Spaz Attack

Thoughts from a big spaz who has lots to spaz about.

Monday, February 28, 2011

we went to a birthday partay tonight and i had me a monstrosity of a chocolate cake.  talk about caffeine overload. here i am up at 1:00 am, fulling awake.. on one hand, it's a good thing because i got a lot done. on the other hand, i know i will be suffering tomorrow. oh why, oh why, oh why?!!!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011


three pics taken this month on my cell phone. tyler and chase at tyler's jiujitsu class.

my two superheros. for some reason, tyler is always superman and chase is always batman.

chase when he was sick. love pictures of sleeping babies.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

there are so many advantages to homeschooling. i see it, yes, but i'm to scared to take the plunge. if i homeschooled, i would spend all my days doing what i love best- leisurely teaching and learning with my boys, NOT scrambling to find time to get everything done. what would my day look like? wake up, make a quiet breakfast, do house chores together, read together, do "school" which would only take about an hour and a half, look up an recipe online to make for dinner, go to local farmers market to pick up fresh ingredients, make dinner together, work on learning a foreign language, go play at the park, take sports lessons from  a professional, practice piano- which we never have time to do now, and so much more. i imagine my days would be so relaxed and less hectic and we would spend time as a family.

right now, i have so many things i want to do with the boys and so many things i want them to experience.  after i pick tyler up from school, we get home on average about 3:00 and he is in bed at 7:00 to read until 7:30. that doesn't leave much time at all for anything extra. basically, we can do one extra activity and homework- that's about it. plus, after a full day at school, he is so tired that i don't get the "best" of him.

where do parents find time to do things with their kids when they are in school most the day?! i'm trying to figure this out.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

it is almost 10:00 and the boys are down for their morning naps. yes, in times of sickness, we revert back to our infant routines. so, even though my head is spinning, it's quiet here in mi casa, so what do i do? check fb, peruse the internet, and write on this site. you know how many more posts i would have on this thing if i were sick all the time?

some very random thoughts. when i say random, i have a feeling this will be very random.

1. i was on cnn.com and read that republican rep. christopher lee of new york resigned his house seat after a report that the married congressman had tried to meet a woman on craigslist. two things caught my interest. christopher lee...sounds asain...could he be? also, anything with a headline as salacious as that one will catch my interest! then, i clicked on the article to see the picture that lee sent to this woman and i felt so embarrassed for him. i mean, how embarrassing for a half naked picture that you sent to a woman you want to meet up with from, of all places, craigslist is being paraded on every news show. so sad for his wife and son, but also for him too! i mean, i'm not saying what he did was right, but for now, all we know is that he had PLANS to meet up with this lady. not saying that he did or would have in the future. anyways, what he did is nothing  near what depraved and despicable as john edwards did to his ailing wife and i just feel for the guy.


2. kids are so cute when they look at pictures of animals and say it is a girl if the animal is drawn with eyelashes, or when they draw pictures with long lashes when they are drawing a girl and no lashes if they are drawing a boy.

3. jason got me a kindle for my birthday. i love it but i see some of its drawbacks (no color, for one) and know for sure that something better will be coming out soon. there were two reasons that i was very interested in kindle. 1. their text to speech option. if you get tired of reading, you can have the book read to you. (albeit, in a strange, robotic voice) i just thought this would be great for the boys. tyler is at that age that i want him to have books read to him as much as possible. he is a proficient reader for his age, but i want him to "hear" how words sound when put together in to make great sentences. i think the best writing sound rhymic, even musical, and i want to hear how the classics sound. another reason i got it is because i could click on any word and get the definition right then and there. i also thought this would be great for the boys. SAT prep, anyone? man, these kids today live in a day in age when they don't even have to look up words in a dictionary!

4. jenn got me the blueprint cleanse for my birthday present. it's coming today and i'm starting it tomorrow morning. i am super excited. i've always wanted to try a detox cleanse. thanks jenn! i'll let you know how it goes. supposedly, you don't get hungry drinking juices all day, which is hard to believe. i can only imagine i'll feel like i'm a hungry prisoner and will want to go foraging for some berries in our neighborhood, but we'll see...maybe i'm tougher than i give myself credit for.

5. speaking of jenn, i'm so super excited for her wedding. jenn is everything i'm not and i admire all the things in her that i wish i could just have a morsel of. i can't wait to see her beautiful self walking down the aisle.... oh, my dear friend has found her prince charming and i can't wait to celebrate with them.

6. i love 100% pure natural coconut water. the taste is alright but mostly, i love it because i makes me  feel like i have more energy...placebo effect for sure. this magical coconut water was put to the test this week when i drank it for extra energy in the midst of my weakness. FAIL! it didn't help me one bit. i'm back to water.

gotta run, chase is up and asking for a bath. here comes nurse cristina! :)

another day cooped up at home. me and the boys. my mom was suppose to come and help me out but i thought that if there is even the slightest risk of her getting sick, i shouldn't have her come into this germ infested home. i mean, i feel horrible. why would i want her to feel this way?

so, tyler is watching a superman movie downstairs. chase is on the computer and i'm here on the laptop. not usual for all of us to be doing different things but at least there seems to be some calm and order in the house!

here are some of my random thoughts this morning:

1. so richard read yesterday's post and texted me the sweetest message this morning about how my body needs rest. he is completely right. the first week jason was gone for the philippines, i was on a one woman mission to do everything. on top of our already crazy schedule, i joined a gym and i intended on using it as much as possible. so for that first week, after the kids left from my school, i would pick tyler up, get home around 2:30, have afternoon snack, do homework, do one or two extra activities or lessons per day usually lasting one hour, get my ass to the gym while the boys hung out at kids club over there, come home, get something together for the boys to eat (or get something on the way home) and eat, baths, sleep, plan for the next day. really, i was exhausted, but like i said, i was on a mission. it went like this for that first week- every day. i knew the boys were tired. heck, i was tired but i just trotted along, planning my days to the last minute and rushing about every second of the day.

and then, come this week- doctor appointments. ER visit. baths at room temperature. wrapping the boys in ice. meds. snot. vomit. more meds. it hasn't been fun. just my body telling me to slow it down, for my sake and, by golly goodness, the boys' sake.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

oh, wowie, wow, wow... what a hard day it's been. i have two extremely sick boys at home. as i play nurse here, i have self diagnosed myself with strep throat (dr. husband can't do that today because he is halfway across the world on a missions trip). BEING SICK SUCKS. wow... maybe before children, i might have enjoyed this little respite at home from my normal activites. now, i HATE BEING SICK. i am so miserable right now. i feel so helpless. i can't really help my boys get better. i feel like a horrible mom. i feel like we are wasting so much time, just doing nothing and waiting for our bodies to heal. i don't remember a time when a illness, mine or my children, lasted more than a day or two. this thing we have now...lasting us about a week, bringing with it vomiting, high fevers, and complete misery on the boys is downright disgusting- i can't bear it another day. i am ridden with guilt and sadness right now.



on a whim, we decided to go to the bay area the last week of december. i actually called jen to ask her for advice on places to stay in big bear and she said that we could stay at her place in oakland if we wanted to visit the bay area. done deal! we picked up the key the next morning at four and we were off! here is a picture of the boys when we got to jen and vinh's place. they were very happy to get out of the car!
here is tyler in front of their place. he wanted me to take a picture in front of their door. sorry about the picture. we got a new computer and i don't know how to turn it right side up.

of course, the first thing we did was go eat in chinatown! it was very yummy and cheap! yay!

berkeley. so many horrible memories in barrows "HL." nutri science, anyone?

in front of some sculpture. man, it was very cold the days we were there. i'm not complaining....at least it didn't rain!

im front of sather gate...that's what it's called, right?

with daddy.

with mommy.

mommy ate many lunches at bear's lair. or should i say, got many drinks from there...haha..only jen would understand that one.

thought i would try to take an artistic shot of the boys eating noah's bagel on telegraph. i think it came out cute!


cal beanie. it was SOO cold, i had to buy one on telegraph. i had the EXACT beanie in college, and i bought it from the EXACT store like 15 years ago...man, i'm old.

walking.

our old place was being remodeled. had to take pic for jen.

jelly belly factory... they have a great tour there! we weren't allowed to take pictures on the tour though.

surrounded by candy. we bought some "jelly flops" for people...irregular jelly beans...cute, huh?

a pic of ronald reagan made from jelly beans.

here is a closer look.

jason and i wanted to go on the budweiser tour. it was so interesting! i learned so much! did you know they put rice in your beer? and i learned all about hops!

as you can see, tyler wasn't too happy to be on this tour!  this was his face for pretty much the whole time! hehe..

tyler was a little happier to be at the train museum in sacramento though! he still loves trains.



in front of auntie jess and uncle rich's place in alameda.

yay... we always get presents from them!

looking for uncle rich's office in sf....which one is it? notice the starbucks polar bear cookie in chase's hands...see, jason just thought it was the cutest cookie for some reason!

streets of sf....

the boys thought the were on a roller coaster ride.
exploritorium.





it was freezing! thanks to uncle rich and auntie jess for showing us around!




some delish, warm mini donuts.





sausalito

winchester house in san jose. pretty creepy. the didn't allow pics on the tour so i just took a pic of the boys in their museum of winchester riffles.

on our ride back. sometimes, when i ask the boys to take a picture, one will tell the other to close his eyes and this is what i get. they think they are so funny!

man, being sick really sucks. the boys and i have been sick for a couple of days now. the thing that i hate most of all about being sick is that your life is kind of at a stand still until you are better. we can't do any of the things that are on our normal schedule and i just feel like we are wasting so much time...resting in bed...psh....what a waste of freakin' time! i absolutely hate it. i want to and need to do so many things but my body won't let me. what torture.

anyways, went to the ER for the first time last night. chase's fever wouldn't go down from 104 for about a good hour. i tried everything that is normally suggested- meds, wet towels, baths, having him drink cold drinks. man, to see your child so listless and feeling so hot, you just know for sure his brain is being fried- thought i heard some sizzling going on in there. of course, when we arrived at the hospital, he was feeling a wee bit better and i ended up hearing all the things i already knew and was already doing, but felt better to to know that his little body is fighting off an infection and he will be fine once the virus runs its course.

wish me luck today. i'm hoping, praying, and have every limb and fingers and toes crossed that today will be the last day of sickness in this house. i'm mentally so done with this...if only this body would listen!

Thursday, February 03, 2011

i was just putting chase to bed and he said something that made me laugh. made me want to come on here so i could write it down.

chase is just naturally funny. i'm sure everyone thinks that about their kids, but i think chase is just a funny kid. his facial expressions, the way he tilts his head and moves his hands to talk remind me of an old man. tonight, when i was tucking him into bed, i was reminding him that he has to call me to wipe his butt after he goes poo (because he tried to do it himself today and it wasn't pretty). he said, ok mommy...but mommy...but mommy.... and i said, yes. and he said , why are you talking to me when i am so tired. the way he said it....just like an old man, made me laugh.

earlier today, he was crying and i was holding him in my arms. he looked into my eyes and abruptly stopped crying. he said, i see my shadow in your eyes! :) and laughed and laughed. man, kids are soooo cute.

tyler wants everything he has to have protein in it. he heard somewhere you need protein to build muscle. since he wants to be exactly like superman, this is a big deal to him right now. he will check the nutritional facts on everything and if it doesn't have protein, forget about it! he even made me buy, "eat brownies, get muscles." they are brownies that have extra protein in them. thought the name was so funny...eat brownies, get muscles! catchy! have you seen it at costco? i have NOOO idea why i got this for him. the only thing i can think of is that i was a weak, tired mom at that moment and didn't have the energy to fight with a almost six year old in the middle of costco.

man, i was just thinking of this one family who started at my daycare when I first started and sent their two children to me. i don't know...i was just thinking that i am REALLY thankful that they trusted me and believed in me. i mean, when you come to someones house and they say, "i'm just STARTING this thing. i've been a teacher and am passionate about teaching, and the youngest i've ever taught are kindergartners. but i'm tealling you, i have a dream of what i think a preschool should be and what i think i could teach these kids, " i could understand that it would be hard for a lot of people to swallow. so thankful that they got "it." thanks to the michelsen family for making my dream come true and for sending their two beautiful children to me and for trusting me.