mommy mommy mommy
In all honesty, I wish I could paint a prettier picture of how my Christmas vacation went down, but the title really sums it up.
I went to bed the night of Christmas Eve eve with a twinge of pain in my left ear. By the morning of Christmas Eve while sitting on the love-seat at my in-laws home, the pain became more uncomfortable. By the time we had opened presents at their house, driven 30 minutes north to my husbands grandmothers house, eaten meat pie, taken a brief nap and opened gifts, the pain was becoming a burden on my day. After the 30 minute drive back home, then back up north to retrieve my camera and the hubby’s phone from grandma’s house and not to forget that 30 minute drive back home, the pain was unbearable.
So, I did what any good mom, wife, and daughter-in-law would do, I down some Vicodin, a penicillin and put a few drops in my ear and laid down to get a little nap in before the festivities were to continue.
When I awoke just over 2 hours later, I admit, I felt pretty damn good. That could have just been the drugs causing me to hallucinate but I sucked it up and off to my in-laws house we went to have Christmas with the rest of the family.
As the evening progressed, and the drugs began to have zero effect on me, I realized that I was having a hard time hearing out of my left ear at this point and it was swollen. I’m not talking like bruised swollen, this is like hit me with a baseball bat swollen.
By 11:30PM Christmas Eve, I was in the ER.
By 1:30AM, I was at home drugged, playing Santa Claus.
By 1:32AM, I was in bed passed out.
When I woke up on Christmas morning with the family to open the gifts Santa had left under the tree, the pain was unreal.
I watched the kids open their presents and then promptly crawled back into bed.
After a 3 hour nap, I got up, showered, got nauseated, prayed to the porcelain god and got dressed.
At noon, we pulled up at my parent’s house.
I slept through most of the events.
I was awake long enough to open presents and take a moment to puke once again before curling back up on their couch and passing out until after dinner.
From there, the Hardworking Hubby brought me back to the ER.
Yes, the infection was indeed getting worse.
I left the ER with a wick in the left ear, swelling in the right and enough pain meds to knock out the entire US Army.
Once we got home, I was back in bed only to return to the ER for the THIRD time the next day upon instructions of the nurse my hubs talked to on the phone because even with all the meds, I was getting worse.
From there it was back to the ER, a new antibiotic and more pain meds later that I returned home, took a nap and woke up a few hours later finally feeling some relief!
The next morning, Monday, I went to see my family doctor who sent me to the ENT.
The ENT’s thoughts—WORST OUTER EAR INFECTION HE HAD EVER SEEN!
So, after an intense and traumatizing cleaning of the ears and a wick in each in addition to more drugs, we were sent on our way with an appointment to return in 2 days.
(Side note: The traumatic cleaning of the ears in where the maxipads come into play, who knew that such a thing could cause Aunt Flow to stop by for a very unexpected visit almost 2 weeks early!)
Now, I sit here today, exactly one week after my first trip to the ENT having just returned home from what I hope was my last.
My ears are finally feeling better, the pain is just about gone, my left ear is great, the right is still struggling to hear at 100%, I’ve downed more percocet in the last week then I probably will the remainder of my life and am finally beginning to feel like myself again.
Moral of the story: Q-Tips are BAD!
This past Friday, the Hardworking Hubby and I took the kids on a much need day trip/vacay to beautiful Door County Wisconsin.
For those of you who know nothing of Door County, let alone Wisconsin, let me fill you in.
Door County is like The Hamptons of Wisconsin.
It’s filled with quaint little towns with names like Egg Harbor, Ephraim, Fish Creek and many more.
It’s the place college students live for ‘the season’ while they are working in a shop, hotel, restaurant or serving up ice cream at Wilson’s Restaurant.
People travel from near and far to visit one of Wisconsin’s best tourist attractions and it just happens to be one of my favorite places to go in this great state.
It’s surrounded by water and over 300 miles of shoreline and it’s beautiful!
A must see for anyone who is visiting Wisconsin.
For us, a 45 minute car ride finds us entering Door County a drive I can more than handle.
The kids were beyond excited to go and check out all the cool sites I had been telling them about.
We started our trip overly prepared for any little mishap.
Armed with the credit card, extra clothes and munchies for all.
We departed Green Bay and headed off to our first destination, The Farm, in Sturgeon Bay.
Once we arrived, we did a quick diaper and clothing change on Tatertot who had covered himself in banana bread crumbs during the first lag of the trip.
After doing a once over on everyone else, we were off to see the animals.
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As you can see, a good time was had by all.
After an expensive stroll through the gift shop, we grabbed our trinkets and packed everyone back into the family minivan.
Once again, we were off.
Our next destination, Cave Point Park .
This was a great place for some photo ops but the Mommy in me had her heart jump in her throat, snapped a few pics and we were gone.
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After successfully removing my heart from my throat, we were off to Whitefish Dunes State Park to do some swimming in Lake Michigan and playing in the sand along the beach.
The kids had more fun than I thought they would and apparently, swimming in Lake Michigan is way better than ever going to Florida, so I just saved myself thousands of dollars and am out of planning a trip to Disney!
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After over an hour of playing in the water and on the beach and a large supply of rocks from the bottom of Lake Michigan, it was time for us to pack up the wagon, get changed and continue our journey through Door County.
I had sand in my hair, ear, down my shirt and all over my face thanks to the adorable Tatertot but it was worth it.
Once the van was loaded up, we continued on HWY 57 through all the cute little towns on to our next destination, lunch, in Ephraim.
On the way, we got a glimpse of some people para-sailing, and some other cool sites.
Along the way, this happened:
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About 20 minutes later, we arrived in Ephraim and decided it was time to get some chow.
The family voted, Summer Kitchen it was.
Everyone enjoyed sipping sodas out of jar mugs and looking around at the artwork.
We left with full bellies, $100 less and some kooky photos of Zman and Drama Queen.
(Click on picture to enlarge for better viewing)
As we had been sitting at lunch, we were explaining to the kids that we were not far from the ’Tip of the Thumb’, Gills Rock.
The kids thought it was pretty cool when we arrived in Gills Rock and couldn’t drive any further.
We were surrounded by water and it was pretty cool to see.
(Click on picture to enlarge for better viewing)
After checking out the little gift shops on Gills Rock, we departed with our one purchase of new pink goggles for the Drama Queen, turned the van around and headed back down the thumb.
We stopped off at farmer’s market store and purchased some dip mixes, then headed back to Ephraim, ice cream at Wilson’s Restaurant was waiting for us.
2 double scoop Chocolate Peanut Butter Explosion waffle cone, 1 double scoop Sneakers and Caramel Collision waffle cone, a single scoop of Chocolate Chip in a sugar cone and a dish of Chocolate Peanut Butter Explosion later we found ourselves sitting on the porch of Wilson’s licking up the ‘scream and enjoying every minute of our day together.
We had survived Door County!
All that was left was to pop into a few more shops on the way down and pick up some souvenirs.
We had purchased a t-shirt for Tatertot earlier in the day at The Farm, snatched up cool shirts for Zman and Drama Queen, some mood and seashell rings and sailor knot bracelets and then headed home.
On our return trip, we made one last stop because the kids thought it was only appropriate to have proof that they had been:
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However, by the time we arrived, I was the only one who would get out of the car, as everyone else was exhausted.
All in all, everyone had a great day and we are looking forward to doing it again soon!
What’s your favorite family getaway close to home?
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This past Friday, I found myself sitting in the sweltering hot gymnasium at my children’s elementary school.
There I sat with my Dad and the Drama Queen wedged in between us.
We were there to attend my son’s 5th Grade Farewell program.
As I sat there listening to the Principal’s speech as he flashed back to the year 1999, the year I became a mom, I admit, I did get a little emotional.
How did my baby go from being at his first day of Kindergarten yesterday to graduating from the 5th grade today?
Where did the time go?
June 6th 2005
June 4th, 2010
How and when did my little boy go from a kid to a little man?
The time sure has flown by.
As I sat in through the program on Friday, I realized that by the time Tatertot graduates from high school, I could very well be a Grandma.
To more than one grandchild.
Tatertot will graduate in 16 years.
By that time, Zman will be 27.
The Drama Queen will be closing in on 26.
They will both be done with college and moving on with their lives.
Possibly making me a Grandma before my youngest is out of high school.
And to think, we are considering having another child in the next 2 years.
Oy vey!
Finally, I would like to say,
Congratulations to my Zman on his 5th Grade Graduation.
I am proud of you and all you have achieved.
I hope moving on to Middle School this Fall will be an easy transition for you.
I look forward to seeing you grow more everyday.
And to my dear sweet Drama Queen.
Tomorrow marks your last day of 4th grade.
This Fall you will be at the top of the school.
You will rock as a 5th grader.
I am so proud of you and the amazing amount of progress you made throughout this last year.
I can’t wait to see what the 5th grade will bring.
I love you both very much and a proud to be your mom.
Love,
Mommy
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This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Lisa comment #15!
OWNERS NOTE: At the conclusion of this giveaway this post had 100 entries. Due to an error on my blog on 5/25/2010 and having to have my host service restore to their last back up date of 5/23/2010 any entries that were received after this date will not show but were accounted for at the original draw for a winner.
I am soooooo excited to share this great giveaway from ArtisticSensations.com with you!
Welcome to the……………………………………………………………………………..
Kim from Artistic Sensations and I, have teamed up to offer you this AMAZING giveaway of bedroom decor for kids!
Kim’s company, Artistic Sensations offers kids bedding, furniture, art and other decor in a huge variety of designs and themes.
I have looked over every item she sells and let me tell you, I could spend a small fortune redecorating our children’s bedrooms!
So, what’s at stake you ask?
For this giveaway Kim has graciously offered up some splendid items! One winner will get to choose if they would like to receive the Boy items or the Girl items.
For the boys, we have the Lifeguard Lamp, the California Dreamin Pillows, and the Hawaiian Shirts Rug as pictured below.
For the girls, we have the Beach Fun Lamp, Flip Flop Pillows and the Flip Flops Rug as pictured below.
Each of these prizes packs is valued at OVER $200!!!!
So, I know, you are just DYING to know how you can WIN!
For starters, you need to head over to ArtisticSensations.com, browse around and then pop back over here and leave me a comment telling me what item(s) catch your eye.
For additional entries you may do any or all of the following, just be sure to stop back and leave a comment letting me know you did so!
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This giveaway will end at noon CST on May 24th 2010. The winner will be notified via email, twitter and this blog.
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