Naps Happen

A while ago I stumbled upon a great blog called Naps Happen. It's a hilarious collection of photos of the blogger's children in a full on nap attack, no matter where they were or what they were up to.

It's gotten me thinking about the boys' naps. They've generally been pretty good about napping, but that was one of the areas we were kinda anal about when they were smaller - we were slaves to the nap routine and made sure we were home - or somewhere else accommodating - at nap or bed time. But I was still able to find some adorable pictures of the boys. Aren't sleeping kids just the most precious things? So peaceful. So calm. Makes me wish it were legal to drug them into this state.

Merry Christmas 2006. And Elliot snoozes.

This lovey was forever named Nap Giraffe.

He's actually touching the cat - a rare occurrence, since she's such a beast.

This one breaks my heart a bit. We were attempting the CIO training method and he finally wore out, clutching the bars of his cell, waiting for me to come back.

This was a rough day.

An impression of Felix's ear after a nap in my arms - pretty much where he spent the first 7 months of his life.

There are numerous pictures like this. Note that even in sleep, he maintains the dino death grip.

Elliot went through a phase where he'd throw all his bedding on the floor and sleep there.

Felix wasn't really asleep. But he was pretending to be!

Double stroller nap - score!

Felix is such a ... boy.

Elliot got tired of waiting for me to get off the computer and come help him build (yet again) his new train track. And now he's a guest napper over at Naps Happen!

I wanna get in on the nap action, too! Of course, I usually have a cat on me. As also seen here. And here.

Sweet dreams, everyone! And stay warm - seems like there are major blizzards hitting all over the place today and forecast for the rest of the week. I wonder where you'll end up napping it out?

I can feel my hair turning gray.

The other night, the boys were playing a crazy running game while I went upstairs to run the bath.  I had barely got the tub rinsed out when I heard crying. From Jay's reaction, I knew something bad had happened, and I only heard a slight whiny cry from Felix - mostly silence, so I hustled downstairs, just in time to see Felix stagger a few steps and fall flat on his face.

When I scooped him up, his face was a deep purply-gray and he wasn't really breathing. I frantically alternated between rocking him, blowing in his face and yelling at him to BREATHE! It felt like forever but must have only been a few seconds and then he sucked air in and howled.

Jay said Elliot had bit Felix's back. He was sort of on top of him, so he could have knocked the wind out of him - there wasn't a mark on him. Jay also said that he thought Felix was ok, didn't really cry, just wandered off to play. But to me, upstairs, it sounded like he never did have his breath under control. He could have also been fine until he stumbled and fell, knocking the wind out of him then. He could have been holding his breath on purpose/unconsciously, like he did when he was younger. Or it could have been a combination.

Whatever it was, it was terrifying.

Then last night, the scary ratcheted up a notch. Felix woke up from his nap with a fever. I dosed him with Advil and he was fine for the rest of the day. When Jay came upstairs to give Elliot his medication at 11, he checked in on Felix, who was 'warm'. Jay went to get the thermometer and discovered it to be over 105. He also felt something wet on Felix's pillow when he laid him back down. Turning on his handy-dandy keychain flashlight, he discovered blood. Well, the room lights came on in a hurry and we checked him over and cleaned him up. The verdict - nose bleed.  It's not his first one, but his first at night and alone. It was black and gunky and weepy all day today. So gross.

Fever spiked up again at 6am and again after his nap. Took him to the walk in clinic and got no real answer for what it might be: his ears are mostly fine (one looks 'off' but not infected), throat is fine, chest and lungs are clear. But his eye is gooping up, he's coughing and snotting and looks miserable. Could be viral. Might be bacterial. He's on yet another round of (different) antibiotics. Poor kid.

Here's hoping we all sleep well tonight. Please.

Artzooka!

Elliot's sick again. Double ear infection, the doctor expects one side to rupture, it's so bad. Hopefully we got him on antibiotics quick enough to prevent that. Poor kid. Crazy high fevers causing delirium and crazy nighttime antics. It's been a thrill.

So, sickness combined with -30 temperatures has been keeping us in the house. And oh dear, we had to skip yoga this morning. We've watched a heck of a lot of TV. This morning I dragged out a bunch of furniture and toys and made them an obstacle course around the house: over the chair bridge, belly crawl under more chairs, through a dark cave (kitchen table, draped with blankets) over the rickety floor (play table flipped upside down) into a tent, down the hidden tunnel, hopping on one foot across some mats, ride-on cars over to the trampoline, 5 bounces then on to the "kill zone" - a free fall from the couch, then back over to the chair bridge. 

It kept them occupied for 30 minutes.

This afternoon, we brought out the art box. We've been watching some crafty shows - Artzooka, Mr Maker, a new Pirates show that dear hubby works on... so paints, glue, sponges, scissors, tape cluttered up the dining room table .... Elliot made spaghetti out of string and paint, using cut up sponge for cheese. Felix tried to eat it and Elliot was tickled that he'd fooled him.

Kept them occupied for an hour and a half.

And then cue the TV.

I'd had some pain in my ears and some dizziness. I hope it's not the start of an ear infection for me, too! That would suck. Already, I've had 2 rather sleepless nights of bed hopping. At one point in the wee hours of this morning, Felix tracked me down in Elliot's room and wanted me to go lay down with him. I'm even more tired than usual and all this being stuck in the house paired with eating crap food (lots of bread) is making me pack on some of the 6 pounds I managed to lose after the first week of my new diet plan. Need to get back on track!!

Also need to start watching some of the dozen or so shows saved on the DVR. But I'd have to stay up late to do that. What's a girl to do?

Yoga sucks.

So, I'd signed us up for an 8-week class. Missed the first one, went yesterday. I'd hoped it would be relaxing. HA! What a gong show. Felix was the troublemaker, I didn't expect that. The boys ran circles around the room when we first got there. I was fine with that - they needed to burn some energy, but as we got the mats set up, they got worse. Pulling at wall hangings and curtains. Smashing into other kids, tripping over other kids and mats. I'm surprised Felix still has his teeth, given the number of times he fell on his face.

Elliot settled down almost as soon as the class started, and he tried some poses. Felix was a hummingbird. A noisy, screaming, stampeding hummingbird. He wouldn't listen to me, the teacher or the other moms who told him to sit down. If he'd only been running around, I wouldn't have cared as much, but he was instigating the other kids to get up and run, and then he and Elliot started wrestling.

I couldn't handle it, so I rolled up the mats, bundled up the kids and we ran out, halfway through the class. They howled. I don't want to go back but feel I should give it another chance. But I don't think that's safe for my mental health, which is shaky at best lately. I was looking forward to this - a patch of quiet I could share with the boys. I was hoping they'd be interested, I didn't expect them to sit still for the whole class but thought they'd be curious... I think I had realistic expectations before going in. We'd talked about yoga and what it was and what the class would be like. We went over the rules before going in (listen to the teacher, no running, etc). All to no avail.

I can't help but wonder if yoga is exactly what they need to help tame their wild horse instincts. Or if it's a lost cause. I felt so judged by all those other moms. And I wasn't the only one with 2 kids - at least 2 other moms had more than 1 child with them.

I see my choices as a) drop the class b ) try one more time with both or c) get a sitter for Felix and continue with Elliot, as he seemed to like it and is still asking when we can go back....Maybe if we do some yoga dvds together and get them used to the idea before we try it again??

I think we'll try one more time, but go late, arrive after warm-ups have started so there's less time for crazy.

Ugh. My poor nerves.



Edit ~ Feb 1st: So, I'm gonna cancel. We haven't yet made it back due to all the illness and now I don't care anymore. Hopefully they'll offer a summer class so we can try again!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

This fatigue is hard to describe. I feel numb and useless by 8:30 at night. Sometimes I'll push myself to stay up, doing something brainless like watching TV or site hopping on the computer. There's no way I can do anything productive - like study for class or work on my bookkeeping. When I do go to bed, sometimes I'm out instantly. Sometimes, like last night, I lay there listening to the house for what feels like hours.

The boys are on a super awesome kick of waking up between 5-6 for the day, instead of their old 6:30-7... when I go to bed so early, I'm wide awake at 5am, but it's not an energetic awakening. I just lay there like a lump, trying to go back to sleep. Because I don't want to move. My body is tired. My brain is not. Even when I stay up until 10, 11, 12, I'm still up early with the boys. But that's more of a groggy tired than a numb tired. At least at first.

Today I'm sitting here with the boys, yelling at them for jumping on the couch, for crawling all over me, for wrestling with each other... for anything that's not them sitting like a lump, watching TV. Because that's all I have the energy to do, too. I want to go to bed and stay there all day, reading, dozing, watching TV, staring at nothing.

Is it part depression? Likely. Is it seasonal? Partly. My guess is the biggest culprit is my anemia. I had another B12 shot on December 30th. It takes a few days to kick in, but the next 2 weeks were amazing. I had energy. And more importantly, I had patience with the boys. A week ago I felt the first intense drop in energy. Four days ago the fatigue kicked it. And today I'm a lump.

The easy solution would be to go for another B12 shot. But that's a temporary fix. And I'm trying to wait another week so I can get an accurate reading in my blood draw. If my B12 and other iron-related levels are still low, then we have to look at causes. The food I eat and the supplements I take should be more than enough to boost my stores. Plus, the two B12 shots I've had in the last 7 weeks should have been enough to replenish what's missing. And if not... well, then something else is at play here.

My naturopath wants me tested for celiac disease. A gluten allergy preventing my small intestine from absorbing nutrients. I could be eating the most healthy food around and still be sick, if it is celiac. I've eaten gluten free before as part of the candida plan. I never really noticed a difference, but I was paying more attention to my sugar reactions.

Maybe it has something to do with my thyroid. There is a nodule on it. They say it's fine and benign and it's not effecting my thyroid levels. Except that last summer, those levels dropped. And were low enough over 3 separate blood draws that my doctor put me on synthroid, a synthetic hormone. The anemia was noted during one of those draws. And then ignored (due to the fact that I'd donated blood a week before the test) until recently when a follow up draw showed that while my thyroid levels were fine, there were still issues elsewhere.

Maybe they're related. Maybe there's a bigger picture, something else involved causing both my thyroid and iron stores to fall below normal amounts. But for now, despite my hypochondria tendencies, I'm trying to listen to my doctor's advice and trying to stay away from Dr. Google and all his scare tactics. But it's hard. Because something isn't right and I'm feeling small and swept away. And you know what? I'm too tired to care.

Taking the boys to Mom & Tot Yoga this morning. Hopefully the brisk walk to the studio in today's below zero temperatures will rejuvenate me. And hopefully the boys won't be feral monkeys, causing me to pull us from the remaining classes!

The world according to Elliot...

The cracks in the sidewalk are potion lines. Forget "breaking your mother's back" -  these puppies will turn you into a hippo! But don't worry, simply step on another one to turn yourself back. And carry on.

He is in the possession of an electric eye. It lives in his skull - or sometimes in a cave above his penis - and it can see everything: the moon, the rocks under the dirt, daddy's office from our house, the cookies we supposedly don't have anymore.... It is cleaned with an electric blanket, which he also owns. And no, he won't share.

There are escalators inside his mouth which take the food down to his belly. Now don't you be looking for yours - apparently he has the only ones in the whole world. Oh, and don't worry - there are stings attached to his sides to prevent chaos should he eat while upside down.

Spaghetti night - fit for a king

He is allergic to tomatoes, because he doesn't like them. But only raw and cooked ones. The ones in soup, ketchup, spaghetti & pizza sauce are a-ok.

When Felix was a newborn, he was a "tiny little boner".

He is in charge of everything that has to do with his body. Heaven help you if it's been 4 hours since he last peed, he's been hitting the milk pretty hard and you know it's gonna be a long while before the next bathroom break. He will loudly yell that his penis doesn't want to pee while you're in the crowded bathroom at the Farmer's Market.

Also filed under bodily charges: even when he's been up since 5:30am, has bags under his eyes deep enough to fall into, is yawning up a storm and is cranky as a wet cat in a net, he'll refuse to nap on the grounds that his "body isn't tired yet!!!!" *foot stamp*

Oh Elliot, I can't wait to meet you as a grown up. I think I want to just skip right over your teenage years. You've got enough angst as a 4 year old as it is.

I would walk 7 miles

Had a productive day. Which is great since I spent the last 2 following Felix around, waiting for another bout of diarrhea to strike. Joy. Had to skip our very first Mom & Tot Yoga class (and sushi lunch - wahhhhhh!) on Tuesday. I was not pleased. But then oh so very pleased that we'd stayed home when the poo-splosions started. We had a movie day instead.

All was well this morning, so I parked the boys in front of the TV and ran around like a mad woman, pulling together snacks for what was gearing up to be a monumentally long and frustrating day. We left late but thankfully the city had sent out all it's busy little worker bees and the sidewalks were 95% clear. We got hit with about 15 cm of wet snow yesterday (about 6 inches, for my US readers),  it shut the city down, which is rare. The malls were closed early and the city buses were pulled from the roads. There was talk about an additional 15 cm overnight. That didn't happen, not here, anyway. 

So we hustled, Felix doing his pterodactyl warrior cry (he's gonna learn to not do that even if I have to strangle it out of him). Made it to Felix's second ever gymnastics class with a few minutes to spare. God, I hate winter gear. And winter gear paired with little kids? Shoot me now. Finally all squared away, Elliot and I watched Felix's class. He's doing really good, loves it (of course he does!)  but today he had bit of a listening problem - he was too excited and didn't want to stop when the teacher would call them all over to a new station. And so she'd have to plant the rest of the kids in a circle, chase down Felix and march him back. Little monkey. 

Afterwards, we went to the grocery store around the corner and got sushi (yes!!) and watermelon for lunch. Followed by a round of "Don't put your hand in the toilet!!!" when we went to pee and change a diaper. The pterodactyl made another appearance as winter coats were forced over uncooperative hands and stiff little bodies were folded into the stroller again. 

Then another long walk, which knocked the two of them out and I had a bit of peace for 45 minutes. Felix had a follow up appointment with the ENT specialist due to him being treated for 2 ear infections in December. He only just finished the antibiotics for the last round on Sunday.

I locked the stroller up outside the hospital and we went in to register. The boys were still wearing their snowpants, but I was lugging 3 winter coats, a large purse and a bag of books and crayons as well as 3 cardboard trains Elliot snatched from somewhere. And trying to herd feral cats, it seemed. There was another round of "Don't Touch That!" Bathroom Edition. 

The specialist checked his ears and pronounced them full and sent us down the hall for a hearing test - his ears ears were checked for sound and I was told that his right ear was completely plugged and the other wasn't great. They stuffed us into a tiny, soundproof room and turned out the lights. I sat in the centre, Felix on my lap, Elliot sitting in the corner behind us, holding my hand. We were supposed to sit in absolute silence while the tech flipped switches from another room that played different types and levels of noises from speakers on opposite sides of the room. A light would shine in the middle to get him to look straight, and if he correctly turned towards the speaker with the sound, another light would come on and a little stuffed monkey would bang on a drum. This startled the boys everytime, but it became a fun game. I was highly impressed with Elliot - I only had to shush him a few times. He was intrigued and full of questions for the tech afterwards. 


Then we schlepped back to the ENT department where the dr reviewed the results. The bottom line is that Felix hears surprisingly well despite the blockage but that he gets disoriented based on where the sound comes from. The specialist said it's still too early for tubes (yes!) but we have a follow up appointment in 2 months. Next week, I'll take him to my chiropractor, see if she can adjust him to get that fluid build up to drain.

We packed up and headed for home. I bribed them with snacks and they got into the stroller remarkably well. Halfway home, we stopped at Felix's daycare so they could run wild on the playground.

The house smelled delicious when we got home. I'd put a pork roast in the slow cooker this morning and added sauce for pulled pork sandwiches. It was super tasty, and I came in under my total calories allotted for the day. Yes, I have an allotment now, today is the first day.  I got a 3 month membership to FitOrbit, an online personal training site. They give me a customized meal plan and workout schedule each week and I will log everything that I do. I can omit meals - and sub in stuff - but the plans they provide are healthy and more balanced than what I'd do on my own. So we'll see a) if I can stick to it and b) if it helps. Today's tally was 1469 calories consumed, which is just under the total for the meal plan, even with all my customizations! I mapped out our route and discovered I walked 11.3 kilometres pushing that blasted stroller today. My feet hurt.