Greetings!

It's been almost a month since I last posted. Lots of things going on over here keeping me away from the blog. The first thing was that The Boy got another nasty stomach flu. And man...when you have a kid that's "failure to thrive" to start with, and when they barf out the contents of their stomach, there just isn't much to fall back on. So the poor boy was so dehydrated and exhausted that he almost had to go into the hospital a couple of times. He was so lethargic that he could not stand up, lift up an arm, or even his head. He had to be carried to the bathroom for the ONE time a day that he would go. It was scary and horrific and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. He woke up Thursday night the 7th in the middle of the night barfing and it took him until Sunday the 16th to be "back to normal." It was a long road. Even though he stopped barfing relatively early on, he just had no energy. I sent him back to school the following Tuesday and got a call about 1:00pm that he was laying down on the cement during play time. ...and off to pick him up! He never did make it through a whole day of school that entire week. Very, scary.

And then, the following Thursday, when The Boy was still recovering, I went in to get The Girl from her crib in the morning and she informed me that all of her friends were "wet." Yup, wet cause she had barfed on them at some point during the night. It almost pushed me over the edge. But fortunately she handles sickness better than her brother and that morning she was drinking water and eating Ritz Crackers. And although things did come out the other end of her all weekend long, that is MUCH preferable to me than barf. I freaking hate barf.

So it was a really long two weeks. Add to that some anxiety issues I was having worrying about The Boy and frankly...things weren't too fun in our house. But I am happy to report that everyone seems relatively healthy right now (knock on wood!) and we are all doing better.

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For updating perspective, The Girl has found her opinion. On EVERYTHING!!! She now insists on picking out her own shoes in the morning. She has songs that she loves to hear in the car, and other songs that she screams, "Turn it OFF! I no like it!!!" Certain clothes she will wear perfectly happy one day and then the next day she acts like they are burning her skin if they come into contact with her. She declares food, "Dis is great! I love it!" and then, "I no like this one. Dis one is bad." She has certain crayons that she likes better (colors) than others, she has certain cars that are better to play with than others, she has certain movies that she enjoys and others that she hates and will make watching them miserable for anyone who tries to enjoy them (especially her brother).

She is definitely two. And more often than not, she is a joy to be around. But when she isn't? Man... Her brother has NEVER once made half the stink she has in his entire life. Yesterday we were buying new shoes for her at a department store and she thought it was hysterical to run away from me and hide. I did not find this quite as amusing. I told her several times to stop and stay with Mommy. When she didn't, and it was time for me to pay (therefore not allowing me to chase her all over creation), I put her in the stroller and strapped her in. She threw such a fit and screamed so loud that I thought she was going to shatter glass. I was totally "that mom" with "that kid." So we left. And then she was fine. I would say she is wonderful about 70% of the time right now and a nightmare about 30% of the time. I guess those are decent odds for a 2 year old?

The Boy's newest obsession is tracing paper and tracing pictures out of his books. He is a complete perfectionist and he tries to draw [insert random object here] and if it isn't 100% exactly how he wants it to look then he bursts into tears and tells me he's a horrible boy. It's fun--NOT. So in order to get him to have more successful experiences than not, I bought him some tracing paper and that seems to be doing the trick. He has spent probably four hours total tracing and coloring since I bought the pad yesterday. Success.

And the thing he is tracing most often? His newest love: Dinosaurs. He has officially gone through all the "typical" boy loves: Thomas the Train, Cars, Bob the Builder, Spiderman, Bugs, and now dinosaurs. (Although he still loves him some bugs). But he loves anything dinosaurs now. So in addition to my new found knowledge of the difference between a Draco lizard and a Basilisk Lizard, I can now tell you the different between Spinosaurus and Diplodocus. If I were a 5 year old I would RULE!

And as for me? I've just been trying to get through the days. Things are getting better now and I am feeling more like myself, but man...the past few weeks have been rough. Here's hoping we can finish up summer on a happy (& healthy) note. And here's hoping I will get back to writing on the blog. I miss it.