Working in the wee hours...

Warning: this blog may not interest anyone in the least...I'm burning off computer buzz so I can go to bed....
I realize that it is now midnight and I just got done working for the day but I needed a little "blog-time" to wind down. At this time of night I find myself sometimes questioning my sanity in career choices...
Not to say I don't love my job...I adore taking photos...I just don't adore my insane schedule at the moment. Basically my day looks a little like this...
5am feed Lil and get her back to bed
6am get up
6:30 here comes little man needing cartoons, and a milk sippy
Throw in laundry and make the bed Start breakfast before princess arises
7 Lil's up!
Coffee..coffee..coffee (I realize that it in not advisable to breastfeed and drink caffeine, but it keeps Mommy from walking around the house in a stupor"
Breakfast for the babies
More coffee...
8Play time... laundry...chores...showers (on a good day)
9 Check email and get computer work started
9:30 Feed Lil
More computer work
11 get ready for lunch
12 lunch...clean up...more laundry
Errands...Start getting ready for afternoon customers
1 Noah nap (Please Dear Lord let him take an afternoon nap...)
Remind self to go to the bathroom and stop running around like a mad woman...
2 Noah's up...Time for Lil's nap
Run like a chicken with head cut off to get things done while one babe is sleeping...
Noah snack and play
3 customers getting ready to arrive
4 start supper
5 Trav's home...eat supper...hand the baby duties to hubby and work until 7
Get kids settled and ready for bed
Clean kitchen
9 kids in bed (hopefully)
10 start computer work
work...work...work...
1 or 2 ish go to bed...
5 am start it all again!!!
(Add in diapers, breastfeeding, solving 4 year old catastrophes, ("Mom, will you go upstairs and find my batman..No not that batman...the one with the cape ripped off...you know I had it the other day at Nana's...then in the yard..."
Mom can't find said Batman...will superman work....tears ensue...

Only mothers understand how this type of day can work! I honestly wonder what I did what all of the time on my hands before I had children.

Would I trade a minute of this chaos for another job...Not a chance! I get to get my kids up, feed them, play with them and I don't miss a minute of their day until late evening when they get to have time with Daddy.

When I worked a "regular" job I recall thinking how wonderful it would be to own my own business...Little did I know that I could leave those jobs at work when I came home. I have to try really hard to seperate home time from working time...I catch myself constantly thinking about what needs to be done next.
However, looking back, I think that things worked out the way they did for a reason. I'm thankful for my kids, my hubby and my home, and I'm so grateful to be able to stay at home with them full time while still working from the house.
While I wouldn't trade a second of my life with anyone... I would love to have a dinner out with my husband that didn't involve a meal that includes a plastic toy or wearing a shirt that didn't show the baby food splatters so much! Oh well, there'll be time for that when my angels are in college I suppose!

Tears at My Computer!

OK guys, not that I didn't know it before, but I have the best group of friends (and fellow Mommy's and Daddy's) in the world. When I posted the food allergy spill I was feeling very low and very helpless but you guys have totally give me a boost and reminded me that this is nothing that we can't handle with a little faith and some extra precautions. I love you guys so much!!!!

Ok, a sad note at the Parsley house... little Mel (Noah's puppy) has passed away. Unfortunately Noah was the one to find him, and of course it broke his heart. We can't tell what happened to him we think he just got sick or something. Anyway, we've had a long discussion about how pets sometimes are not with us very long, etc. Then Noah informed me that it was Ok because Mel went to live with Jesus... (OK anyway....)

Lil has spent her day blissfully crawling around the floor in search of something to pilfer through. I can see that the time has come to break back out all of the babyproofing gadgets. She will be heartbroken when she finds her way back to the cabinet doors only to find them mysteriously locked! I'm not even sure why I bother however, by the time Noah Thomas was 12 months old he could open all of the babyproof locks and would even assist Nana in opening the doorknob covers which were supposed to be babyproof for up to four year olds! I also hope that there is nothing toxic in dustbunnies because Lilly managed to scoot her round little body under the edge of the bed while I was cleaning the bedroom today and when I fished her out from under the bed she was chewing on a dustbunny like it was the yummiest thing ever! She was irate when I insisted on fishing the soggy remnants of it out of her chomping jaws with the grand total of 4 razor sharp teeth.

Speaking of razor sharp teeth, (OK if there are guys reading this post you perhaps will want to skip this paragraph.) I didn't breastfeed Noah for nearly as long as I have Lilly and I experienced what those little teeth can do to a sensitive area of the body the other day. Hello...can you say pain!!! I'm not sure labor was much more intense than that! Ok that's enough of the exciting details of my day for now.

PS Just a warning...Travis has been whining that he wants to post something and I have thus far refused to give him the password for fear of him taking over my blog by keeping everyone updated on the glorious highlights of Nascar, or his recent disdain for a few of the upcoming presidential cantidates...sorry babe if you're reading this...you know I love you... Anyway I will try to hold his political views and overly zealous sports trivia at bay a little while longer. He is a great Dad though...this evening he single handedly grilled out steaks, cooked veggies for the children...got Lil to bed and buried the dog all without breaking a sweat. I have to hand it to the guy in the department of husbands and Dad's he is a keeper (even if he hasn't learned in the 14 years that he's known me that No I do not care who wrecked in the second to last lap and I don't know or care what Shaun Hannity or whatever his name is says about the upcoming election.) He also is a large softie...Noah is sleeping with his Dad tonight cause he's sad about his puppy dying.

Tears at My Computer!

On a Lighter Note

Just had to tell Noah's funny comment about Sunday School this morning. We had a lesson on John the Baptist and when he baptized Jesus. After the lesson and some crafting time Deanna was asking the kids to remember who the story was about and what happened, etc. Noah promptly reporter that Bob the Baptist (is he related to Bob the builder?!?) took some people down to the river and then the dove got saved.... hmm...

Also during church Lil's wet diaper leaked out all over my hand and so I took her to the bathroom to change her. I then set her down in the floor beside my feet so I could wash my hands quickly, well by the time I was done washing she had pulled up the toilet and was having marvelous fun splashing her hands it it... so then I had to wash her hands...and something about that made her have the urge to then dirty her diaper and on the saga continues...

Why I Hate Food Allergies
OK guys....this one is a downer...you may not want to read it but I'm venting...


As you guys all know, our family struggles daily with food allergies. I'm not sure if anyone who doesn't deal with this on a day to day basis understands what this is really like. We coast along and seem to be doing fine and then out of the blue a reaction sends us into panic mode and back to the ER.



Basically there are few restaurants that we can enjoy together as a family and that Noah can safely eat there. We met with friends last Saturday night at a place where Noah has eaten many times before after we have spoken to managers, wait staff, etc, and he's always had a good, safe experience. Basically, after eating food that should otherwise be safe for Noah, he starts to climb in my lap and tell me that his throat feels funny and he wants to go home. This immediately makes my Mommy instinct kick in that somthing is not right. I take him to the bathroom to talk to him calmly about how he's feeling. He tells me that his throat and tongue feels funny (for those of you who don't know what a life-threatening allergic reaction does it basically can cut off your airway completely) and that his belly hurts. I then escort him back to our table to get his Daddy when he starts to projectile vomit. At this point his little body is flooding itself with fluid trying to rid itself of the offending allergen so he is vomiting what appears to be clear water. He is then paniced. (Adults with life threatening food allergies describe feelings of panic and doom that accompany an anaphylactic reaction)



At this point his Daddy runs with him in his arms to take him outside to administer his epi-pen (an emergency injection of epinephrine that we carry EVERYWHERE we go). Basically he is in too serious of a condition for us to make it outside and we have to stop in the lobby of the restaurant to give him shot. Noah is so scared that he is screaming and crying and in a total panic. We manage to get him his shot and we immediatly load him in the car and drive as fast as we can to the hospital. (Normally we would have called an ambulance, but he were in closer driving distance.) Thankfully, epinephrine works for Noah's reactions and he has always been treated in a timely manner and his reactions are controlled with epi and a round of steroids. We then have to monitor him for 2 days because you can actually have a reoccurance of the reaction several hours after the initial reaction. And at this point we thank God that we are one of the lucky ones because every year people die from this same type of reaction.



So I guess I'm venting to all of my friends who are mothers out there whom I love and depend on. I know that when people hear the word "allergy" they think sniffles and sneezes, but in my family it can mean so much more. Also, Noah's reaction was not caused by actually consuming any food with his known allergen. Apparently, he got a trace amount of an allergen onto his mouth and somehow that is enough to send his supersensitive little body into fight or flight mode. His immune system then attacks a harmless substance (trace amounts of a food protein that we suspect was egg) and treats it like a dangerous invader.



I then spend the next two days watching my four year old be afraid to eat anything, even food that he knows is safe for him because he's afraid of having another reaction. I stay up nearly all night Saturday night watching him sleep and wondering how many more times my baby is going to have to go through this in his lifetime. I wonder if I'm ever going to be able to take him to a ball game, on an airplane, or even to get an ice cream without being afraid that he's going to come into contact with something that could endanger his life.



I try to be optimistic and be hopeful that one day there will be a cure for this condition, and until that day comes we just have to do the best we can. However, even my best outlooks are hard to come by when Noah asks me if he can have a bite of whatever someone else is eating or he asks us why he can't have the same birthday cake or treat as all his friends are having.