So. Much. Sinus pain. Arrrrg. Last night it took two naproxens, one darvoset and two tylenol before I got any relief, and by that point my stomach was all, "Don't you dare take anything else." It sounds like a lot, but I swear, it wasn't. Well, maybe it was but when you're IN PAIN it all seems reasonable.

Savino helpfully woke up at 4am for a feeding and to play and I took 4 ibuprofen then and staved off the yuck but then I somehow convinced him to fall back asleep this morning so I overshot the window of overlapping painkillers and am trying to dig my way back out of crippling pain so I can go run errands. It's a ridiculous amount of pain too. I don't think I need to see a dr. because, TMI, my snot is still clear and I'm not running a fever or anything, I just have so much sinus pressure that is causing immense pain. It is all over the left side of my face too, from the top of my forehead down the side of my nose radiating into my sinuses. It's like the most excruciating migraine but all centered in my face. Yeah. Fun! I took two naproxen and am waiting for them to kick in. Pleasepleaseplease.

I celebrated at the sight of our bank balance this morning, thank you stimulus check! Of course, what isn't already theoretically spent is going back into our savings, but whatev. It's nice to look at for now.

The baby was playing so nicely a moment ago and now he is fussing at me. He is probably ready to be let out of his cage and go do things in the car, but I need a minute still. I also dressed him inappropriately, thinking that it would be warm today. Yeah. Right. It's 51 degrees right now. So I need to take him back upstairs and find him some warmer clothes. Fortunately, all his clean clothes are folded, unfortunately, they are all stacked in piles on the floor of his room. I got that far before he decided he was done entertaining himself crawling around the floor next to me.

He is whining at me. I can't take it! He whined at me all last night, it was awful. Dinner was him whining, whining, whining, finally taking a bite of food, and then whining some more. I wondered if maybe HE was having sinus pressure or pain, and gave him half a dose of Motrin. I don't know. He slept alright, aside from the reawakening at 4am.

I have about a billion errands to run today of course and it is rainy and wet and cold outside. ASDFG!@W@#E And don't get me started on the price of gas. I spent part of yesterday researching electric cars and with our winter climate, it's probably not a good option for us until they make better electric cars. I want to get a hybrid, but the wait list around here is excruciating and the price makes me get hives. Eventually we will, but maybe we can find a used one for less than $30,000.

It makes me so mad how the oil industry has affected our society so much when it comes to affordable non-oil alternatives when the rest of the world has great access to alternative energy and alternative fuel cars and really high quality public transportation. And the sad part is that our society, the US, just sort of sits back and says well what can we do about it? Nothing will ever change. As a society we are too wrapped up in our little problems to think about dealing with big ones. It is so disheartening and frustrating. Why do auto manufacturers even make vehicles that are not hybrid or flex fuel or electric? It's ridiculous. $4/gallon gas wouldn't be a big deal if we only had to buy gas once a month. Or less.

Oh well. I get so frustrated that I do the American thing and just find something else to focus on because if you think too long about it, it makes you want to stab your brain out with a toothbrush.

Oh, the boy will not let me finish this entry, and somewhere in that last paragraph I think the sinus pain finally dissipated, so I am out.

A Plague On Your Mother's Day

Well, it was a lovely Mother's Day... except I was SICK. Yeah, I got the plague. Full on body aches, stuffy head, runny nose, cough, everything. Bless my poor husband, he saved the day by shoving a darvoset down my throat which made me feel infinitely, infinitely better. We started cooking for brunch about 10 and by 11, Eleni and Chyron were the only ones who had shown up and I said screw it, I am hungry, we are eating. Everyone else rolled in just as I finished setting the food out on the table. *insert eye roll*

Poor Tim was on call this weekend and got called into work right as we were about to eat. *sighs* There were two patients he had to see so he ended up missing almost ALL of breakfast. Poor guy. He made eggs, bacon (which I got NONE of, stupid family ate all the bacon before I even got a plate of food), sausage, fried potatoes, cut watermelon, regular pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes, toast, chocolate fondue with strawberries, angel food cake, and marshmellows, and coffee, juice, and milk. What I got to eat was so good!

Savino couldn't last and despite having Chyron running around with Haley, he fell asleep in his bouncer seat and slept until almost everyone had left. It was kinda nice! I got to sit and eat and visit without a squirming baby in my arms, though every five seconds someone asked me, "Where's the baby?"

All in all we had Tim's mom and dad, his sister and her fiancee, Eleni and Chyron, and briefly two of our neices who left right as they got there to drive home so one of them could get going to Wyoming. Tim's brother Jamie arrived after breakfast was over and only stayed for 2 minutes. Jerk. I hate him.

Anyway, after breakfast I helped Tim clean up and fed the baby and then we had to go to Lowe's to get a part for our downstairs toilet and the rest of the peel and stick tile for the bathroom floor. We also went to Toys R Us and got Savino's playyard so that he can crawl around to his heart's content in a confined area.

I know some parents are all "play yards are CRUEL" but I really don't care what those parents think, the boy is so happy that I am not chasing him down and pointing him in another direction and he can crawl around and around and around to different toys and play. I can actually work and keep an eye on him at the same time. Of course, the downside is that I got a super big play yard and it pretty much takes up the entire living room. I think I can shift some things around so that it is better situated, but it is just big, so there's not much you can do about that. I love that I can take it outside and let him crawl around in the grass so I can garden.

Of course, I can't do that today because it is FORTY FIVE DEGREES outside. I am so so upset. Winter Takes Its Revenge, Part XV. I mean, it's not enough that I am all plaguey and sick, but it has to be COLD on top of it? It's the middle of May! WTF?!

Yeah. Nice.

So last night after we got home from Lowe's and Toys R Us, I passed out in the recliner with the baby and he nursed for about an hour and a half while he slept. I woke up feeling like The Poo all over. It was awful. I tried to feed the baby dinner, but my head was throbbing, my back hurt, I was just pathetic. I begged Tim to take a break from working on my lighting stuff to finish feeding the baby and I just sat at the table with my head in my arms. Tim convinced me to take another one of his darvosets and I did and started feeling better after about half an hour.

I feel really bad taking his painkillers! He needs those, to sleep at night. I mean, I know he wouldn't have pushed them on me if he couldn't spare them, but still, I just felt bad. But, they helped so tremendously and are safe for breastfeeding, and I felt so human again after they kicked in... I was sure to tell him thank you like fifteen times so he knew how much I appreciated it.

I ended up in bed before 10 because Savino was super restless and needed me to be right there or he wouldn't sleep. I am sure that he is not feeling too good either, but at least he didn't get the brunt of it thanks to nursing.

Today is going to be the most low key day EVER. We are staying at home, in pajamas, all day. Savino let me sleep in this morning by falling asleep next to me in bed so we slept until 9:30 and then had breakfast (which I can't taste thanks to the stuffiest nose in the west). He is playing with all his toys and will probably succomb to another nap in a bit, and I might join him. I am going painkiller free right now and I feel like The Poo again. All I am going to do today is work and baby, and we are eating leftovers for dinner and that is all.

All in all, I had a very very nice Mother's Day. Tim cleaned the kitchen several times and cooked dinner, and let me take a nap with the baby and finished my lighting supplies (which I need to test out tonight because I am shooting Eleni's maternity portraits tomorrow), and gave me painkillers and was very nice to me in general, even when I was snappy and not feeling good. I told him several times thank you, and he told me he felt bad for not getting me a card, but I didn't care. While it totally was not my idea to have our entire family over for brunch, it was delicious and nice, and I think everyone enjoyed it. Tim gets lots of bonus points for being a very good husband to me, I have no complaints about my Mother's Day, other than being very ill. Oh well, you can't have it all... where would you put it?

On that note, I am going to work and drink some coffee (which I can't taste) and pound down some more Vitamin Water and entertain the baby. Happy Monday.

It was an interesting day. I wasted most of it though. Last night was awful. Just really bad. I got maybe two hours of sleep between midnight and 6am. Savino kept waking up and crying and he couldn't get comfortable. And then when I finally got him settled, I couldn't sleep. I got up and paid some bills, worked for a little bit, and then got sleepy at 4am and... Savino woke up again. I was in tears by 8am after Tim got back from taking Haley to school. Thank god he was off work today because I think it would have been bad otherwise. He took Savino off me, he had just finished nursing, and took him downstairs and I just passed clean out. I slept until almost noon. I woke up and shrieked when I looked at the clock, I had so much I wanted to get done today. I came downstairs and kissed Tim and thanked him for letting me sleep. It was awesome to sleep myself out. Fed the baby lunch and nursed him and then we had to go run some errands.

After Haley got home I managed to get some work done on the bibs I cut out the other night. I am a little pissed that the snap press I bought SUCKS. It works for making eyelets pretty good, but it jacked up like 5 snaps. I think the hand punch works better for setting the snaps with just a hammer. Oh well. I have a few more bibs to sew, the bobbin on my sewing machine ran out of thread for the second time and I didn't feel like unthreading everything to wind the bobbin back up so I will finish them tomorrow. I need to get another towel to cut up for backing because I have even more to cut out. I am going to have a RIDICULOUS amount of bibs! That is not a bad thing with the way we go through them though, I can easily use three in a day. I am trying to make some slow and steady progress on these projects.

Chantal called this evening during dinner and asked if Laila could spend the night. I said OK but that she would have to bring Laila out (because there is no way I am using my gas to go get her so that Chantal can go out and drink). She brought her sister Prissy and both of the kids over and Laila decided after about 20 minutes that she didn't want to spend the night. I think it was because it was close to bedtime and I told her and Haley to start getting ready for bed. I wasn't surprised. Laila hasn't spent the night the last three times she's come over to supposedly spend the night. I wasn't bothered but Chantal was pissed she "wasted the gas". I was like HA! now you know how it feels! Guess you're not going out after all!

Savino was totally enamoured with Jaden. He loves babies his size. He was cooing and kept reaching for Jaden and Jaden kept trying to give him kisses but Savino likes to play coy and turn his face at the last minute until he is ready to give a kiss. Then he opens his mouth wide and slobbers all over you. But he was actually cool with Chantal this time, he didn't scream in her face. He kept smiling and flirting. It was so sweet. He can be such a flirt! He loves having an audience, he was so entertained when normally he would be flipping because it was his bedtime. I had to drag him off and send Haley up to bed because it was bedtime and Chantal left while I was getting them to bed.

Tim was asking Chantal all these questions about what she was going to do about Shawn. *sighs* So the deal is that Shawn has nowhere to parole to. He can't live with his parents because his father is a convicted felon and you're not allowed to associate with criminals when you're on supervised release. He could live with his sister, but I don't know if she is going to step up or not. I guess he is not allowed to live by himself either. We'll see what happens. I sent Shawn some money today because Chantal is being a bitch and drinking her money up at the bar rather than send him any. She told Tim she isn't taking his calls either. Whatever. I'm so over it. I keep hearing from Shawn's mom about the guys Chantal is messing around with. What I really don't get is that Chantal doesn't understand WHY Shawn's family is so pissed off at her. Um, you are CHEATING on their son/brother? Why wouldn't they be mad at you? She honestly thinks they should just act like nothing's wrong. *shakes her head* Whatever. Tim wants us to stay out of it so I am trying to stay out of it.

My nose is so stuffed up. I had to take half of one of Tim's darvosets last night because my body was aching. I really want to take some Sudafed but I am scared it will dry up my milk so I have been relying on Tylneol and ibuprofen instead, and when I can't take it anymore, I take half a darvoset. Bless the painkillers. Those things make the world alright again. He gets all the good pain meds for his restless leg syndrome.

It has been warmer lately, I can't complain. Today it got up to like 61. That was great! Except, it is raining again, of course. April showers and all that. I am so mad, something has eaten all my tulips down to about an inch of stalk. WTF? I don't know if any of them will regrow or bloom, or if I am just screwed. That sucks. I had about 6 crocus blooms and they have all disappeared too.

I ordered a crapload of prints from Snapfish. I got 106, and I ordered an 8 x 10 and a bunch of 5 x 7 prints too. I am hoping they turn out well. I have never ordered prints that big before, I hope the quality is good. Everything was about $16. That is the most I've ever paid for Snapfish prints, so these suckers better be good!

Hm, I seem to have run out of interesting things to say.

Sickies

Oh last night sucked. Really really sucked. Savino has a little cold, and his nose is runny and stuffed up and he couldn't sleep very well, and to add to that, he didn't want to nurse, he wanted to scream and sit up and not lay down. I was up about three times before 6am and when he started screaming again at 6am, I thought I was going to cry. After a diaper change, nursing him sitting up, and part of a bottle (he was all about the bottle, it must be easier to drink with a stuffed up nose) after he had calmed down I realized I could put him in the swing that he has shunned for the last month or so. Either the novelty of being in the swing did the trick, or being upright so the drainage was going the right way, or having screamed himself out, something about being in the swing soothed him though he did keep reaching out and grabbing the leg of the swing and stopping it from swinging, I'm afraid he's going to burn up the motor doing that or something. Anyway, he passed back out after about fifteen minutes in the swing, I had it set up at the foot of the bed and wanted to be able to look over and see him so I put my pillows down at the foot of the bed and tried to go back to sleep. He slept for about an hour and then woke up in a good mood and nursed and played next to me for another half hour so I got a little more sleep. I got just enough sleep that I don't feel completely like a zombie, but I am still tired.

Savino is having nothing to do with the suction bulb either, I have been trying to suction out his nose before he eats so that he can nurse easier. He HATES it, in fact hate is an understatement. He was totally not pleased with that, but it does help a little bit. I might go out and get him some saline nose drops this evening. I am sure he will hate that too!

My throat is sore too, probably made worse by a night of sleeping with my mouth open and not getting enough sleep. I have a little bit of drainage but not as much as the baby. I am trying to encourage him to nurse so that he can get over it faster.

The other day the doorbell rang and it was the Schwan's delivery guy. In case you're not familiar with Schwan's it's like a home delivery food service, frozen foods I mean. I had never heard of it before, but I've seen the delivery trucks in the neighborhood before (I thought they were milk trucks actually). He left a catalog and when Tim came home he got all excited because apparently he used to order Schwans food and says it is really good. I was skeptical because the prices are kinda crazy. I mean, I guess if you figure in that you're not paying for the gas to go to the store and back, and all that, it isn't that bad, but some of the stuff is just overpriced no matter how you cut it. There were a few things I wanted to try, brown rice in a microwavable steam bag (that actually was a little cheaper than what you can get at the store and I love those things, they make getting dinner out quickly so much easier) as well as penne pasta in a steam bag, Tim wanted some potato things and ordered a pumpkin pie and some ice cream. It was about $16 for 5 items, so that isn't too bad. They come around to collect orders every 2 weeks, so maybe we will try something else next time. It's nice that there is no minimum order so if you just want to get one thing, you can. Anyway, we got our first order last night, they give it to you right when you order right off the truck. I might try one of the things of rice tonight, I'm not sure.

Tim still hasn't gotten his bonus check or payraise. Supposedly the payraise at least will be on the next paycheck. I am a little disgruntled, I think he is getting messed around with, but whatever. He's content to wait and see, so I guess I can just suck it up.

Where is spring? It's 51 degrees right now. Which is not freezing by any means, but COME ON ALREADY.

Tim has tomorrow off to take care of me and the sick baby, hopefully both of us will be on the mend by then though. Speaking of sick babies, I need to go tend to mine, he was woken up grouchy.