What I've Lost Up Top I've Gained Down There

I've been on my migraine regimen for almost 4 solid months now, and I'm happy to announce that as far as the headaches go, it appears to be working (knock on wood)!  The first few months didn't show much progress - I still had way too many days of headaches to count.  But, the past month has been pretty well pain-free!  I love it!  I almost didn't remember what it felt like to not have a headache.  I can't believe I went so long, in so much debilitating pain before finally finding something that actually helps.  Last month I only had about 3 days where I can say I hurt - and some of that was due to jet-lag from my trip to Europe I'm sure.  This month so far, I've had 1.  Yep.  ONE!  I feel like I finally have my life back!  I'm sure Kris is happy about it too, since I'm not complaining all the time.  It got to the point where he would ask me if I had a headache and I would snap at him "I always have one...don't ask...I'll let you know when I don't have one!"  So not fair to any of us. 

That said, as happy as I am to have my life back to normal (is there really a norm?)...it doesn't come without cost.  The pill I'm taking is causing me to lose my hair.  Not in the going through chemo way, but still in rather large amounts all throughout the day.  We're talking handfuls in the shower, all over my clothes during the day, on the furniture, and I've even pulled it off of Nicky!  I suppose I should be thankful of two things: 1) I still have eyebrows/eyelashes; 2) it's growing back, so I'm not exactly balding.  The other major side-effect of depakote is weight gain.  I've always been very weight conscious, so this one is a biggie for me.  I've gained roughly 10 pounds-ish.  It kind of fluctuates, but is still enough for me to notice when I wear a few pairs of my jeans.  I now have the biggest booty in our household (which isn't really saying much because neither Kris nor Nicky have one at all...sorry boys, but it's true)!

Despite the side-effects, I'm thankful to be more myself again.  The time spent with Nicky is much more enjoyable (especially since he's in the repeating everything over and over again stage - couldn't imagine that while having a migraine!).  And knock on wood...the drug continues to work and I don't have to go through the long, tumultuous task of finding another one!

Pretty Much Just Another Sunday

That about sums up my Mother's Day.  Kris worked at the fire station, so it was just me and the little Russky left to our own devices.  I somehow was able to sleep in until 9:45 (whoo hoo!) as Nicky was still tuckered out from our never-ending Saturday.  After checking out my pretty flowers my wonderful hubby got me (and tickets to see Wicked...yay!)...

I climbed into bed with Nicky and lay there listening to him breathe and staring at his beautiful lips (they are so juicy, I just want to bite them!).  He looked so peaceful I didn't want to wake him - I was afraid he would start talking again and never stop.  But, alas, my belly started to growl and I had it in my head that the only thing that would fill it up would be Burger King egg and cheese croisan'wiches.  So, with messy bed head, we rushed out and came home to chow down then cuddle on the couch watching a movie.

After that, it was more of the same ol' typical weekend day.  Ate lunch.  Napped - my favorite part!  Had snack.  Did some laundry.  Ate dinner.  Washed dishes.  Cleaned up some dog puke while Nicky stood over me asking a million times "what dat?"  "what dat der?"  "who do dat?"

The only thing that wasn't normal about the day was out of the blue at random Nicky would look at me all sweet-like, give me a big hug and say "happy mudder day momma!"  Talk about melting your heart!  There was also the opening of the super sweet cards from both Kris and Nicky.  Here's part of the one Nicky made for me at school...(green paper and pen, of course, as that's his favorite color)...

*picture of our family - that's me on the left - notice the fancy hair?  Nicky's on the right - tallest one!  Daddy's in the middle with the big eyes.  I think it's a spitting image of the three of us, no?*

*This is the part of the card that really got me.  It says "I Love You".  In Nicky's OWN handwriting!  He was barely able to make more than a circle at the beginning of the school year and now he's writing letters!  Sniff, sniff...my boy's growing up!*

A girl could get used to this kind of stuff!  Ok, so maybe it wasn't just another Sunday afterall...I'd say my boys definitely took good care of me...I'm just bitter Kris had to work and couldn't spend the day cuddling on the couch with us.  Aw...how sweet...blech! :)

They Should Call the Doll "Chatty Nicky" Instead

Seriously.  And if I have to start out a post by saying "seriously", then you know I mean business.  So, seriously.  What's up with all the chatter?  The Russky has gone from never talking at all, to jabbering on constantly about nothing at all, all the time!  And it's not like he's really saying much - most of the time it's the constant repeating of the same effing thing over and over, even though we've acknowledged him after the first time he's said it.  And he will say the same exact thing every single time he sees something that he's seen a million times.  Every day we drive by workers putting up a building - we'll hear "diggers!" from the backseat then he'll tell us they're building offices.  Then a few more yards we drive by a church and he points out the steeple - yep...they put up a steeple 4 months ago, thanks for letting us know Captain Obvious!  That's his new nickname in fact - Captain Obvious. 

And it's not just on the road.  It's while we read books.  He'll point out the exact same things every time - and they're always the super obvious things.  "der a cat."  "dat a ball."  "dat a beer."  (I swear we don't read him books with beers in them, but he has seen a few beer bottles in his short life, and he swears the picture of a seatbelt on a man in a big rig in one of his books is a beer - no matter what we tell him.  and - he's always right!) 

Then there's the "i watch tv".  So I think, ok, let's watch a little tv - maybe he'll zone out for a minute and give my ears a rest.  I'm not the biggest fan of Sponge Bob.  It doesn't teach anything; it's kinda crass; and it's overall annoying.  But, he seems to like it, and I used to be guaranteed that he would stare at it quietly, as if he's been possessed for 30 minutes.  I sit with him and half-watch while checking out some facebook, and now 50 percent of the time, Nicky will talk all through it, giving me a blow-by-blow of the show as I'm watching it!  Like I said, I don't like the show, but if I gotta watch it, I at least want to hear what's going on.  Argh!

Don't get me wrong.  We're thrilled that he is speaking now.  We just wish he were saying more and not repeating the same things over and over! 

Sigh.

Anyone have any earplugs I can borrow?

*the picture above has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but I put the hat on him at Target and texted it to Kris while he was at work one day just to torture him...pink being his favorite color and all!*

The Kid's Got the Crazies

This past Saturday was probably one of our busiest ones yet.  Nicky and Daddy went to Daddy's boss's grandson's (got that?) birthday party around lunch-time, then it was home to play for a bit before going to play t-ball.  Then we rushed to Target to get some necessities and groceries so that I wouldn't have to shop on Mother's Day (Kris had to work at the fire station).  From there, Nicky and Daddy went to pick up dinner while I got ready so we could all meet some friends at the FC Dallas soccer game at 8pm.  At no point during all this running around did Nicky stop talking.  From the second he woke up that morning, until we were in the car at midnight driving home his little mouth was running!  He was in mid-sentence when he finally fell asleep in the car, and then when Kris carried him upstairs, he was upset because he wasn't going to get to listen to books!  Um - you're asleep! 

*notice Nicky's eating PINK cotton candy - Daddy's FAVE color! (tee hee hee)  Daddy even tried to get Nicky to buy the blue kind instead, telling him pink's for girls and he still wanted it!  LOL!*

Andrew (who coaches t-ball with Kris) does some announcing for the FC Dallas, so he was able to get us the tickets.  It was a lot of fun - especially since Nicky was able to hang out with Trevor and his new girlfriend baby Blair (Trevor's little sis that Nicky's totally addicted to)!  After the game we went to the clubhouse to listen to Andrew play guitar/sing for a bit and Nicky and Trevor ran around like little crazy people.  Then they both wanted to help Andrew pack up his gear. 

I seriously do not know how Nicky had any energy left whatsoever, but I was all for it, banking on the fact that he would sleep in for me the next morning! 

It amazes me that kids can go and go and go.  I would like to know when it was that I lost all my steam.  I mean, I was wiped out before we went to t-ball and I didn't even go to the birthday party!  Every day after lunch I seriously consider pulling a Costanza and taking a little nap under my desk.  It could prove a little tricky, as my desk is actually a cubicle with only two tall-ish walls and one short one resembling a "drive-thru window".  But, not to fear, I found this site that can prove to be very helpful!  If I had my own company, I would definitely have a "nap room" of sorts.  You could sign up for it at half hour intervals - just enough to recharge.  Of course, everyone would have to bring their own pillow and blankie, but I would have a wall of cubbies with everyone's name on them for storage.  It would be genius.  There might be some HR issues with the hanky-panky that could possibly go down, but I have plenty of time to figure out how to avoid all that since I'm sure I won't be running any corporations any time soon.   But, I can dream right...or in this case...day dream.

How did I get off on that tangent?  Oh - right - the kid had a ton of energy!  Well, it all paid off because sleep in late he did indeed, which meant I got to start my Mother's Day off right and we had a great night with some new friends! 

Random Nicky

Hump hump hump. Scratch scratch scratch.

This is what came out of my sweet little boy's mouth while we were at the nursery a few weekends ago buying plants. Nicky was very excited about this quest, and his enthusiasm was probably elevated by the fact that he only had a 15 minute power nap in the car (something we never do - that kid needs his naps or it's hyper-city around our house!). We had been there for quite some time and he was ramped up, so Nana and I were trying to scurry to finish the shopping. I wasn't really paying enough attention to Nicky apparently, because the next thing I knew, he was, um, “hugging” my leg and moving around a bit, then scratching my leg, saying: “hump hump hump.” “scratch scratch scratch.”

I knew the right thing would be to try to redirect him and not make a big deal about it, but seriously, how do you NOT laugh when you’re preschooler is HUMPING your leg?!

Now, you might be wondering what the heck we’re teaching this impressionable young child in the Johnson house. I assure you it’s not this type of behavior.

I’m blaming the dog – Blitzer to be exact (poor spotted wonder dog - he always gets the blame!).

For some reason that hound has a “thing” for me and will chase me down to hump me, scratching me in the process with his uber-long “click clicks” (aka nails). Nicky is usually my knight in shining armor, pulling Blitzer off me (I’m usually laughing too hard, and in pain from the nails digging into my skin).

I don’t know if there was something in the sandwich he ate for lunch or the fruit snacks he had that morning, but whatever it was, he chose a very public, very crowded location to embarrass his Momma...hilarious nonetheless!

*notice the pink socks?  Daddy's gonna love this post just for seeing his favorite color!  Bwahaha!!!*

What's Red and White and Scratchy All Over?

Poor Nicky's throat! :o(  I got a call from Nicky's preschool on Wednesday late afternoon announcing that the little germ monger had a 103 degree fever, and would we please come and take his infectious booty outta there.  Ok, well it wasn't in those exact words, but I'm sure they think that when they make those kinds of calls.  Spending that much time around the little boogers, I'm sure the teachers and administrators get their fair share of unwanted illnesses - I know I did when I taught preschool.  I mean, seriously, what adult gets pink eye or ring worm?! 

Anyway, we picked him up and saw the tell-tale signs right away.  The eyes were dark and puffy, he was lethargic and hardly speaking (which is a huge indicator that something is wrong these days cuz that kid NEVER shuts up anymore!), and he said his teeth and mouth hurt.  First on the agenda when we got home was to re-take the fever, pump him full of ibuprofen, then check the damage in his throat.  Fever was down a bit; somehow just drinking the meds made him feel immediately better (gotta love the placebo effect in kids - just like putting a band aid on an owie - instant gratification); and sure enough - there were white spots and yucky redness in the back of the throat.

We drew straws, and I came up short, or long or whatever the case was, so I was the lucky one that got to take a "sicky" from work.  Ok, so we didn't really draw straws, we played rock, paper, scissors - or maybe it was really that we take turns and Kris had stayed home the last time.  Whatever the case, Nicky and I went to see his pediatrician yesterday morning and she confirmed what we already figured to be true - strep throat.  First thing Nicky told both the nurse and his doctor "no shots.  only medicine."  I'm guessing he's not a fan of being stuck by needles?  Apparently the last round he got for his 4 year shots were quite painful, and just the mention of Dr Gondol's name sends shivers down his spine. 

After receiving his script, we were on our way.  Of course, by this time, Nicky was miraculously feeling better, and after viewing the fountains with ducks, geese and turtles from the doctor's exam room's huge picture windows, he wanted to go down and feed them.  So with goldfish crackers from Momma's purse in hand, we moseyed around the fountains chasing some ducks that were less than thrilled to have little orange crackers thrown at them.  Whatever. Like they have better things to eat in the algae-infested retainage pond made to look like pretty fountains.

At least the geese were more cordial.  And, Nicky loved it, so I got to be the cool mom for a few minutes!

The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around on the couch and napping.  Needless to say, he's pretty wound up today.  But, he the fever is gone and we've conquered yet another bout of strep throat...ah, the marvel of modern medicine!

T-Ball Tuesdays...

...and Saturdays.  Yep.  As if soccer wasn't painful enough for us to watch, we have signed Nicky up to play t-ball.  We even went a step further - Kris is helping one of the dad's from our soccer team coach (Trevor's - he and Nicky get along really well).  I have to admit though, the little guy isn't all that bad.  He makes contact with the ball; yes, it is on a "t", and he doesn't really have much power behind it - it's almost like he "scoops" the ball off the "t" - but at least he actually hits it!  There are several kids on the team that have a great swing, but they mostly hit the "t", so given the two options, I'm pretty proud. 

All 12 players are on the field at the same time; the other team hits the ball; 7-10 of our players run for the ball causing a pile-up; one victorious hand shoots in the air holding the ball yelling "I got it!".  The others tend to just hang back, digging in the dirt, looking sullen and bored. 

Nicky complains that he doesn't get the ball, but then refuses to jump into the mix to try.  He's just so timid and doesn't have much of a competitive streak. Not sure how to remedy that.  He did get two grounders during the first game, so we praised him a ton and that seemed to help it sink in a bit and boost his ego.

The league is set up so that everyone wins.  There's a 50 minute time limit; we go through the line-up twice for each team, and everyone has to touch (and stay on) each base so there's really no score at the end (unless 24 - 24 counts).  I suppose they have the rest of their lives to learn that there's a winner and a loser?

It's pretty safe to say that Nicky appears to enjoy t-ball better than soccer so far - a few of the other parents that had kids on the soccer team have even noticed it.  Maybe he'll be the next Derek Jeter instead of Pele? :)

Random Nicky

Nana was in town a few weekends ago to help me out a bit, in the event the jet lag from my trip was too much to handle.  Nicky woke up around 7:45-ish and typically he will play in bed for a while, but since I had been up way before the sun, I went up to get him so he wouldn't wake Nana.  I put a pair of shorts on him, which didn't have the adjusters in them, so they kept falling down.  I found a belt we got from his cousin Brenden and put it on him while he wiggled around asking me what I was doing.  This is the first time he's ever worn such a thing, so I told him I was putting a belt on him to keep his shorts from falling down.  He then responds: "ohhhh!  i go show nana my new seat belt!"  Classic!  The rest of the day he continued to call it a "seat belt" and even wanted to sleep in it that night!