Now showing on ESPN 8 "the ocho"!

Yesterday the boys and I went to the Redfish tounament festival thing going on in Punta Gorda. Now, apparently, according to the newspaper, this event was televised. I wonder who in the heck would televise it and even more puzzling, who would watch it?
A bunch of guys go out in boats and catch a redfish in the harbor and then they weigh them ( the fish not the guys) to see who caught the biggest redfish. Boooring. Well, I did go to the festival, but I was just looking for something to do outside on a lovely day. Seth liked to look at all of the colorful boats- they all have ads on them from different companies so they were very pretty. Seth also wanted to see the fish but they were too far away, besides I don't think that he was clear on the concept that the fish were not in the water. I'm not sure if they release the fish after they are weighed or not. We walked around the park aimlessly and Sean napped in the stroller. Of course, by the time we got home he was all slept out and wanted to stay awake..
After Sean's nap we are going to the beach, it's another spectacular day so I am going to make David get his buns out of bed and go with us! I just cannot stand staying in the house on a day such as this.

Hilarity at its finest

One of the funniest Adam Sandler movie moments ever!

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt..

Sean is now sporting a lovely laceration on his L eyebrow.
While Seth and Sean were wrestling in the clean clothes somehow Sean's head smacked into the rocking chair in his room. So in a mere millisecond laughter become crying. I was rather unsure whether he needed a couple stiches, you would think I would be able to assess that adequately being a nurse and all, but I guess not. Anyway, I called my personal ask-a-nurse, my mom ( who is also on my speed dial as 1-800-icancook, 1-800-iknowkids, and 1-800-iknowstuff) who advised me to simply place a butterfly strip over it to hold the skin edges together since it wasn't very big. While I was on the phone Sean was happily destroying a birthday card on the table like nothing had ever happened. So I knew he wasn't going to be emotionally scarred for life.
I guess I was more afraid that his cute little face would be marred for life but I suppose his eyebrow will cover the scar.
Good God, I'm tired. I'd like to take one whole day to simply catch up on sleep. How long until I can retire?

Did I ever tell you that I dislike change?

I like everything same, same, same!!! But today I got crazy and decided to stray from my usual hair dye color- Loreal's Red Penny. The cream kind. I got Loreal Ferie bright auburn which pretty much turned my hair, um, brownish red. Mostly brownish. I assure you that the girl on the box had much redder hair.
I dyed David's hair as well, I suppose it will just give him some highlights.
That's what I get for changing.
Earlier today a patient made the wonderful remark that I appeared to be about 20 or 22. She was surprised to hear I was 30. She is now my favorite patient.
Anyway, I suppose with this much darker hair I probably look 40. Blech.

It that time of year again! Yard work, Dreyer style.

We ( All four of us) have been working hard fixing up the yard and our garden. No easy task with two little guys running around! David and I mostly take turns doing the work while the other chases the kids. Seth isn't too bad but Sean likes to run into the road, play in the neighbors yards, play in antpiles, splash in the birdbath, eat mulch, eat dirt, eat rocks, eat flowers, eat weeds...I'm seeing a pattern here.
Seth is content to play in the sandbox or with his bubbles. He even helps pick some weeds and pick up plant trimmings and put them in the garbage can. He tries.
Now I have a lovely garden of various herbs, a few veggies, and marigolds. My landscaping looks nice for once-minus the less that beautiful lawn but we can't really water it these days. Water shortage and all..

It's going to take some work to keep it looking nice and no task is simple with a 1 year old and a 3 year old hanging around. Isn't it funny that the two of them will follow Mother Hen (me) around the house all day but as soon as I open the door they will run in opposite directions away from me?

And now for something a little different...

The Kooks - She Moves In Her Own Way - Apparently this band is big in the UK but I haven't heard much from them here. Wonder why. I like them. :)

And now by special request..Little Einsteins!"

David is now taking song requests, just so you know. Yesterday Seth requested the Little Einsteins theme song and amazingly enough, David figured out out to play it on his guitar in, oh, 5 seconds and sing much of the song to Seth's great delight. Seth's hand suddenly morphed into a spaceship and he ran all around the room making it fly. This morning Seth requested I sing it. Sorry kid, no can do.
Today is the first day in my recent history that bedtime hasn't been a horrible, painful, sordid affair for all parties involved. Sean actually went to sleep without crying and jumping out of bed several times and Seth was content to merely finish "reading" his books in his room quietly and them putting himself in bed. Without crying and screaming.
I guess I'll have to take them to the mall playground at 7 PM every day. Heck, it seemed to do the trick.
Sean's problem may be the fact that he's got two molars coming in, just a theory though. Maybe that's it. Seth on the other hand, he's just a night owl like his mom and dad.

Today is David's 35th birthday. And he's working, poor guy. But we are going out to eat tomorrow to celebrate. Geez, I can't believe I'm married to a 35 year old. (I bet he can't believe he's married to a 30 year old!) Honestly, David doesn't appear 35, or act it. Or maybe it just seems that way to me since I met him when he was about 25.
David and I joke that we are old people now. It sure feels like it, but maybe it has something to do with us both having full time jobs and two young boys. Maybe.
I can't imagine my life without my wonderful spouse and I hope I get to keep him for at least another 10 years.
Happy Birthday, David Dreyer. Muah!

What the heck was that!?

Late yesterday evening ,after I had put the boys to bed, I was sitting at the kitchen table when I began to experience horrible upper abdomen pain. I thought maybe it was just awful gas pain or something. But it got worse and worse over a few minutes and I went to go lie down. It still got worse and worse-it felt as if a tight band was around my upper abdomen and pulling tighter and tighter and tighter! It was killing my back, but I couldn't figure out which hurt worse my front or my back. I was bent over my bed with one arm bracing my back and the other bracing my front wondering if my esophagus was strangulating or if I had some perforation in my stomach somewhere. In any case I started to think that maybe I should seek medical assistance in case I was having a ruptured aneurism or something. (Um, I'm serious here, it was that bad! I assure you that too much knowledge could be a bad thing in my case.)
I started to put my shoes on to go to the ER and wait for David to get home, I was hunched over standing in the middle of the driveway trying not to hperventilate from panic. The pain was increasingly intense, It reminded me of labor contractions. But the contraction got stuck, and it was in my upper abdomen.
Anyway, very soon after David arrived, it went away completely leaving only a little soreness in my right upper back ( I still feel it very, very slightly) It almost feels slightly bruised inside my back.
David told me to rest in bed and I went to sleep early.
What happened to me? Maybe I will never know, but it apparently resolved itself within about 15 minutes, thank God.
Gallstones? Pancrease or stomach inflammation? Aliens attacking me from the inside? God smiting me for something?
I just hope it doesn't happen again.

Chef David

David is apparently doing excellently at his job. His bosses are very impressed with his performance and are really taking a liking to him. Supposedly they will be expanding the restaurant before too long and David may be promoted to prepping food for the head chef. David actually seems to be enjoying this job as well. He always cooks dinner at home and he's quite good at it. I certainly can't complain!

What a beachin' day!

We finally took the boys to experience the beach and we all ( surprisingly enough) had a grand time. We visited the serene aqua water and white sandy beach of Englewood ( the water at our local beach is rather brown and the sand is slimy and sludgy, blegh) The water was cold as heck so we didn't swim much but Sean waded in the water a bit. He liked to pick up shells and they rinse them off in the surf, drop it, and grab another. Seth played in the sand a bit but enjoyed the playground more. Of course. Though, to see how much stuff we had packed into our car you would have thought we were planning to live on the beach for awhile. We really did have alot of fun.
Yesterday we visited the Frontier days festival at the park and had a lovely time. I am ashamed to admit I had forgotted the sunblock, so Sean and I got a little sun-mostly me. Seth doesn't burn, lucky kid...
So between yesterday and today my skin is a beautiful pink color. Not too pleasant.

Seth loves They might be Giants

He absolutely cannot get enough of their "Here come the 1,2,3s" DVD. And when he's not watching the DVD he wants to play the CD in his room while he sings along and dances. Even Sean starts to dance a bit.
Seth says, " Mommy, sing along and dance with me." I told him I don't know the words. He compromised my insisting that I just dance, " Just put your leg up like this" (he kicks forward) " And them like this" ( he kicks to the side)
Oh, simply as that ,huh? I didn't do it, that would require way too much effort.
Super cute DVD though with cute animation and muppets,and catchy little tunes. I love it. I like the song"7" (We want cake, We want cake!):)
Hee hee, I feel old now that I saw them in concert 15 years ago! Back when they were a regular old quirky alternative band.

We changed Sean's convertable crib into the toddler bed since he was outgrowing it. He hasn't figured out how to sleep normally yet. He still sleeps with his head at the foot of the bed or crosswise on the bed. And now he can climb out by himself he likes to come wake us up at the crack of dawn! Yay, we don't need a rooster, we have a Sean. ( note the sarcasm) I'm thinking about switching it back to a crib. ha ha.

Oddly enough, At the Dr. appt. today, Sean is now below average in height and weight. He was above a few months ago. To me he still seems big, but maybe that's because Seth is small. He slowed down alot when he was having the problems with the ear infections in January. He's reaching all of the other milestones, but I wish he'd talk more. I'm not big on this whole," I'll point to what I want and you give it to me thing" I appreciate verbal communication. So far all he says is:
1. Da ( it's isn't even da da anymore, he's shortened it)
2. Meh meh (that's me)
3. baba ( I'm thirsty)
4. Bye! ( he does this and throws kisses, they just go together)
That's it besides the fact that he can point , wave, and give high fives. That's gotta count for something, right?

He had to be a big shot, didn't he..

I using the term big in a literal sense here. Meaning large. Because that is what Sean is. Everytime I check him in the crib he has his legs sticking out of the railing somewhere, and just to look at him in the crib he takes up all the space. The poor kid is outgrowing the darned thing. Today at the mall playground playing and there was a nother kid his same age that was not nearly as advanced as him(I think the other kid was way behind actually) and the poor kid looked small compared to him. Now Sean is not fat or chubby even, but just big. He's wearing Seth's hand-me-downs from last year already. Pretty soon they will be wearing the same size!
He does communicate what he wants in *"Amberese" by making a sound and pointing to what he wants rather than actually talking. Eh, Seth talks enough for both of them.
Tomorrow we are going to go to Sarasota Jungle Gardens. Hopefully we have a nice time.

* Amberese: a nonverbal way of communicating named after the most well-known Amberese user, my neice, Amber. She understands all but refuses to speak on a regular basis preferring to communicate by sounds and gestures.

Sean is determined to break the cute-o-meter.

It wasn't enough that he woke up so happy as always, but as we drove away from the house to go to Mamaw's, he said"bye!" and did his best attempt to blow a kiss at David. Then at Mamaw's he was so smiley and silly and toddling everywhere, which in itself is a pretty adorable sight. Then at Mom's he kissed my new Webkins frog and waved and said "bye" again to everybody when we left. It's always so neat when he does something new.
Seth has cuteness mastered by now, he knows how to entertain and work a crowd to get what he wants. I think Sean is learning alot from his older brother.

You say I'm a dreamer, we're two of a kind...

David and I used to listen to this song when we were first together. The song was almost 20 years old at that time!But we loved it. Oh, the memories.

I'm feeling a bit retro tonight..

Whoo hooo! Got the tax return and I also happen to be on vacation from work for the first time in a year! I actually have six days off..in a row!So the boys and I are going to have alot of fun.
Ahhh, life is good.
I love the 80s hairdos on the guys in this video.:)

This is so cute!

I had no idea They Might Be Giants did kids stuff now. I so have to get this DVD for the boys. :)

Zoloft-my love and hate relationship

I have been on this stuff since just before Sean was born, I've even had my dosage increased to 100mg every day( which I do believe is a little higher than average doseage, I think average Zoloft users are on 50mg.)
And to think the world thought I was just a naturally happy gal...
Anyway, I love the stuff. I am better at dealing with stress and normal life situations without crying, yelling, or having anxiety attacks. Yes, I am one that is prone to anxiety, I bet that is such a surprise (ha ha, note the sarcasm). I wasn't taking it for depression as much as general anxiety disorder, something I have been suffering with for much of my life. But I have been njoying the antidepressant effects anyway. I feel so happy and content about life( see previous blog entry)
I was running low on my medication earlier in the week and decided to take it every other day to make it last longer, simply because I was putting off reordering it.
The point of my blog entry is simply a reminder to myself and others, that was truly a very poor decision.
I am suffering from withdrawal now because the medication level in my blood has dropped causing me to feel extraordinarily crappy. I have night sweats, strange dreams, irritability and anxiety, fatigue, and an overwhelming feeling that I just can't wake up all the way. My brain is sluggish.
Oh, do I feel miserable.

Oddly enough in my strange dreams last night I noticed that showing and washing my hair were extremely prevalent. I couldn't even estimate how many times I did that during the night. So obviously, as soon as I got up I had to... shower and wash my hair. Maybe my dream was telling me I am unclean...or just a little crazy.

I'm suffering from optimism

The only good thing about being super duper extremely dirt poor in the last year is that about all of the taxes that we (I) paid in, we get back! Oh, it is so rare that being low income pays off.
We will be able to pay off a few debts and I can look forward to less creditors calling me about wanting $$ every day! Yippee.
I do believe that things are looking up. Am I jinxing myself by saying that? I feel good about things. I have happy kids and a wonderful , hardworking spouse....okay, I'll stop there. You are probably suffering from sudden and extreme nausea about now.
Oh, and I am cashing in some of my PTO (paid time off) time that I haven't used, about 40 hours worth so maybe we can take seth to Sea World before it gets too extremely hot out. I'm hoping Shamu will agree to adopt him. Ha ha just kidding, of course. I think he would get along better with the sea lions.

"I'm crying because I'm crabby!"

That's what Seth stated when I put him to bed and asked why he was crying. He's adorable, sometimes.;)

Yesterday was Sean's 1st birthday party at my mom's house. All the regulars were there, you know: Mom and Jack, Fonda, Jason and Amber, Dad, Sue, only Mamaw and David were missing since they were working.
There was enough food for a good army and we all had a grand time. Oh, birthdays- always a wonderful excuse to get together and eat. Nothing says "I love you" like food in my family!

Happy birthday to Sean!

I can't believe he's one already!!!The party is on Saturday at my mom's.
Where does the time go?