W.A.

W.A. Knowing is half the battle, isn't that what they say? Well we are helping Tucker seek the truth. He is addicted to Wii. He needs W.A., Wii Anonymous.

This is Super Mario Brothers. This is how many guys he has racked up. He keeps playing the same 3 levels over and over again because he his getting good at those levels and he knows where are the "1 up" mushrooms are hidden. He plays every day. He loves it. He is addicted. He is FOUR YEARS OLD.

Mother of the Year...yes, again!

I am becoming very confident that I will secure the Mother of the Year Award based on all of my stellar nominations.

So about 2 weeks back, Addie started grabbing at her diaper and yelling and crying. I would take her in the room, change her, wipe her really well and check for any signs of diaper rash. All clear. Drive on, Addie. We would go through this routine about once a day. Skip ahead to Tuesday night. She wakes up at 1 am (actually Wednesday morning) and her fever is 103 and she barfs, the reason I missed the house inspection. If you missed that story, check out the Interior Revealed post. So Wednesday I get her fever under control with Tylenol and Motrin, but after her nap she is back to having a fever of 102.3. So I call our beloved Doctor, who is thankfully the doctor on-call. He gives me some suggestions and says that he would be happy to see her on Friday if the fever isn't under control (he is closed on Thursdays). So we work on his suggestions and on Thursday afternoon she wakes up from her nap at 103.7. Ok, that's it. She's going to the doctor on Friday. So I wake up in the morning, call the Doc as soon as the office is open and get an afternoon appointment. Her physical exam shows nothing. No ear infection, no throat infections, lungs clear, lymph nodes not enlarged, and belly is feeling good. So he says there must be some infection inside that he can't physically see. So the game plan is, write a prescription for the antibiotics but not fill it unless she spikes a high fever again. He didn't want to just pass out drugs, but he didn't want to leave my high and dry for the weekend either. I thought that was fair. So then he starts talking about how it's difficult to diagnose small children with bladder infections because of the lack of urine sample. I start nodding in agreement understanding how that would be hard, and then it occurs to me... Addie is not potty trained, but she most certainly does go potty on the toilet very consistently when asked to go. So I told the Doctor that I was pretty sure I could get a urine sample, providing that there was even anything in her bladder. So they set up the toilet with one of those bowl like catchers in it, because our Doc likes me enough to not ask me to catch my almost-two-year-old-daughter's urine in a cup. AND SHE PERFORMED LIKE A CHAMP! Tucker was in the bathroom with us and he was cheering her on. "Alright Addie! Look at all that potty! Good job, Big Girl! Look Addie, you did all the way up to two. Wow Addie! Big Girl! I'm so proud of you!" ...on and on. When we returned to the exam room and the Doctor walked in, Tucker proudly announced that Addie did potty to number two (he was looking at the measurements on the catcher). It was so sweet and loving that he was genuinely proud of Addie's potty performance. But I was really, seriously, genuinely, honestly proud too. Such a big girl, just like Tucker said. She is in pain, and has been for who knows how long, and she does potty in a strange place, with a weird thing on the toilet, with me and Tucker staring at her! It was one of those weird, proud, Mommy Moments that just make you say, Damn Right That's My Girl! She's not even two years old and she just gave the doctor a urine sample!

So that was my proud moment. The Mommy of the Year Award comes in when I tell you that because of her stellar performance and urine sample, that my dear daughter has a full blown bladder infection. Who knows how long she has had it. I am now certain that her yelling at me while holding on to her diaper a few weeks ago was a sign that I missed. And really, why not let your daughter run around with a bladder infection for 2 weeks? Why not.

Once again, I give you permission to post your Mother of the Year nominations....come on...make me feel better!

Interior Revealed!

I'm certain that all the mothers out there know that there is never a good time for your kid to get sick. Inevidibly, when they do get sick, the timing couldn't be any worse. That was us last night! Addie woke up at about 1 am and I went in the room to change her diaper and calm her down. When I picked her up, she was incredibly hot! I'm thinking, "Oh man. Honestly? Tonight? Fever? Come on!" My game plan is pump her up on Tylenol, lots of hugs, kisses and water and then put her back to bed. I take her to the kitchen, give her Tylenol and on my walk back down the hallway I hear her making some unmistakable sounds. RUN!!! She's gonna blow! I make it to the bathroom just in time to lean her over the sink...I'll leave the rest unmentioned, I think you know what happened. She has never been sick like this before and she is really scared. Matt wakes up and comes in to help with wet rags, new jammies, and diaper and wipes (he didn't know I already changed her) and ultimately "sink janitor". God Bless Matt! We took her temp and she was 103. I ended up making a bed of blankets and sleeping on the floor with her. She was doing slightly better this morning, but not good enough for me to feel good about going to the new house inspection. If I had gone, that would be some severe Mommy Guilts if I had left her at home.

So, Matt went to the home inspection and took some pictures. Here's the Hillsboro Queen's Unveiling..... (as usual, the pictures are not in the order that I intended. I still don't know how to make the pictures do what I want...oh well)

The main bathroom.

The toilet is straight in front of the door and the bath tub is behind the door.

Dining room. Looking at the exterior of the house, this is the window that is to the right of the front door.

Living room. Looking at the exterior of the house, this is the window that is to the left of the front door.

Family room, picture taken from in the kitchen. The window on the right is the slider to the deck.

Family room again, showing other side of room. Also taken from the kitchen area.

The kitchen and laundry closet, taken from the family room.

Kitchen bar

Kitchen, window looks out to deck and yard

Deck right outside the house. Looking to the left

Deck right outside the house. Looking to the right...notice hot tub and play structure. The wall next to the hot tub is the master bedroom. There is a window in the master that looks out to the deck. One day that window might achieve a higher status as a sliding glass door or possibly french doors?

Hillsboro Queen (no, I'm not talking about myself)

There she be...our new home. We are in contract on this home in Hillsboro, Oregon and I'm so excited about it. We have been back in the Portland area around 2 years and we are finally getting our life put back together. We have been looking for a home for a few months now and we finally found the one that will fit our immediate wants and needs. Although we really do like this home, it still feels like a step backwards from our first home purchase in Louisiana. We had a 2200 sq ft home on a one acre lot and we basically paid peanuts for it. So it was a huge shock to see what money will buy you here in the Portland Metro Area! All I can tell you is that it's certainly NOT a one acre lot, it is NOT 2200 sq ft and we did NOT pay peanuts for it, but none the less, it's ours.

This is our one level, 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage home. She comes in at a whoppin' 1552 sq ft, but she boasts vaulted ceilings in the family room and living room for the appearance of extra square footage. In the back yard there is a great deck for BBQs and entertaining, a play structure that is being left by the current owners and a fantastic hot tub to soak my worries away. I'm sure that will be a delightful place to have an adult beverage this summer! She will keep us warm in the winter and cool in the summer with her heat pump. There is a perfect bay window in the front of the house so she can proudly display the twinkling lights of our Christmas tree this year. Although she can brag about her many fine qualities, there are some cosmetic changes she will endure throughout our stay. The first, and most blaring flaw, is what her careless owners have put on her walls. WOWZAH! They certainly did a doozy on her. Some inexperienced homeowners might call her damaged goods, but under that retina burning paint, there is a fine woman waiting to show her true colors. We will be delivering that fresh coat of "pizazz" before we move all our belongings in. With that small token of the love and care that we will give her over the years, I'm sure she will begin to shine like the diamond in the rough that she is. We will be ending our engagement and beginning our marriage with this fine Hillsboro Queen on May 17th, at a smokin' rate thanks to our lender. I will be posting more picture of the interior, and all of the intense paint, later this week. Our inspection is this week and I plan on taking my camera, not only to show everyone, but also to start my before/after portfolio of this gem of a house.

**if you need a lender, even if you have been denied and you think you can't get a loan, YOU CAN. Just ask and I will send you her name. AMAZING lender. She works her tail off for you and fights for you, I can't say enough good things.**

Oh and if you were wondering why I'm so certain that she is, in fact, a she...the trim and door paint is purple. ...but like many things, that too will change! I'll take a vote later on because I'm not 100% certain what exterior color I want. Let me get some photos with better lighting so you can submit your opinion.

Too Much, Too Soon?

I'm in over my head. You know when you get a REALLY GOOD idea that turns out to be a pretty bad idea, well that's where I am. I've talked and talked about how I think Addie could probably start potty training and be pretty successful. So yesterday I took the plunge....and I'm sinking! I bought the Dora the Explorer pull ups, some padded training woo-woos (underwear) and some pretty princess woo-woos, oh yeah and a large box of diapers for when this all blows up in my face (hopefully not literally).

Well yesterday we had two #2's in the pull up, expected, but still not a good time. She also wore the woo-woos yesterday afternoon for a few hours without incident. She had a wet pull up only once yesterday. I thought we were off to a pretty decent start.

Today is a different story. When she is wearing diapers, she will tell me if she has gone potty or #2, which is one reason I thought she was ready for potty training. However, today she went potty in the pull up and said nothing. She yells and screams when I talk about putting a diaper on her, yet she doesn't want to go to the bathroom when I do let her wear Dora or woo-woos. I'm not sure if I've pushed it too early, or if I haven't stuck with it long enough. Pull ups are a mighty expensive way to wear a diaper, ugggh. The only thing I know for sure is, she is way too cute.