Yay!!

Now I'm sick. I love Arizona.

It's an earache

Saturday afternoon Sweet Girl was fine, not the clingy mess I figured she would be which was nice.
Sunday was a different story, she woke up crying, fell back asleep after she was up for a while and was generally crabby. I had given her some tylenol and it seemed to kick in enough for us to go out for breakfast and a quick trip to the Superstition Mts. It was a nice trip but we weren't allowed in the Lost Dutchman State Park because it was too crowded and dangerous. So we just found a pull off and let the kids walk around and look at the cacti out there. She was in a good mood. And feel asleep on the way home.
The afternoon turned worse when she complained her ear hurt and was running a fever. She fell back asleep...that makes TWO naps in ONE day which is odd since we're lucky if we even get one!
5:00 rolls around. I had found this place not to far from us called Good Night Pediatrics. They have all pediatricians on staff and are open from 5 PM to 5 AM. Wish I had known about them when we headed off to the horrible Phoenix Children's Hospital. We were in and out of there in less then an hour with an ear infection, motrin for pain, benadryl for congestion and a prescription for another antibiotic.

Hopefully this is it for the sickness, since in the 3 weeks we've been here we've had Strep, Croup and now an ear infection. I'm over the sicknesses. They suck and are making my life even more miserable right now especially since I was struggling with the move itself to begin with. This is not helping.

Send us good well vibes because apparently my positive thinking is going in the opposite direction.

The Next Ailment

I guess Arizona has an interesting welcoming committee. We've been welcomed by strep throat and scorpions and now our latest welcoming committee is the croup committee. Yes Sweet Girl now has croup. I hope this string of incidents ends soon because I'm not really sure how much longer I can take it. And she's been exposed to all of these things already and we got by unscathed. I guess that was pure luck.

She's had a cough for a little while, it sort of went away with her strep and resurfaced a day or so ago. And then this morning we got the barking cough wake up call. So we head outside because it is cool out there (in the 40's) and it calms it down. We head back in and I open the window in our room, prop her up on some pillows and she goes to sleep.

Of course there is nothing we can do for it since she's not suffering from the strider or other issue accompanied with croup where her chest is tight. I talked to the pediatrician and she instructed us to head to the ER if she suffers from the aforementioned issues. I don't think we'll be going to Phoenix Children's Hospital again. if that's the case.

Hopefully she keeps up good spirits and isn't clingy all weekend. I had big plans to get everything situated. I'm beginning to wonder why I even bother planning anything these days.

I'm hoping I don't have to start the 'Ailment of the Week' topic.

Differences and Similarites between TN & AZ

Here is a brief synopsis of some differences and similarities between Nashville and Phoenix/Chandler

Differences:
My family and friends aren't here. So I think you all should move.

There are lots of palm trees and cacti here. Not so much in Tennessee.

You can buy beer, wine and liquor at the grocery store and Costco. Yay. Although I'm surprised I haven't taken advantage of this more.

You rarely run into someone that was born and raised here. This seems to make most people very nice. This could be both a difference and a similarity depending on where in TN you are.

The freeways here have different names depending on if it's the north, south, east or west part of the freeway. For example, the Loop 202 is called the Red Mountain on the north side and the Santan on the south side.

We're not getting snow in March.

The bathrooms at my office in Tempe have seat covers and the office in Nashville doesn't. Why is this being noted, you might ask? I had some trouble with one of these seat covers which may or may not be a post one day this week.

The school zones are 35 MPH, but it's ALL day long. People must have been really pissed when I saw the flashing lights and dropped down to 15. After noticing the speed on the sign I sped up.

We have scorpions. But hey TN has brown recluses and at least if I have one scorpion that doesn't mean I have a whole houseful.

The Phoenix area has 3 area codes.

They don't have Publix.

Our house is roughly the same size but the kids got shafted on their room size compared to TN.

Most suburban neighborhoods in the Phoenix area have sidewalks.

Almost all homes in the Phoenix area have a block fence.

You can have green grass all year long in Phoenix.

Phoenix is the fifth most populated metropolitan area in the country. I think Nashville is around number 30.

They have red light and speed cameras...watch out driving records.

Similarities:

People drive like idiots here too. They seem to be better at merging but not much.

They have Target and Wal-Mart.

The Wal-Marts attracts the same type of people as it does in TN.

I'm still working on the same projects for the same company.

Leo can still carry his guns here.

Both areas are represented by Democratic governors and Republican Senators.

Both have hills and mountains. Just more mountains in Phoenix.

Both have pro sports teams.

Both have some form of commuter rail in some stage of production.

Both have useless HOV lanes.

Dip and a Star

Sweet Girl and Little Man are both pretty good eaters. We've gone through phases where they would only eat certain things, well actually really not Little Man because he eats everything it seems. But I have found something that really helps both of them eat. It's certainly not the most nutritious of food but when I am desperate to make sure they have food in their tummy this is where I will turn for both of them:

Sweet Girl - Chicken shaped as a star from Carl's Jr. Yes she pretends they are members of our family and methodically eats our heads, arms and legs off. And she is proud to proclaim in the middle of the restaurant 'Mommy I just ate your arm!!'. But she EATS them all up and is excited to eat so I can't take that way from her!

Little Man - Any kind of dipping sauce. The kid will dip anything into a sauce. Ranch, BBQ, Honey Mustard are favorites for chicken. If he is not eating anything I just think of something he can dip it in, put some on his plate and do a trial. Viola! He eats it. It's actually kind of funny. But he if it's getting him to eat veggies maybe it will counterbalance the dip??

I'm sure soon this will change and Sweet Girl will tire of eating off our heads, arms and legs. And Little Man will no longer like dipping sauce. Like all things this is probably just a phase.

The Payback Spell

Well we've made it four days now settling into our own routine. Sweet Girl and Little Man are doing better with drop offs at school and are acting pretty much like the normal kids we had before leaving TN. We still have our issues but I'll chalk them up to the fact they are 3 and 1.5.

What I am convinced of though, is the fact my parents put the payback spell on my children while they are here AND I am around. I have always heard that I was a highly dramatic young child, very similar I imagine to how Sweet Girl acts now. So as a means to pay me back for the pain in the ass I was, they have cast this spell so I can see how tortuous it was to have me as a child.

So Gaga and Grandad, I get it. I was an overly dramatic kid. So please remove that spell and let me have normal children!! ;)

On Our Own...

Uh Oh...after about 3 weeks of having GaGa and Grandad around we are on our own again. This should be interesting since the past few weeks we've had the luxury of having someone else around to help watch/entertain/put to bed/change diapers/change clothes/console/anything else that was needed for the kids. My parents are headed to CA to visit with my sister and her family. So starting today for over week we'll be on our own. Maybe this will be good as we can get into some kind of routine. Both Sweet Girl and Little Man have been having really hard time with drop offs at their new preschool. It may be because they know GaGa and Grandad are at home and they are not and that is where they want to be. I can't say I blame them, it's no fun being at work when you have company sitting at your house you would rather be with.

While I will miss them being around, I am sure they also need a break from the moving mayhem we've been living with for at least 3 weeks now. It's certainly taken it's toll on me and I'm surprised I am still drug free and not in an institution for a mental breakdown. I've had a hard time adjusting myself and the screaming and crying of the kids at drop off is not helping me at all. I know, I know, give it time. You all know me, and you know my greatest gift is NOT patience. If only sarcasm worked like patience then I would probably be like Mother Teresa.

So while it will be yet another adjustment to create our new routine that is so desperately needed hopefully it will be quick and smooth. And by the time GaGa and Grandad get back before leaving (boo) again, we'll be all normal and even keeled. Stop laughing I can be normal...