Yesterday, Jax told me that some kids teased him at recess about his allergy:

Kid1: I know you - you are the kid with the peanut allergy!
Kid2: Ooooh, peanut butter finger [pretends he has pb on finger and wipes it on Jax's arm]
Kid3: I had peanut butter and jelly for lunch [leans in close to Jax's face]
Jax: Did you really have peanut butter?
Kid2: Just kidding!
Kid3: Just kidding!
Kid1: [walks away]

Ok, so Kid1 did not actually tease (or bully because that is what I am calling it) but he did not have to point that out to everyone. Kid2 was in Jax's class in Grade 2 and while they were never really close friends, they were friendly back then. Kid3 has never been in his class before but she is in the same grade.

Jax said he was very shocked that anyone would do that to him and he was scared because what if it were true. How incredibly mean of those kids!

I had decided after reading those articles about peanuts and bullying that we were going to take a zero tolerance stance on bullying so I immediately emailed Jax's teacher to report it and to ask her what will be done about it. I won't go to the principal yet. I have also decided that at the 504 Plan review in a couple of weeks we need to address how situations like this will be handled.

I imagine there will be more of this in the coming years, especially in middle school. *sigh*

I met CraftyMama at Starbucks today. I think we've decided to do a Starbucks tour of the area about 1/2 way between our two towns. It was great seeing her again and catching up. The time always seems to fly by. Cars joined us today and for the most part he was perfect but he did get a little antsy after an hour and half so it was time to go. Then I asked him to take a picture of CraftyMama and I but he refused at first. Then he said he would and took the camera and snapped a lovely picture of a truck going through the Starbucks drive-thru and another of my bum. So we made due with this one taken by me. Then a very kind woman offered to take one of us with CraftyMama's camera (see her blog for that one).

I conveniently finished correcting the spelling for Dex's class today during recess so I was able to approach the teacher to ask her to please consider placing Dex in Mrs. P's class for next year. She does not have 100% say in the placement as they do have to balance the class out by boy/girl and strong, medium and weak students, but her input will definitely be considered. She said she would do what she can for me and I do believe she will and is not just saying it. I told her that I was going to request "no job share" for him as well so that will cut out one of the classes. The job share class might be ok for him except that one of the teachers was Jax's teacher in 2nd grade when he had that horrible, horrible year. I have heard nothing but good things about the other teacher (and she is a very close friend of one of my friends) but that won't help the other 1/2 of the week as they alternate 2/3 and 3/2 days.

Now I have to work on the wording for the placements forms for both kids. I know nothing about the 5th grade teachers so I will just have to concentrate more on the social needs Jax has rather than the academic and just hope he gets a teacher who works for him. One concern I have is that at our school, the 5th grade classes are in the portables with no running water. Not ideal for someone who has OCD and a peanut allergy so he cannot wash his hands. We have a 504 Plan review next month to discuss how the school will handle this.

I have been spending more time outside getting to know my new garden and yard. It has been fun to watch the bulbs come up and the buds come out. I have a purple azalea bush flowering right now and it is so pretty! (I had several pink azalea's at the other house). I have just one rhodie bush flowering right now and it is a pale pink colour. A little disappointing as I do prefer the more vibrant colours. I hope the others bloom soon although my nextdoor neighbour says they won't bloom due to years of neglect and over-pruning. We'll see...

Quite a few weeks ago I noticed wrote that deer had eaten my tulips but had ignored the hyacinths. Well, apparently since the tulips are gone, they started in on the grape hyacinth and have virtually eaten them all. Funny, they left the pink ones alone.

Pink hyacinth and chewed tulips

Grape Hyacinth and Deer prints (tracks?)

Sole blooming tulip

And since I am sharing photos, here is one of our birthday present to Jax. It is a life-size wall sticker of Boba Fett. He *loves* it and it goes well in his Lego Green room.

I played chauffeur all day today so I am very happy that the jalopy is fixed and it made it home alive.

Stephen met Jax for lunch today. Jax was pretty subdued - apparently very nervous about the food. It was "Twin Taco" day and lunch came with a churro. Jax threw out both his and Stephen's (without asking Stephen) because "baked goods are not safe". He is right of course but I guess Stephen was stunned at Jax taking control like that. I am very proud of him today. I know it took a lot of courage to do, even with his dad sitting next to him.

From Stephen's b-day list I bought him some herbs and a grill brush. He "purchased" last weekend's ultimate fighting championship or whatever on PPV and he said that is all he wants. Oh geez. I do have one other thing I want to get him so I will have to run out tomorrow while Cars is at school (if Cars goes to school - his tummy is still upset).

I promise to make my blahg more interesting. Thanks for stopping by.

Ok, my mom was well enough to travel to Vancouver. It hasn't snowed since Monday and I fell off the room so my PMS is over. Whew! Of course, the car is not yet repaired because not only was the radiator broken but so was the water pump (I am trying not to regret the decision to fix it).

Cars is still sick (stomach bug) so he hasn't been to preschool all week. Then he developed pinkeye so off we went to the doctor today for eye drops. I hope he is well enough to go on Friday.

Dex has baseball practice today. As every Wednesday, the ball fields are always in use by others when we get there. I am angry at the league (and coach) for not handling this correctly. The fields are "owned" by the city but on are the school property and the little league has a contract with the city but the school is hosting softball games and tournaments on it every Wednesday it seems. Last week we had to drive across the city to a soccer field to practice. Tonight, we moved to a field across from where we were supposed to play but another team was booked on that field. That coach decided perhaps both teams could have a practice game so it worked out in the end. I hope they have it all straightened out next week.

I have noticed since I had been blahging about Dex's experience with Zyrtec and tics, I have had a lot of hits on my blahg from people searching for it. I believe this is an under reported problem with Zyrtec. I checked out the FDA site to report a problem but you can only report "serious adverse events". Then I decided it was a serious adverse event so I filled in a report. I hope others who are experiencing do the same.

Jax is going to buy lunch tomorrow at school for the first time in...ages. I think he bought lunch the second week of school back in September and that was the last time. Stephen is going to meet him (well, he is meeting Dex at 11:30 and Jax at 12:00) so Jax will feel comfortable having a parent with him. I have been having a hard time arranging for a day to meet Jax when there was food that he liked (very limited range here). So, tomorrow is "Twin Taco" day and he likes that.

Of course with the jalopy out of commission, I have to drive to pick Stephen up from work, bring him here for lunch then take him back to work. Fortunately, he figured out the bus schedule and will take the bus to work in the morning(as he did today). The car should be fixed by the afternoon so he can drive home. We'll see...

Stephen's birthday is on Friday. He has asked for herbs for the garden (they will die because it is too cold), a brush to clean the grill and a shoeshine cloth. OMG. Could his list be any lamer? How can I take the kids to buy something from that list? Seriously. I think I will just take them to Target and let them pick ANYTHING they want as anything they pick will be better than those items. ~eyeroll~

Ok, my mom is on the mend. She has had 3 doses of antitbiotics and already her coughing is much better and she doesn't look like she is about to kick the bucket anymore. She is headed to Vancouver in the morning.

Cars was sick today and could not go to preschool but he seemed much better before he went to bed. Hopefully he will be fine in the morning.

Stephen's car needs a new radiator. We debated over spending half of the car's value on a repair but decided to go ahead and he'll get a new car at the end of the summer or when it dies again, whichever comes first.

I won't talk about the snow that fell today since it only snowed for about 15 minutes and it melted because it was not too cold. With all this freaking snow, I did learn how it is possible for snow to fall when temperatures are above freezing. They were explaining it on the news last night but I was too busy sobbing to listen. Today, since I am feeling much better emotionally, I decided to check it out.

So, my mom is still very sick. Urgent Care called to follow-up and when they found out she was still so sick they said she probably DID have pneumonia. (They do not yet have the radiologist report back from the hospital on her x-rays). The doctor called in a prescription for antibiotics for her and she is not to travel until she is better. Also, if she is not feeling better within 24 hours, I am to take her to Emergency Room. And, I was scolded when I said she had plans to take the train to Vancouver on Tuesday (we had already changed her flight home from 4/39 to 4/25 at this point). I was told "your mother needs to rest and she must not travel if she is not better!". So, looks like she may have to wait until Wednesday before she goes to Vancouver then she will fly out on Friday. I feel badly (as does she) because she will not have much time to see Lola.

With her being sick and Cars vomiting all day yesterday and Stephen's shitty lemon car, lack of sleep from J's b-day party and the FRIGGIN SNOW, I am so stressed out. It seems so stupid, but I am. I know a big part of it is that I have PMS (which seems to get worse each month - a sign of perimenopause?!). This has been a shitty visit with us being so busy and with my mom being sick. We haven't been able to do anything fun together. Also, my mom likes to take us out for a nice dinner once each visit but all we've managed is KFC takeout.

And all I want to do is have a big old cry but then I feel foolish for being such a baby. Instead, I will have to settle for spewing this all on my blahg which has turned into nothing more than the Seattle weather report and peanut allergy bitching.

Enough is enough!

This is what I awoke to this morning:
Let me repeat...it is not supposed to snow in Seattle. edited to add that my uploaded video does not seem to be working so you can check it out here.

Random Stuff

Jax's birthday party was fun for him. The kids did not sleep much but they all seemed to have fun. As parents were picking up though, Cars vomitted in the living room. Ugh! He was sick until late in the afternoon. I hope none of the party goers become sick!

My mom was feeling better today and her cough seemed much better by the end of the day. She needs to stay active so it does not settle in her lungs. :(

Dex had a baseball game in the snow today. There was none on the ground really but it was like a blizzard during the game. It kept alternating snow and hail yet they played on. They did call it after all of the kids on his team started crying because they were so cold. Stephen was pissed off that they even played that long (I was at home with Cars and my mom). Hopefully this crazy weather will end soon. Hard to believe it was 81F last Saturday!

A couple of articles about peanut allergies and bullies (courtesy of Peanut Free Mama):

"Peanut butter crackers found in lunchbox; classmate charged"
"Peanut Butter and Deadly Taunts"

It saddens me that kids do these types of things. :(

Yes, this is snow on my front steps. I know I keep harping about this but it is not supposed to snow in Seattle! Especially NOT in April. Aargh!

Jax's birthday party is going on right now. The kids had pizza, played xbox and with Lego. Had cake and are now watching a movie. Lights out will be at 11pm and I hope they sleep this year. :)

My mom is very sick. I had to take her to Urgent Care today. She thought she had pneumonia but they said no. She has a horrible cough and is coughing up junk from her lungs but the xray indicated no pneumonia. They suggested she use Benadryl to help with her cough but she had a horrible reaction to is and has been in bed since 4pm. Not easy to rest when there are 7 loud boys around but they have been banned from upstairs to keep everyone comfortable. I wanted to postpone the party but she (and Stephen) would not hear of it. Hopefully she will feel better in the morning.

Speaking of Stephen, the radiator hose fell off again. I am more than just a little annoyed now. If he insists on keeping the car, he needs to ensure that it does not break down every other day.

Dex has a baseball game in the morning. I hope the snow is gone by then.

Ok, off to check on the boys again. Seems they have paused the movie for a "Lego Break".

Tonight was the first of three classes for Dex's First Communion prep. The priest had some interesting things to say but I must admit that I dozed off during the video (same one I saw two years ago) which talked about covenants (Noah's, Abraham's, Moses' and Jesus'). Good thing the lights were dimmed (or perhaps that is why I dozed off). Anyway, I could still pass the test if there was one. ;)

My kids are so happy that Granny is here visiting. Especially Cars. He hasn't stopped showing off for her. He keeps running over to give her a kiss and he wants to sit beside her all of the time. It is very sweet.

I've decided not to go to MOPS tomorrow but I am a little bummed because we are doing a really cute craft that I had planned before quitting as Creative Activities Coordinator (although the person who took over for me did all of the work for this craft - she is good!). Anyway, it is a Photo centerpiece and I think it will be fun to make and to have. I have asked Spy if should could pick up the supplies for me and I will make it later so I should have my own soon. :)

Ramblings

Stephen drove to Seattle to pick my mom up from the shuttle bus that runs from the Vancouver airport (she flew there this morning from Edmonton where she had been visiting my sister). The radiator hose that he repaired came loose and there was smoke (oh, I guess steam) billowing out from under the hood as he drove across THAT bridge. He got off the highway on the other side and bought a screw driver, water, radiator fluid and made the repair. Apparently when he was replacing it he broke a small piece off the radiator where the hose attaches so he cannot get the clamps to tighten as much as they should. I am so stressed about this. I just know the car will break down on the highway or something when I am driving it. ~stress~ Ok, I have just made up my mind that I am never driving that car again. Ever.

Anyway, so he picked up my mom and she is here for a week. We have a very crazy busy week with Jax's appointment with the psychologist (that was tonight), Dex's baseball practice tomorrow night, First Communion class for Dex on Thursday, Jax's sleepover b-day party Friday. I think we might be able to eat dinner together as a family on Saturday night. And who knows if we'll get any shopping done or not either (other than a Costco run tomorrow morning).

Oh, and I wanted to mention that on Sunday afternoon, when I took Jax shopping for a bathing suit at Old Navy, a woman with grey hair approached me and we started talking grey hair. She asked me if I were 25. I guess the Lancôme High Résolution Eye Collaser-5X™ that I bought with my birthday money is working! ;) Seriously, I think she was just a bit of a nut. In the 90 seconds that we spoke, I found out that one of her sons was gay, the other needs a girlfriend and that her Australian boyfriend, whom she met in Arizona, loves her grey hair and how it looks with her green jacket. LOL

If I colour my hair again, do you think I might get carded?! ;)

Happy Birthday, Jax!

Ten years ago today I became a mom for the first time. Jax's birth story was the most exciting of the three (two scheduled c-sections after an emergency one are not as fun ;)

So, to celebrate Jax's birthday, he got to start writing the WASL which is our state's standardized set of tests. There are signs up all around the school asking people to be quiet. They were trying to recruit extra parent volunteers to ensure that kids walking to/from the lunch line kept quiet. Kids are nervous and scared all over the school (at least the grades 3-6 with most emphasis on 4's and 6's).

Anyway, a more fun way to celebrate his birthday, besides the "WASL Treats" I took in for his class (cheese sticks and strawberries), he wanted to hand out a pair of fake nose and glasses to everyone in his class. I hope the teacher did not mind. He was going to do it this afternoon. We'll see how she handled it after he gets home from school.

I made him a Lazy Daisy Cake and we are having hamburgers for dinner. Love his simple taste.

Happy 10th Birthday, Jax. Thanks for being my son.

Ick

I saw my first big spider in this new house. Ick! Stephen had just upstairs when I spied it across the room. I had to shout for him a few times (bad acoustics in this house) before he came down. Anyway, he got it and flushed it. Take that evil spider!

We also seem to have an over abundance of wasps. I thought they were yellow jackets but it seems they are paper wasps (saw one up close as it crawled around on the outside window). I need to find the nest then either buy a fogger or call an exterminator. Cars was stung by one today (it landed on his finger and stung him when he tried to brush it away). Poor thing!

Two weeks ago tonight I got stuck in the snow. Today it was sunny and hot! What a difference.

The warm weather is not going to stay so I took advantage of it. Dex had a baseball game so Stephen drove him over early for warm-up and Jax, Cars and I walked. It was such a great idea at the time but it was much warmer than expected and I practically had to drag my 41 pound child the whole way (all 1.65 miles UP HILL)! He insisted on holding my hand the whole way which at first I thought was pretty cute but then the warm weather made for sweaty hands. Then I was not holding his hand TIGHT enough and he kept grabbing my fingers with his other hand and wrapping them tightly around his hand. Again, cute except that it was hot. Next, he did not want to wear his hoodie that he insisted on bringing so I had to jam it into the bag I was carrying (along with water bottles for all of us).

Then, when I mumbled something about the water bottles, he was suddenly parched and needed some water. He let go of my hand long enough to take a big chug of water, gave the water back to me and grabbed my hand again. About 100 yards further up the hill, he was thirsty again so we stopped, he chugged, etc.

We finally made it to the ball field just as the game was about to start so we did make good time despite me having to drag the preschooler and all the water breaks. Thankfully we were able to drive home in air conditioned comfort. Aaahhh.

Stephen's car is limping along after a radiator hose replacement. He is excited because apparently the heat is working in his car again so he feels the car is good for another 6 months at least. He calls it his "character car". Dude, you want to be defined by a run-down jalopy? Whatever!

Our internet and cable telephone service was out most of the afternoon and that completely irritated me. I am addicted to the internet and hate it when I cannot access it. Actually, today I was more upset about the phone service because I had some calls to make and did not want to use my cell phone since they were to Canada and I have free long distance to Canada with my cable service. Anyway, I had a hit of chocolate and my blood pressure is back to normal.

The radiator hose to Stephen's jalopy burst as he drove into the driveway today. He is so lucky that it did not happen on the way home or last night as he was driving back from Seattle. Looks like I am playing chauffeur until we can get to the auto supply store to buy the parts he needs (hopefully sometime tomorrow) else it will have to wait until the weekend.

On a happier note, the allergist called this morning and said she found no instances of Claritin or Allegra causing tics so she thought they would be safe options for Dex. Zyrtec crosses the blood/brain barrier which could be why it affected Dex so.

And, at Kimmer's request, here are some closer shots of my pink blossomed trees:


From the driveway


From the road and look! Pink snow!

I forgot to take photos of all of my tulips chewed down to the nubs by deer. Deer do not apparently eat irises, daffodils or hyacinths.