PoKE Me In The EyE!!

Aunt Kerri taught us this little quote when something is frustrating, "Poke me in the eye!" There has been quite a few frustrating moments that have solicited this response the last couple of days...you wanna hear?! We came back from vacation in high hopes of being on the tail end of our sicknesses. After Colton being out of school for five days, he returned to school for two BEFORE throwing up in the middle of night. That stomach flu followed him for two and a half days, and anytime he put something into his tummy it came right back out. Now the babies both are filling their diapers with diarrhea (I know you wanted all the details, but don;t worry it is to make you feel sorry for us) Now I understand sickness IS a part of life and our imperfect bodies, BUT I believe we have had our fair share this winter and have not skipped a strand. Can we get a break?
These items have been a staple in our household this winter!

I am just going to give you a quick history so you do not think I am being pessimistic (like my brother said-we just view sickness differently than you I guess)Lets see...the first strand HIT Dacie the hardest, she had it for over three weeks and just when she was getting over it would get another slamming session. Sterling and I followed suit on his birthday. Then I picked up another mild form of it a week later. So, then there were some serious congestion coughs and ear infections. Then Sterling picked up strep throat and passed it down to his siblings. After that there was another trip to the drs. for two more sets of ear infections (Dacie and Sterling). Around Christmas Dan caught a bad case of strep and severe fever and cold--it knocked him out of two days vacation for Christmas. The antibiotics rocked his digestive tract and he battled issues for more than a week. Then Dacie got another bad cold and ear infections (it led Sterling into the urgent care for a bad ear infection), then Colton got this head cold that almost landed him in the ER for dehydration w/ fever blisters on his lips and listlessness (the dr. informed us next time to get him into the ER immediatly). He has had some tests done for his kidneys (from his past) to just be sure, since he was complaining about side pain. Sterling proceeded with another set of double ear infections and croup. Then Colton got this next round of stomach flu ( he usually is NOT the sick one)--and the babies have followed in a milder version (I hope).

I keep thinking it must be our home. So I spray and sterilize, and pump my children with vitamins, and wash hands, and sheets, and have my kids change clothes when they get home from school. Some of my friends call me a germ-a-phobe. Maybe I kill off all the good bacteria too (I doubt it...come on, I still have four kids SO I am NOT that on top of things). I don;t know... BUT I am weary. Dan says we need to take off for Hawaii for two weeks to get away from the germs and get rid of the ones we have! So IF you don;t hear from us that is where we are-ha ha ha (that would be nice). I am SICK of this~ ha ha literally

As if sick children are NOT the least of our frustrations. WHY do you EVER buy new cars instead of used? and WHY did we not get leather interior? We had our old gently used van for years with no incident. NO sooner than we got this NEW one did someone hit and run our front left fender (which costs more than our deductible to fix), cracked our windshield on our road trip to L.A. AND Ryland DREW all over the interior with PERMANENT MARKER!!!

AAAH! POKE ME IN THE EYE!

Many asked how did this happen? Well, it is a whole bunch of blame on everyone. Dan, for not letting me get leather interior like I wanted, too to save some money (which is NOT saved now),MY fault because I had mailed a package earlier in the day and left a permannet marker in my purse AND for letting Ryland get in the car without being strapped in his seatbelt for a few minutes (I promise it really was a very FEW), and Ryland's fault for disobeyeing the family rule of drawing ONLY on paper!!!!!!!!!
I came out ot he car and PANICKED!!!!!!!!!! There have been a few times in my life that I have physically had to remove my children and myself from each other because I was so ANGRY, I could not speak or think (the last time was when they painted the side of the house barn red with exterior paint). This was one of those times, I could not say anything. I just drove to Dan. I guess that scared Ryland enough because he cried and cried saying things like: "it is all my fault" "is daddy going to kill me?" and "Is daddy going to throw me in the trash?" (yeah-since we have done ALL of these in the past-ha ha) Dan felt so bad he was so scared of him he drove him home in his race car (his little OLD red roller skate commuter car) and explained that he still LOVES him, but he made a BAD BAD choice. Ryland is grounded from coloring in any form (etch-a-sketch, crayons, computer games) for a month (that is going to be a mother punishment too-as he enjoys doing it EVERY day).
What can you do? We have been contacting wrecking yards and dumps trying to get a hold of headrests (as KIA charges 150 dollars a pop-and doesn't carry some of them, since we need five of the six headrests in the car replaced)

So IF ANYONE has ANY IDEAS how to get out permannent marker--FEEL FREE TO COMMENT!

But for now-POKE ME IN THE EYE!!!!!!!!