Post Christmas Rundown

There is something very magical about Christmas time with young children. There is excitement in the air, Christmas lists and tattle telling about who is not having a good attitude. A preschool Christmas program that is priceless, as well as Christmas carols being played on the violin.

Our family was lucky enough to see family whom we have not seen in years, and welcomed a new addition, which helped to ignite the Christmas cheer. (No, I am not pregnant, my father in law married a wonderful lady).

We started to ring in the Christmas season with our annual ride on the Polar Express, we also hit many light displays, and Adeline and her Nana went to see the Nutcracker Ballet, what a wonderful experience for both. Adeline wants to be a mouse next year in the Nutcracker!! The kids helped decorate the tree, put up our Christmas snow village and re arranged the presents under the tree hundreds of times.

Then came to anticipated day. Christmas Eve. Our family has the tradition of opening all of the family presents after dinner on Christmas Eve, then we are visited by Santa for Christmas Day. As we were eating our big Christmas Eve dinner, poor Adeline's asthma kicked into full gear and she had such horrible coughing fits and broncho spasms, that lead to her vomiting at the dinner table.

She did recover well and we moved on to opening presents. The excitement of the kids is what makes Christmas so special. The last words I heard from my two little Christmas kids were that they were going to stay up all night for Santa, about two minutes later they were both asleep, exhausted from all the festivities.

Sure enough, the next morning Santa had left his gifts underneath the tree. Adeline and Carson could not understand why they did not hear Santa and his reindeer. They both agreed they must have been too tired to hear it, that and Santa has Christmas magic to get down the chimney. The big Dragon Castle, and the Barbi bike were the big hits. The remote control car from a cousin kept them occupied all day.

I hope everyone had a magical and wonderful holiday.

Please see the picture slide show!

That's What I Get

My son plays the violin. He is lucky enough to study with the same violin teacher I had. Ms. M. is not only an accomplished violinist, but was a second mother to me growing up, and a phenomenal woman. So, I consider it an honor that she is teaching him.

On to the story.......

My son was at his lesson, he and Ms. M. were rehearsing for is upcoming solo. I stepped out to take his sister to the restroom. In that maybe 4 and 1/2 minutes, I came back and Ms. M. and my mom, decided that I needed to play the violin duet with my son for one of his songs. How did that happen? When I left, I heard music playing, when I came back in, I was now part of a solo recital, in three days nonetheless.

Like any good mother (like my mom and Ms. M. would let me say no anyway), I pulled my violin out, dusted it off, and started to practice with my son for our mother son duet. I love the violin, and love playing when I do play, so I was enjoying playing with him.

The next day, I received a call from my mother. Among many topics discussed she asked how my son's songs were sounding and were we practicing our duet. I proudly said "yes we have." In a tone only my mother can have, and a comment only my mother would say, she asked......... do you have it memorized so there is not a stand on the stage? A roll of my eyes and 3 deep breaths later, I calmly answered, no, and I did not plan on memorizing my part.

With 4 Christmas parties, 2 school holiday programs, a dance recital, violin recital, a new job I started last week, and hosting Christmas Eve dinner at my house, not to mention 10 family members who left 5 days ago, oh and lets not forget the crashed computer, which made downloading pictures and ordering Christmas cards a feat ......... I just am not going to memorize my duet part to Jolly Old St. Nicholas. I will be happy if my son is showered, hair done, wearing his tie, and we remember his violin!!!!

No computer

I have had 2 weeks with no computer. I have not been able to check the news, and write my blog!! And how can it be that it took a week to put in a new hard drive, then another week to get the operating system installed and getting the computer back to where it was with all my information.

I have missed two weeks of blogging my kids asthma challenges and my crazy family.

Well, at least it is fixed in time for Christmas stories.

Asthmaed out

I am asthmaed out this week. I am not sure that is even a real word, but it is how I feel.

In the last week and a half I have received a call from the school nurse every day to tell me that Carson was in to take is inhaler. He was in twice one day, but had to rest and could not take his inhaler because the school strictly enforces the inhaler usage every 2 to 4 hours. They are not as lacks as I am about justifying the prn part of the prescription.

I feel sad that this disease has impacted my son's life and our families life. It has forever changed us. I have empathy when he goes to school not feeling his best, and starts to have flare ups when he is playing tag on the playground, just trying to be a normal boy.

But last night I had just had it with asthma. Between calls all week, breathing treatments before school and albuterol puffs during the day, we were all ready for bed, in our jammies and my son informs me he is having an asthma flare up. I was sick as a dog to begin with, sore throat and the works, and just wanted to curl up in bed with my electric blanket. But instead we pulled out the nebulizer and sat for his breathing treatment.

At least until I feel better, can you give us a break asthma?????

The day had arrived.

I have been documenting every peak flow meter reading, every albuterol puff, and every asthma symptom for almost a month and a half, waiting for our visit to the lung specialist. I took in all of my documentation and had a bag full on any and every asthma related devise I had for not only his inspection, but to make sure my kids had all the asthma appliances they may need. I waited a month and a half for this visit, so I wanted to make the most of it.

The nurse started with Carson and after the usual round of questions of why are we here, what are his meds etc., they did a lung function test. Of course the little bugger was having a good lung day. Never fails, can't have a bad day on the day of the appointment. After the lung functioning test we headed back to our room and waited, and waited, and waited.

I think this is how they wear you down, so by the time the doctor finally comes, you are so ready to get out of there, and you don't take up much of the doctors time.

When the doctor finally came in, he introduced himself to the kids and I, and pulled me up a chair. A chair?? Pulled and requested to sit by the doctor??? I was in foreign territory. I swear our pediatrician comes in the door and has his hand on the door handle ready to leave before I even get out the first symptom.

I had the opportunity to explain how Carson's asthma started, symptoms and flare ups and pulled out all my documentation. He examined Carson, asked questions and explained a number of different things related to Carson's allergies (which no doctor had ever bothered to point out). It was decided that we needed to have a better handle on Carson's allergies, and this, along with an increase in his Flovent inhaler, would help to calm down his flair ups.

Next, we moved on to my other little asthmatic Adeline. I explained how I discovered when doing research on asthma when Carson was diagnosed, that I read in one article that constant clearing of the throat was an asthma symptom. Adeline was constantly clearing her throat for months. When I took her to the pediatrician he put her on Singulair and the albuterol inhaler, which I believe he did just to pacify me. Anyway, back to the specialist, he examined Adeline and had her do some weird things like talk with her nose closed and would opened it while talking to show me difference in voice changes, all related to allergies. He decided to try her on a amped up version of Zyrtec, called Xyzal, and the nose spray Nasonex, to try and get her upper congestion under control, and see if the allergy symptoms were the cause of her clearing of her throat.

I still think Adeline has mild asthma, but I so liked this doctor, respected his assessment and judgement, the time he spent with both children and myself, that I am willing to try any of his suggestions. Even though the congestion in Adeline is better, she is still clearing her throat. Next week I will report back to the specialist, and we will proceed from there.

After we left, I called to report our visit to my husband and at the end I said to him that I think I actually got my co pay worth of a visit finally. This should be a huge compliment to Dr. Nakamura, as we have a hefty co pay per child per visit. His visit was worth the month and a half wait, and my money. Thank you Dr. Nakamura.

Now, we will see how these medicine changes help my two little asthmatics.

Family Tradition

Our family just returned from our annual tradition of visiting the North Pole, via the Polar Express train. Every Christmas season, we drive 4 hours to get to the Polar Express train station. Kids in jammies, Polar Express book in hand and excitement in the air, we happily board this magic train. We have cookies and hot coco as we race through the "magical time tunnel" to the North Pole.

Once we reach our destination, we see a beautifully lighted North Pole Village. Elves working hard, shooting stars, and of course Santa waving from his enormous red sleigh. The train stops long enough for Santa to board. The kids wait patiently, while singing Christmas carols, for Santa to enter their train car. Then there are cheers and screams as the jolly old man in red enters the train car with his red sack. In his sack is a bell for each child. The ringing bell I hope my kids will always hear, just as I do.

Please view our pictures from our Magical Experience using the side bar option.

A Few Prayers

So, I am not a religious person. I do not attend church on a weekly basis, nor on the big religious holidays. I was raised going to church weekly, and have not continued that in my adult life. But despite the fact that I am not involved in organized religion, I am a spiritual person.

I believe that there is a higher power, whatever that might look like. I struggle with how to explain this to my children seeming they have not step foot in a church, and have not heard much religious dialog in which to have a basis for such discussions. But, how many near car accidents of a distracted mom have been narrowly missed, how many nasty tumbles of kids have been taken, and illnesses resolved, to realize that there is more, something bigger in this world.

With all of this in mind, I have been praying a lot. Praying for things in my life to be fixed, resolved or re- balanced. I am hoping with enough prayer, faith and maybe some lessons learned, this higher power will grant my family a few prayers.

Asthma, Asthma, Asthma

I can't tell who is my new best friend this week. Is it the school nurse or my portable nebulizer? I have not been able to get through even the first part of this week without either. Both my children's asthma has been flaring up every time I turn around.

The new portable nebulizer I purchased has been a great buy. I can plug it into the car or take it with me anywhere, the best part is that it is so quiet.

My son has been in school for two days so far this week and has visited the school nurse's office twice. I saw the school's number on my caller ID and new what they were calling for.

After school while my kids and I were at the PTA meeting my son started asthma coughing, and I got panicked. His inhaler was in the car and I had actually left without his portable nebulizer. I waited to see if it was just a cough or two, or if his cough was going to escalated into a coughing fit. Luckily it was just one cough, but I so dislike that a cough can throw me into a panic about where his inhaler is.

I cannot tell if the change of weather is affecting the kids asthma. They have an appointment with a pediatric lung specialist after Thanksgiving that I am eagerly anticipating. I have my daily records of peak flow reading, rescue inhaler usages and asthma symptoms documented for over a month. It took that long to get an appointment. Hopefully their asthma can be controlled a little better then it is now.

Mixology

Mixology..... hmmmm.... the science of mixing???? That's what I think. Well, that is exactly how I describe my family too. We just returned from a trip to Utah to see them and this phrase just came to mind at dinner.

Let me give a little background to help explain.

My father was married and adopted 4 children (adopted is only mentioned because it is a interesting phenomenon I will mention later). My father got divorced and remarried, and my sister and I were the surprise product of their marriage. Interesting, seeming they were not supposed to be able to have biological children. So there you have it. 4 children from one marriage, 2 from another, and don't forget 2 different wives added to the mix. Trying to mix all these kids and families has never been easy and actually has been downright difficult at times. We have had periods of being close and periods of not talking. But now, all as adults, things have evened out. We even went on a family vacation to the Outer Banks and all lived in a house for a week together, and all lived to tell about it!! Seriously, we all had a blast.

So, with this little background in mind, and our mixology of a family, the dinner table laid out as such.

Myself sitting next to my biological sister Diana. To her left, my half brother Jeff was badgering his mother Ms. A (my dad's first wife), who was sitting across from him. Next to Ms.A, was her boyfriend of many years Mr.J. My half sister Chelle was loudly talking, as she has such hearing loss in one ear, Chelle was sitting next to Jeff's boy who was concocting some science experiment at the table. Then my son and Chelle's boy were sitting at the table drawing Star Wars figures in their own little world. The thing about these two boys is they look so much a like, you show them pictures when they were young and they don't know who is who. Now, if there was a genetic relation it would be no big deal, but since Chelle is adopted with no blood relation, I don't know how these two look so much alike. A little digression there. Back to the seating chart. Jeff's wife Dom was sitting next to me, and my daughter and Chelle's daughter were behind us dancing. Every so often Chelle's husband, the owner of the restaurant we were having dinner at, came to check on everyone from time to time.

What a mix!!! Did I think I would be having dinner with my father's ex wife and boyfriend??? Nope, they probably thought the same, although Ms. A was worried how my mother would feel about that. But some things do not need to be shared. Mr. Chelle was worried that my sister and I would not get along with Ms. A, hence his constant checking I believe. Family loans, were discussed and Ms. A. was talking about phone conversations to my fathers sister in law, and Mr. J was interested in talking to my soft spoken son, but could not hear a word he was saying. Ms. A used to work for the FBI and according to Chelle, Ms. A was very politely interrogating my sister Diana about school and her husband. Jeff was glad one more sister did not show up so we could all have a "fun" time, and the oldest of my dad's kids had mooched all he could off his family and was back in Denver.

Despite all the family gossip, and dynamic interactions, we had a great time.

Maybe this "mixology" thing is not so bad. We all function within our own dysfunction.

It's Here

It's here!!!

The new travel nebulizer was delivered. It is small enough to fit in Carson's hand, and it is so quiet compared to our regular nebulizer.

We got set up with the newest nebulizer cups and a dispenser with a filter that only dispenses medicine when he breaths in , so less medicine is wasted.

At our local Asthma walk we met the wonderful people from NEB Doctors of Nevada, who went and got the prescription for the the portable nebulizer from our physician and delivered the nebulizer to us, with new masks, tubing and nebulizer cups. Thank you Joe and Theresa from NEB Doctors of Nevada for all your assistance.

The downfall of the delivery of our new machine is that Carson had to use it. He was not having a major flare up, but enough he felt he needed his albuterol inhaler and we decided to try out the new nebulizer in its place. Carson loves it, and is really excited that he can use it in the car, and it is quiet!!

In a Split Second

It was a nebulizer night. How is it, in what seemed like a blink of the eye, my son went from being o.k., to needing to take his inhaler, to using his nebulizer?

We had gone to Costco, and when we left, his little eyes started to get grey and his face a ghostly shade of white and he was deep breathing. One of his many early signs of asthma flare ups. He took his inhaler and we thought we could go on with our night. We made one more stop to Toys R Us. We were there for 5 minutes when Carson said he wanted to go home. A child, who wants to leave Toys R Us??? I knew he was not feeling well.

He took his inhaler again in the car. When we made it home he went and retrieved his favorite stuffed animal Mugsy (Mugsy is the asthma animal, he went to the hospital with Carson for the initial asthma flare up and seems to be in Carson's arms during nebulizer treatments.) and found his way to the couch. He said he felt yucky, that it was his lungs, and continued to deep breath. I went and prepared his nebulizer and he started his treatment.

After his nebulizer treatment he decided he did not feel any better and needed to call Papa (his maternal grandfather, who luckily happens to be a retired physician). Papa happily came over, listened to his lungs, talked with him about his symptoms, and Carson and his sister looked through all his doctor gear. About 20 minutes later Carson was off the couch and playing with his sister.

I am still trying to figure out both my kids asthma. Carson seems to have more acute symptoms and my daughter seems to have more very mild chronic symptoms. I am so ready to see the Pediatric Lung Specialist, but that is still a month away. I am excited though, that they are delivering a portable nebulizer to our house today. It is so little, and has an adapter for the car. This is just in time for our trip this weekend. As a mother of 2 asthmatics, I cannot imagine what would be more scary then one of my children having an asthma flare up and be driving between cities. Now I can plug the nebulizer in the car.

Halloween

Halloween at Mama Maria's. I had a little Jack Sparrow and a bee with an attitude. I was so proud of little Jack Sparrow. He had dressed up as Captain Hook for 2 years in a row and finally branched out this year to a new pirate (he loves pirates).

Little Miss Bee was hot in her costume and did not like to wear the hat, but with the threat on not trick or treating she begrudgingly put her costume on.

Fun was had by all and more candy then can be eaten was in the pumpkin pails. The "candy fairy" will have lots of candy to take back to "candy land."

I am

Yes, I am.......... already listening to Christmas music. I downloaded a new Christmas album two weeks ago. I love Christmas music. Always have and probably always will. I know it is 2 months before we even gear up for the Christmas season.

But, as I was starting to tackle laundry, dishes, floors and whatever else was needing to be cleaned, fed, or picked up, I decided that maybe a little Christmas music would get me going, provide a little listening motivation for my chores that lie ahead. It was only me in the house, and I had no one else present to subject my Christmas music to, so on it went.

I decided, as I turned on my ipod, sometimes we need to do what it takes to get us through the day. I have taken this approach to people's religious beliefs, extra curricular activities (within reason) and hobbies. Life is busy, and stressful. There is work, family and a million other things people are trying to juggle. So, if someones religious beliefs, or a good cup of coffee get them through the day, who am I to judge. If Christmas music gets my house clean so be it.

Picture Day #2

It was picture day #2 in our house, this time it was the special day for my son (my daughters was a few weeks ago). I of course, had to take my own pictures outside and not waste the opportunity of him being in a dress shirt, not his all to worn Star Wars shirt or his favorite Ben 10 shirt.

My son showed me how he smiled for the school photographer and I guessing my pictures probably turned out better then school pictures with a price tag of $28. I should know better then to pay for such pictures, since I am so picky about photos of my children, but school photos are a tradition, and I am all about upholding tradition. I will see in a few weeks how his pictures turned out.

Yes!!

Yes, my daughter wears combat boots!!

My little one is following in the "boot prints" of her aunt.

Her aunt, my sister, was the most marvellous violin player. She started playing when she was six years old and matured throughout the years to play just beautifully.

As any typical teenager though, she went through her individuation process in which she displayed her own unique style.

Much to the dismay of our mother, and is still the running joke with her violin teacher (this many years later, I might add), my sister would wear gorgeous dresses and gowns to play in, and if you would listen with your ears, and look from the feet up it was spectacular...... until one fell witness to the black combat boots!!

Rough Week

It has been a rough week for the Mama Mia Maria family. We have all been plagued by illness. It first started off with Mama Mia Maria husband, then moved on to little Miss Attitude. Runny nose, cough and 2 nights in a row vomiting in bed. Of course my son started with the asthma cough that got worse and worse. It finally hit Mama Mia Maria with a sore throat and headache. Both kids have had drippy nose medicine and been on the nebulizer for their asthma.

Topping it off, little Miss Attitude had the injury seen above. Yes, she cried and cried, but I think her Auntie actually felt worse since it was on "her watch."

Pumpkin Patch

So, pumpkin patches in our lovely city include a gated off area in a busy shopping plaza where pumpkins sit perched on bales of hay. To entertain everyone, there are huge bouncy houses, bungee trampoline jumping and carnival games. These pumpkin patches rake in the dough, they are big time money makers. $40 for pumpkins and of course tickets for each ride, carnival game and bounce on the trampoline.

So, when I went in search of a true pumpkin patch, I found a family farm with a pumpkin patch about 170 miles away. I decided to gather up the kids, Nana and Papa and take a day trip. Can I tell you what a great day we all had!!! Barn swings (even I got in on that action), farm animals, horse swings, corn slides, hay rides, story time with a witch, and lots and lots of dirt and cows. How could kids not have fun in that. This will certainly become a fall family tradition in our house. Thank you Staheli Family Farms for the great day.

The many expressions of my Little Miss Attitude.

My daughter is certainly a character. She reminds me of the saying...... when she is good, she is oh so good, and when she is bad, she is horrid.

I love that at 31/2, my daughter is her own little person. She is assertive, lets her needs be known and is full of pee and vinegar. Little Miss Attitude will never be bullied, walked over or taken advantage of, nor will she let that happen to her older, more reserved and tenderhearted brother.

She has charmed herself into free violin cases, clothes, candy, toys and who knows what else. She is perceptive enough to know when to turn on the charm.

Little Miss though, can throw the tantrums of all tantrums. Crying on the floor because she does not want to get dressed, or wants to go outside or have pancakes for dinner(not that pancakes are wrong to eat for dinner, just not when I have spent time making pasta for dinner). On more then a few occasions, it has taken my husband and I both to get her dressed.

Her assertiveness, confidence and no one is going to mess with me attitude, is what I wish I could be like. I hover on the nice side, do not like conflict, and am a peacemaker. Have always been that way since I was a child. I love my little spitfire of a daughter.

Ant hill at the Orchard

I was so excited to surprise my little ones with an adventure. We have had a long hot summer, and the hottest September on record. I wanted to let my kids run free in the dirt, and not break out in a sweat just getting out of the car. So, I thought it would be great to head out to our local orchard to pick a pumpkin and really get into the fall spirit.

We live in the desert and our local orchard is sparse, more brown dirt then green, but none the less, it is an activity great for the family. My munchkins ran around the field of pumpkins and picked the pumpkin of their choice. They lifted, or attempted to lift the big pumpkins and named all the baby pumpkins they found. We moved into the apple trees and went up and down rows of beautiful green apple trees and picked a bag full of apples. My kids and I had great conversation in the mists of the trees, and really enjoyed each others company. No arguing, teasing or videos.

Our adventure lead us out into nature, to see and find bright orange pumpkins, and perfect purple egg plant. Tomatoes were deep red, plucked from the vine, and apples small and green, fresh off the tree. But what captured my kids attention the most?????

The ant hill.

Pharmacy

This was my son and daughters asthma medicine this month. I walked out of the pharmacy with two plastic bags full of medicine and an emptied bank by $65. This price was including two coupons and one less medicine then I usually get because my third coupon was not working at the pharmacy. I cannot believe how expensive asthma medicine is. Luckily this is not a monthly expense. We just happened to run out of inhalers and albuterol all at the same time, but too, my sons very expensive preventative inhaler did not need to be refilled. That would have added another $50 to the bill. For those of you with little asthmatics you can find coupons for Ventalin and Singulair on line. My Singulair coupon cut my price in half for a thirty day supply. Go to both companies web sites and you can print them out. Every little savings helps.

I have a 2002 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Crew Cab Truck. It is my dream truck. I have loved trucks for as long as I can remember, any kind of truck, construction trucks, monster trucks, especially little Toyota trucks that were jacked up with roll bars. After landing my first "adult" job, I went out and purchased one of the biggest trucks on the market. At the time I was looking, Chevy had come out with the Crew Cab, which is a full size back seat. Perfect for a growing family I thought.

Well, what started as my dream truck has slowly lost its status in my mind. It is going from dream truck to the money pit very rapidly. It is having one repair after another, and not just minor monetary repairs. We are talking never a repair bill under $800 (parts are extremely expensive).

So, as I started the car the other morning I saw the dreaded glow of the service engine light on. To the repair shop we went. I tried a new repair shop on the recommendation of a friend and can not praise One Stop Auto enough for their hard and honest work. The picture above is what they found when they were looking at my fuel line. Another repair shop had installed a new fuel pump, managed to break a part in the truck along the way, and instead of repairing the part they broke, decided to do that wonderful kindergarten glue job seen above. I cannot believe someone could be so blatantly dishonest and have such a lack of pride in their work, not counting all the safety issues this posed to my family who rides in that truck on a daily basis.

What is so ironic, the name of the repair shop that did all the damage was called Honest-1 Auto Care!!!!

Goats and Flip Flops

It was a week full of lessons, but it all started with wearing flip flops out on a farm. My son's violin teacher basically has a farm in her back yard. After my son has his violin lesson we are allowed outside to look for chicken eggs, pet the goats and horses and feed the baby chickens. This week I was walking the farm being followed by a goat, not just any goat, but the big, tall goat whose head comes up to my shoulder. As I stopped to look in the chicken coop, I caught my breath as this extremely sharp pain went shooting through my toe!! I yelped and yelped and the goat finally moved off my toe. Looking down at my painful, throbbing toe, a layer of skin missing and blood oozing out of my toe, I should realize:

Lesson #1, do not wear flip flops on a farm!!

Well, next door to the violin farm was another farm that had a litter of kittens that needed a home. Impulsively, Nana (my mother) decided to take home a six week old kitten. I could not believe it. I got right on the phone texting my sister with an OMG message. Nana is known to be extremely impulsive, then later doubts her decision and my sister and I are there to pick up the pieces. We got half way home, kitten in tow, and Nana decided she needed one more kitten, so they would have friend. This stemming back to her being an only child I am sure. Anyway, we trek back to the farm, pick up another kitten and are on our way home with my inner monologue and negativity running rampant.

Lesson #2, maybe all decisions do not have to be rationalized, calculated, or have an exhaustive pro and con list before a decision is made. These kittens have won Nana's heart, have kept her occupied with a true sense of purpose, and provided her great entertainment and company.

Lesson #3, really needs no explanation: get rid of a car when its repairs are more expensive then a car payment!!!! Car problems really bite!!!

The Dentist

This is how my daughter may be smiling for the next 3 to 4 years.

Well, to explain, we went to the dentist after her front tooth mysteriously turn a grey and blackish color. How odd, I do not remember any hitting, fighting or collisions that she cried out or screamed so I figured maybe there was something really wrong with her gums.

As the dentist peered into her mouth he asked what the tooth trauma was, what she feel into or what hit her in the mouth. My little girl is so brave and stubborn that if she did not want to cry after an incident for fear of embarrassment or just to show her brother how tough she was, she would not cry. So, who knows what actually hit her tooth.

The bad part..........in a month if the tooth looks more discolored, is loose or causing pain they will pull it, and she will have a hole in her little smile until her adult tooth grows in.

Please allow me a moment to interpret the wonderful creation above.

The first week of school my son completed an "All About Me" booklet. I took the booklet out of his backpack, looked at his beautiful coloring on the front cover, the time he took to draw his detailed pirate ship on a page, and his statement that his favorite aspect of school was playing on the playground with his sister. I continued to flip through the book with such pride. Then, I found my way to the page labeled "My Family." With anticipation I looked at the picture and read the statement he had written below.

"Mom has to clean the floor"

"Daddy gives me hugs"

His two statements about his family, and this is what he depicts. It is just so wrong on so many levels. Maybe Daddy needs to take on more household chores so mom is not always saying "after I finish.......(whatever chore is being completed)!!!

What a Day

The day is winding down, the house is quiet, and I can proudly say I made it through the day. But the day did not start off so blissful.

This morning, Mama Mia Maria husband came downstairs to ask who bled in our bathroom. Well, as I took inventory, I found that the 2 children were blood free, the dog was still the yellow lab color he was the night before, and the one cat downstairs checked out just fine. By process of elimination, we started hunting the house for cat #2. Underneath my daughters bed was the culprit. We saw he was bleeding from an unmentionable spot and both my husband and I caught our breath. This could not be good. By the time we got the cat carrier into the house, as we knew he was off to see the vet, the cat had taken refuge under the safety of our bed. Mama Mia Maria husband had to tear apart the bed to find the poor cat wedged under there. Seems on the surface an easy task, but add two children who want to help to the mix and it was a circus show.

After this elaborate production of catching the cat, I could not get a vet appointment till the afternoon. When the time of the appointment finally arrived, the cat was so unhappy. He obviously did not feel well, and had been in his cat carrier way longer then he felt just. In the heat of the day he had experienced a car ride for school pick up, what a mad house that was with noisy kids and horns honking, then he had to endure the birds chirping in the waiting room of the vets office.

The doctor came in and started her examine and felt it would be best to get an x ray, blood work etc. etc. etc. After a bit if sedation, and a shaved tush, the doctor concluded that he had puncture wounds near the rectum, which as an indoor cat, could have only been inflicted by our other 4 1/2 pound girl cat. There was relief that this was not the end for our boy, it was not cancer or anything that was not treatable. He will come home in the morning and start his recovery. After a doctor visit, sedation, x -rays, blood work, shaving, flushing wounds, pain pills and antibiotics, I might as well just sign my paycheck over to the vet.

Through this all, I found a great moral. This boy cat is cranky, moody, selfish, and not always nice to the girl cat, which, in the end, will always come back to bit you in the ass.

My Day

Whew!!! What a morning. This is how my daughter spent her morning. As bad as it looks, I am grateful, for it could have been worse.

We dropped my son off to school, went to my work for a brief period of time, and went back to school for the PTSA meeting. It was not until we arrived home and I could not get her Strawberry soda quick enough, that my daughter started into a full on tantrum with screaming, crying and snaking around on our floor.

I have learned through the past 3 1/2 years of my daughter's life, with consultation from her auntie, whose personality my daughter has, that it is best to leave her alone and let her work it out. Meltdowns are often a plea for alone time.

So, in the middle of her meltdown, I left her alone to start a load of laundry. When it became quiet I went in search of her in the house. I saw she was not downstairs and started walking upstairs to find her in her room with her door closed. I am 100% sure she was sitting with her back against the door so I could not get in. A few minutes later she walked out of her room and I asked if she was alright, to which she replied "I'm o.k." Then her door shut again. The next time she emerged from behind her closed door life was good and she was composed.

Like I had mentioned above, it could have been worse. This tantrum could have taken place at my work, or during the PTSA meeting. I am glad that she feels like home is a place where she can "let loose'" and feel comfortable enough to do so. To me, that means as a parent, I have provided her a safe place, where emotions and feelings are safe to express, and underneath it all she knows she will be loved, even after the melt down of all meltdowns.

Mixed Emotions

It was an afternoon of mixed emotions. I met my son at the school gate at the end of his day to be advised by his teacher that he did not have the opportunity to play at recess because of the air advisory that had been given in our city. We continue to feel the effects of the California wild fires by having smoke sock in our city. The air quality was so poor that any child at my son's school who was immune compromised or had asthma had to stay indoors with the school nurse.

It was just last week that I had struggled with whether or not to put a medical alert band on my son due to his asthma. I in no way wanted to single him out, or make him feel any different then the other students. After agonizing with the decision, I had him wear his medical alert band for my peace of mind. To make sure his teacher, school nurse and other staff knew if he said he was having a hard time breathng or coughing he would be taken seriously.

Here we are a week later, and it is not my son's medical band that has differentiated him from his peers, it is the actual disease itself. If he felt different because of his blue medical alert band, then I am sure he really felt different when he could not go outside to run and play with his friends.

I do know that the school had his best interest in mind. I no more wanted my son to be back in the ER because playing in the smoke triggered his asthma. I so don't want him excluded or singled out, but it seems as though both my son and I are going to have to work on coping with our feelings and emotions that his asthma has brought forth.

And I Wonder Why My Kids Have Asthma?

On a day such as this, it is no wonder why both my children have asthma.

Let me help interpret this picture for you all. At the very distance on a clear day, there are mountains in the background. Not this smoggy, smoke filled haze that is covering the view of these mountains. Yes, the air quality where we live is pretty poor. We deal with the normal desert dust, plus dust from construction, but this weekend we have been graced with the addition on wind blowing smoke in from the California wild fires into our area. Luckily, my little asthmatics have stayed indoors and have had no breathing issues. Lets hope we can keep it that way until this wind and smoke blow over.

That Makes Two

This week it was confirmed.............. I have two asthmatics.

The first asthma experience for our family was in July, when my son had to visit the pediatric ER twice in one day. For months he was coughing, and coughing, sometimes working into coughing fits. No cough medicine seemed to stop his coughing. Every time I took him to the doctor, I paid my $50 co-pay, sat in the office waiting room for an hour, and saw the doctor for three minutes. Mentioning our family history of asthma, the doctors continued to tell me it was a virus.

That all changed one morning when my son had a difficult time breathing, his neck muscles were struggling trying to assist him in breathing along with his belly (I understand now what they mean by belly breathing). He was pasty white and had black circles under his eyes. I took him in to the ER and he was given a breathing treatment and oral steroid. Four hours later we were back in the ER with the same breathing issues again. This time around in the ER he had 2 more breathing treatments and the doctor would not discharge him until the medical supply company delivered his home nebulizer to the hospital for us to take home . Let me tell you what a long day that was sitting in the ER for hours! One tired Mama, plus a really tired boy. I cannot even describe what a trooper he was.

I believe what made my son's diagnosis a little tricky was that he had a lack of wheezing. It seems most people relate asthma to wheezing. My son did not wheeze until we were on our way to the hospital. Since coughing seemed to be an asthma symptom not commonly mentioned I did some research. In this research, I came across an article about symptoms of asthma, one being a persistent clearing of the throat. I read that sentence twice to make sure I was reading it correctly. This was my daughter. She was constantly clearing her throat. Knowing now, after all my asthma research, it makes since as she was most likely trying to expel the air. So, to the doctor she went. My daughter had a great doctor, who we found after my son's asthma diagnosis, and she prescribed my daughter preventative medicines also.

Some days it now feels like our life revolves around asthma. My daughter uses her inhaler 4 times a day plus Singulair at night. My son has a preventative inhaler he takes morning and night, plus Singulair. Both have rescue inhalers and the home nebulizer machine. The kids have become quite proficient at playing while being attached to the breathing mask. Besides the asthma medicine, it is constant vacuuming and cleaning to keep our house as free of allergens as possible. Our house is an allergy nightmare. We live in the dessert with constant dust, poor air quality in the city, a dog, 2 cats, a load of stuffed animal that collect dust mites, and carpet upstairs. Hopefully by being a great maid and staying on the preventative medicine, the kids will stay healthy and out of the ER.

School Day

It was a morning full of anticipation, apprehension, and nerves running amuck. And this was me, not even my son or daughter.

Today was the first day of first grade for my son and preschool for my daughter. "What are you going to do with all your time?" and "Aren't you glad they are both in school?" were common questions I was asked over the summer. I was even told to prepare myself for a quiet home, for childless time. But how does one even begin to prepare for something so monumental?

Being the planner that I am, I had my grand plan in place ready to execute. After the second drop off, with my new book in hand, I walked right into the coffee shop prepared to read for the whole 2 and 1/2 hours my daughter was in preschool. I can't remember the last time I was able to read uninterrupted. I ordered my coffee, sat down and was flipping page after page engrossed in the plot of my new book. That is, until a mom and her little boy sat at the table next to me. As they were talking over coffee and chocolate milk I became filled with sadness that my son's teacher would now be spending more time with my son during the day then I. No longer would my son and I enjoy a relaxing morning over coffee and chocolate milk. Ok, so its not like I will never have coffee and chocolate milk with my son again, the point being he is now in school and away from home for most of the day. I could no longer focus on my book and decided to leave and figure out what to do with the 2 hours left in my morning before I could pick up my daughter. So much for best laid plans.

It seems so hard as a parent to learn to let go as children grow and mature. I keep a quote in mind every time I have trouble letting my kids spread their wings. It says, "A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary." My job is to continue to provide them with the tools they need to successfully spread those wings.

It's a Party

My munchkins Auntie started a new family tradition at our house. As munchkin #1 is entering first grade, munchkin #2 is taking the leap to preschool, the munchkin Daddy and Auntie are going back to school, what better way to kick off this new journey in our families lives then to....... have a party!!! It was a Back to School Party. Full of decorations, dessert, and family.

This was no plain old party though. Yes, it had the decorations, the people, the food, and the excitement of my kids all day, "when is the party?" "is it time for the party?" "where is everyone for the party?" "Why aren't our 'people' here yet?" What made this an extra ordinary party, was the message behind it. Auntie picked two themes to "work on" or "keep in mind" through this school year which were "Listen Well" and "Good Attitude."

As we were eating our brownie sundaes the most amazing thing happened. It was started off by one small question. "What does listening mean to you?" The oldest child gave his answer which was parroted by the younger one. Then, the entire family started talking about what it meant to "listen well", to have a "good attitude." I loved that it got the munchkins talking and providing examples to us about what these terms meant. The 6 year old munchkin even started asking his Papa and Nana what they were going to do to have a good attitude.

If you are as sappy as me, gotta love the times when true heartfelt discussions transpire around the kitchen table.

Dribble, dribble, dribble, flood

It all started as I was carrying groceries in from the car. A little dribble of water peeking out from under the garage door. As I carried in the sacks, I played over and over in my head what could be leaking in the garage. Please tell me something else can leak in my garage but the water heater, please. After all grocery bags were stowed safely on the table (did not want the dog to take the opportunity to eat the bag of frozen chicken nuggets), I rummaged up enough courage to open the garage door. With one push of that button, my toes were flooded with water rushing down the driveway. If I would have closed my eyes and heard seagulls squawk, I would have sworn I was at the beach with the water flowing over my toes.

After the panic of.......... everything is wet, what plumber do I call, how much will this cost me, what pictures and sentimentals have been destroyed, I figured I would turn lemons into lemonade. Now, this was asking a lot as I am no cook. My kids think pancakes come from the microwave and were astonished to find out that pancakes can be made on a griddle and you actually cook pizza in the oven!! Thanks Aunties!! Anyway, back to the lemonade, I decided it would be a great time to clear the clutter from the garage.

What a fire hazard. Seeming that my husband has caught a garage on fire, a story for another time, and yes, he was an adult, one would think we would keep that garage clean and clear of debris. Toys, school projects, bikes, pet travel cases, you name it, I think we had it. Oh, did I failed to mention this is a one car garage with a non- working SUV in it?

After four grueling hours, I was proud that we had a new water heater, made 2 trips to Goodwill, 1 trip and $35 later, the city dump, and had a virtual yard sale on the curb awaiting garbage day 2 days later. I am taking bets on what is left for the garbage men to pick up........

Hotel de Mama Mia Maria

One evening while driving home my 6-year-old little man said to me, "I would like to stay at a hotel tonight." I replied, "We live here, we are not staying at a hotel."

"But I want to stay in a hotel."

I could see where this conversation was going and did not want to circle this particular wagon with him. So I announced, "We are going to stay in a beautiful hotel tonight called the Hotel de Mama Mia Maria."

I saw a big smile creep over his face as I started to list out what wonderful amenities were available at this hotel:

• chamber maid
• chef
• chauffeur
• bell hop
• activity coordinator
• waitress
• mediator
• secretary
• photographer
• educational tutor
• access to a petting zoo: two cats, one dog, plus a menagerie of wild critters a mile a way on Nana's mountain
• water amusement center: a slip-and-slide is just a slip and slide; add a water gun and it is a water park; add the neighbors' kids across the street and it is a water amusement center

To me, I was sold on this hotel after a maid and chef would be at my beck and call. Hotel de Mama Mia Maria sounds better then any brochure I have ever seen for an all-inclusive resort. Unfortunately, my son was not as impressed when he finally figured out it was his house.

This is the story of how our house became known as the Hotel de Mama Mia Maria.