Three Things

1 - Update on Lucky: OK, so I said that I wanted it to be an infection so that I didn't feel like all that money was wasted if we had to put him down. Well, it turns out that Lucky does just have some sort of infection. Now I feel like we spent $245 just to find out he is sick! All of my prenatal care, nine months worth, which includes doctor visits, sonograms, blood work, costs us only $50!! Crazy! Anyway, we did find out that Lucky is boarder line diabetic. When we took him to the vet the first time (which cost $123) we knew he had a weight issue. Lucky's weight issue turns out to be an obese issue. He was put on a special diet food and lost 1/2 lbs in two weeks. He has 4 1/2 lbs to go. He is currently on an antibiotic, which I have to go and pick up another bottle because he needs a double dose due to his weight. Isn't it sad that I have not yet missed one of Lucky's doses of medicine but can't even count how many of Alex's doses I missed? 2 - Poop Wars: Jenna has been peeing on the potty since she turned three. She has not worn pull-ups at nap time for months. Now, she is pull-up free at night, too, and has been for about a month. All great, right? Wrong. Jenna still refuses to poop in the potty. We are now at the point where she will sit on the potty to go, but still must have a pull-up on in order to actually poop. Last week, we were on a count down. When the pull-ups were gone, she would start pooping in the potty. The day came when the pull-ups were all gone and she had a hysterical melt-down. I had kept one hidden just in case this would happen. She won and pooped in the pull-up. We then had to make a trip to the store to buy more. I went to the largest boxes, the ones with 50+ pull-ups and asked Jenna if I should just buy the biggest size they had since she would still be pooping in a pull-up when she was 18. Yes, a mom-of-the-year moment, especially in a store where I was probably overheard. But, really, can any mom out there blame me? I have tried positive reinforcement - a treat out of the treat box every time she poops in the potty. I have tried punishment - 10 cars taken away every time she uses a pull-up. Now, I am just going to play up the case that when she is four, there are no more pull-ups. Four year olds do NOT wear pull-ups. I'm hoping four months of hearing this will sink in and work. It did for peeing in the potty. Stay tuned as the Poop Wars rage on. 3 - A mother's dedication. Alex has been wanting his army sheets back on his bed. Now, last time I made his bed (he has the top bunk)I told Joe that I couldn't do it again. But feeling guilty over my lack of maintaining my household, I thought I would get up and do something while Joe was giving the kids a bath. The sheets, I thought. So, I lugged my huge seven-months pregnant belly (and it is huge, by the way) up the ladder, stripped his old bedding and began the task of putting on new sheets. This involves several steps of standing on the ladder and lifting the mattress. Then crawling on the bed and lifting the other half of the mattress, while still on the bed. Another trip back down the ladder to get the flat sheet, more maneuvering to get it spread out. More standing on the ladder to tuck in. More laying on the bed while trying to lift the mattress to tuck in the back side. By the time I was done, I was sweating and completely exhausted. Joe came in to find me sprawled on Alex's bed, not able to move. I told him I was just relaxing for a moment. He came back five minutes later, only to find me in the same spot. The thought of moving my legs over the bed to get on the ladder was just too much for me. And I still had to put on the blanket and replace all 100 stuffed animals (maybe not that many but enough to form a two-layer perimeter around his bed). I managed somehow to get back down the ladder. Told the kids to get up on the bed and just threw all the animals up to them. Then, I looked at Joe and said, really this is the LAST time I am doing this! Will I try it again, probably. I just hope Joe can rig up some type of crane to get me back down off the bed again!!