Early in the morning we are going to leave to go get the kids.   I’m so excited to be able to cuddle with my babies again.  

When I talked to my mom today she said that the kids both know that it’s one more sleep until we get there.

This week has been wonderful.  I’ve enjoyed being at home with Walter without the daily pressures of kids on our lives, but even during our conversations Ben and Becca aren’t far from out thoughts or words.  

We have a long ride ahead of us, one where there will be excitement to see those two beautiful kids that God has given us.  

I don’t think anything could be better than the hugs we are going to get!

The kids are spending a week with my parents.   Walter and I have a full 5 nights at home – without any kids.   We actually had a full 6 nights, but we spent one of those nights in Sacramento having a date night.   But last night when we got home the first thing I thought of was the kids and how quiet our house is.   It’s not as though that was the only time I had thought of our kids.   We talked and thought about them all the time, once they are a part of you it’s hard not to have them right there with you.   We talked about how nice it was to go shopping and not have to worry about them getting bored, or traveling and having one of them telling, yelling requesting a song choice.   It is just different and it makes me wonder if this is how people with no kids live, yet we aren’t people with out kids, so really there is no comparison.   

The kids are having fun at Grandma and Papa’s.   Becca won’t go potty in the toilet for my mom, but other than that they are having a great time making memories, which is what Grandma’s house is all about.    Cousin Cole tought Ben how to ride a bike – without training wheels and they enjoyed Easter, hunting eggs on the property and getting to know better their Auntie, Cousin and Grandma and Papa.  

Mom and dad are learning to have a conversation without getting interupted many times, what it’s like to not have to have dinner on the table at 5:30 because their are starving children in the house, but to have the flexibility to just enjoy each other’s company.  

The one thing I still have heard, even without children in the house is “I’m bored”, told to me by my husband because the wind picked up and going shooting was no longer an option.   While I am enjoying the quiet time at home, it’s a killer for my husband.   I told him to go see Jackson and to run a few errands.    I guess with his playmates gone, Walter just doesn’t know what to do with himself in the afternoons.   I think he has plans for the rest of the week, thank  goodness or I don’t know how many times I would hear “I’m bored” and then it would be no different than having the kids here.

The girl has given up all aspects of baby-hood.   The last to go was her paci.   It just happened, she couldn’t find her paci before bed, dad told her that she needed to find it in the morning and that was it.  

Isn’t it amazing how as a mom I fret over her paci and getting rid of it, I fret over her not being able to go potty anywhere but home and then all of a sudden things work themselves out.    While she still won’t go potty just anywhere I know like her paci it will just happen.

Becca Girl seems to be doing so much better.   Today we made it out of the house without crying and for most of the day she was back to her happy go-lucky self.   What a wonderful relief!  

But when one kid gets straightened out, the other one does something that just throws me for a loop.   This morning it was my son.

I had just woken up and had been cuddling the kids in my bed.   I said it was time to get up and so the kids got out of the bed and I was making my way towards the bathroom.   I can see the kitchen from my bedroom door and I see Ben standing over the trash can.   When I ask him what he’s doing he says “Going to the bathroom” 

I was shocked and asked “Why?”

The answer was “Because I can and I wanted to.”  

So then came the conversation that just because you can and that you want to doesn’t mean that you should do those things.  

Maybe tomorrow will be the day where everything goes smoothly.   Becca doesn’t cry and Ben remembers where the toilet.  

Last week I expressed my love for my daughter and thought I figured out what was wrong with her, but alas I was wrong.  It wasn’t just the need for sleep or just having an off day.  It was a raging ear infection.  

If Ben wouldn’t have woke up with his ear hurting and not wanting to go to school, then I would have not have taken her into the Doctor.    Ben never, ever, ever does not want to go to school.   The only other time that this has happened was the day I sent him to school and he threw up in class.  

His outer ear was red and when I tried to put a q-tip in it he screamed and shouted, so I thought – outer ear infection.   She looked at his ears, and saw some puss, but then realized that she had “popped” the pimple that was on the very edge of his ear.   Since we where there and since the kids are going to my parents house this weekend, I asked her to look at Becca’s ear.  She said that her right ear was severely infected. 

And I exclaimed “So that explains it”.   The feeling of relief was huge.

She just isn’t a moody, whiny, crying, demanding 2 1/2 year old for no good reason.

There was a reason for her behavior!  An Ear Infection!

Walter’s going pick up the antibiotics on his way home, hopefully by this time tomorrow my daughter will be her lovable, funny self. 

Who ever thought that by taking my son in to get his ears checked and it was only a zit would lead to my Dr being diagnosed with an ear infection?    I’m so glad that it did.