticker. Connor loves anything sparkly.

This is a photo of the inside - the picture is hysterical - I'm not totally sure what he is doing, but it is perfect "Connor".

The back has a pink sparkly handprint. If you stuck out 10,000 pots of paint - Connor would always choose the one with pink sparkly paint. I know that everyone's cards also probably had pink sparkly paint - but it really felt like my first card that was perfect "Connor".

Babies

Not much time to write as there is packing to be done. We leave tomorrow on our trip...

I have contained myself for a week and have not bothered the mommy bird - in honor of Mother's Day - it's official, she has become a mom. I'm unclear on numbers, but there is fluffy breathing movement.

I must take Joyce (who is watching our cat) the garage door opener, so as to allow the family some peace. That way she can come and  go through the garage instead of the front door.

Yeah !!! Welcome new birds.

Master Yoda

Connor has started to announce that we should call him Master Yoda - not Connor. I wonder if there is a book on raising a...whatever the heck Yoda is. I don't know when he should get shots, or what Yodas eat. Is he now self sufficient? Do we still need to send him to school? Should we just leave him home all day to practice his Jedi skills?

Scoot and Alex might know - I need to do some research.

Parenting Magazine

This month's Parenting has an article in the back titles; "Top tens ways your life isn't like a reality show". Number three reads, "You drive a Ford, shop at Target, and drink Diet Coke all the live-long day, but no one gives you a dime for product placement."

Seriously - this is so true, I should totally be on the Diet Coke payroll.

Runny Nose

The evil evil people I live with got me sick. Ok - they are not evil, but still...

My nose is running, and we leave on vacation in three days.

If I am sick on vacation - it will be horrible, and I will be cranky. Both Mike and my Mom will attest that it really is no fun when I am cranky.

I'm off to pop some more Vitamin C.

Olivia the Weasel

We are down to only nursing a little at night, and Olivia has become what Mike calls the Wild Weasel.

While nursing - she actually crawls all over me. I have actually nursed her with her rear in my face, she routinely kicks Mike or Connor while nursing, and she had her feet on my shoulders tonight. The end is coming - I plan on stopping in a week and a half after we return from our trip to Myrtle Beach.

She will be DEVASTATED. She does this super cute thing at night where she goes and picks up the boppy and brings it over to me so that we can nurse. 

There will be great great sadness in the Primo household.

While combing the internet for weasel pictures - I found this one. This book looks really fun, I must research it.

The Library

We went to the library tonight so that I could get some more books on CD for the ride to work. For the first time, Connor was very interested in the library and wanted to get a Star Wars book. We went and asked the librarian for help. She found a Star Wars cookbook. I have NO idea what would possibly be in it. She also had a movie that was way out of the league of a three year old.

Then, just when I thought all was lost, she came up with this book. Connor followed the librarian around to find the book and he was thrilled. He promptly sat on the floor to read. I was all excited, and had visions of us getting his first library card, and he would become a skilled reader, and then he would get into Harvard, and become a Doctor.

Ok - I remained calm enough to only envision the library card. I asked the librarian - she looked at me like I was insane. She pointed out that then I would have to manage two accounts, and that could get really confusing. I feel like she was secretly reading on her screen about how I'm always late returning books, but who knows.

So no, we did not get a library card, but we did get our first book. Hopefully Olivia will not eat it - it probably costs $95.00 to replace.

Worms

With all of the rain - I have taught Connor to be like Diego the animal rescuer, and rescue worms that end up on the sidewalk after a rain storm.

I have not had the heart to explain to him that three days later, the worms that he is rescuing are flat and dead.

Mike thinks this is all very very gross.