Colic, Cleaning and Clinging!

Sorry I didnt post yesterday, I was just worn out after a trip to Louisiana to get my taxes done. I am always nervous when I cross the Sabine. I am afraid they will shut down the border and I cant get back home. Gosh I love those "Welcome to Texas" signs! Not to mention you cant drive over 55 over there. And since BR was driving he obeyed the speed limit! I also didnt have all 4 kids so it was a quiet day. Just dealing with BR and Bow.
I think thats why I was so tired. I know what I need to do with the money, BUT I also know that my used couch has busted again. There was already 8 folded up sheets under the cushions keeping you from hitting the floor when you sit. I had to add more two days ago. I am running out of bed clothes. I had hoped to make it until the kids were sorta grown. But there is just no hope. Ahhhhh well... Easy come, easy go I reckon.. Plus BR's recliner is broken too. You cant get it to UNrecline. I dont ever sit over there, so it really doesnt affect me, but when company comes over its hard to get them back out of it..

Bow started his 3 month colic almost a week before he turned 3 months old. It starts right around 4:30 every evening and lasts for about an hour.

He was good while we were in the CPA office, he was being held and walked. But the minute we get in the truck he went nuts. Screaming at the top of his lungs.

If you have never been around a baby with colic its an experience everyone should have to deal with at least once. Perferably those teenagers that think babies are cute.

You have a darling little bundle of joy one minute and the next you have a screaming, writhing, kicking, pissed off bundle of hate. He hates you, he hates his clothes, he hates food, he hates being held, he hates to be put down, he hates being still.
Its like you are sticking a hot branding iron to the poor thing, they twist sideways and throw them selves backwards. They scream until they are horse and then scream some more.
They buck and kick, then they straiten out stiff as a board. They flop like a fish out of water.
and they scream the whole time. seldom even stopping long enough to take a breath. You just know they are giving themselves whiplash. One second they are balled up like a cut worm, the next they have the back of their head touching their heels from bowing thier back. They twist and throw their bodies with the skill of a dolfin coming out of the water, and then they flail their arms. Bow manages to do this all with out a tear.

If you think a smiling cooing baby is hard to hold on to, try holding onto one of these slippery, mean, hurting, and upset things!

Well Bow did this all the way home. I would get him to sleep for about 6 minutes, and then he would wake back up for another 20 minute round of screaming in his car seat.

Once we got to walmart and I got him out he was okay. No more fussing. About the only way to shut one up is to walk and walk and walk.

Fine, except, when you are a mom, if you get up there is something that needs doing. And as you walk this poor baby you see more to do. Lunch and dinner dishes, spider webs, groceries you were not able to get put up from 3 days ago.
The trash needs taking out, the dog needs water. and here you are carrying 14 pounds of needy baby. Sometimes a still screaming, needy baby! And when there are 3 others in the house and they see you up, this is the time they need something. You cant hear them over the screams, but they will get louder. Dont worry.

And if you are scoffing at the 'small amount of weight' I want you to tote around a 10 lb weight for 15 minutes. you MUST hold it up against your chest, or draped over your arm. it gets real heavy, real quick!

but I am lucky, I have a sling. Its just a 5 foot long peice of cloth with rings sewed on one end, but you put the baby in, cinch it up and you are semi hands free! Well, Once I put Bow in it he is quiet. He just puts his sweet little head against my chest and rides in peace.
Not nary a word. Just occasional burps and lots of farts. You can get some things done, I have learned to load a dishwasher (bending over is kinda hard, so you just point and drop), I can take out the trash, put on a load of laundry if I dont have to bend over. But mostly its just me being up and him moving around keeps him peaceful.
But the minute you sit back down... all hell breaks loose again. We have to do this for an hour. Well shoot, you would think I would have the cleanest house this side of the Mason Dixon Line, NOPE, cause this is also the time when poor little 3 year olds need their mommy time too! And when the kids are getting home from school.

Now tonight was extra special. Rayley has a fever, feels awful and wants to be loved. While I was getting the kitchen cleaned up she wanted something to eat. So I made her something. While I was making her a plate, she asked for a drink. I told her to drink her tea.

Matt had spilt it, she said. (sudden hunger pangs had hit him during a room cleaning marathon)
Well as I was getting her more tea I noticed that yes, he had spilt it. And not cleaned it up. I had JUST wiped down the table. and there, all over it was tea. He was just sitting there picking at his chicken. He was trying to stay out of the bedroom while Brett cleaned it. Here I am, trying to keep poor Rayley happy, wearing a baby that is sure to have a melt down again at any moment, sweating like there is no tommorow because I refuse to turn on the AC and I have a 14 pound furnace strapped to my chest in 78 degree weather, cleaning the kitchen, tripping over her, and the dogs, throwing things in the trash can, because apparently I am the only one who knows where it is, trying to be nice and sympathic and so, in my best, altough forced Carol Brady voice I asked him why he didnt clean it up when he spilt it. "you were already cleanin, " he said " I thought you could just get that too."

Yes he is still alive. But he is no longer picking at his chicken.

I got Rayley all settled, food in front of her, and the phone rang. I went to get it and when I got back, she was asleep. Not that it lasted long. It was just enough of a nap to energize her with more whining..

When the kids showed up here about noon today I told them that they were going to clean their room if it killed them. Bow's clothes are in there and when the boys are at school I have to go in and get them. And when they are home, I have to send them back 3 or 4 times to get the right thing. They cant find any dirty clothes in there, yet, I cant find any in the laundry room. And I am tired of it. Plus with baseball season starting soon I need to know where everything is, cause I know that they wont put it all back in the bags.
I also told them I would play baseball with them if they got it done. AND they could get back the toys stacked in boxes they had lost in October of last year.

There was some grumbiling at first. And even the question "did Dad say you could make us clean it?" Well.... Lets just say they got right on it.
Of course I call it a room cleaning marathon. Not cause they work hard and get it done. But because I have to chase them down everytime I turn my back. I fiqure I have ran at least a 5 K today!
There was crying, there was bellyachin, a little attitude and alot of threats. All the while they just pretended I didnt exist and wasnt making any noise.

BUT it got done. And I even managed to get them bathed! IT was nigh on 10 before they laid down. BUT it was in their own beds, with clean sheets and I could walk in and kiss them good night.

WHile I had them cleaning I got Bow settled in and quiet again, and here came Rayley. She had to lay in my lap. And when she is clingy she wants to take her fingers and run them lightly along your wrists and arms. This is hard to deal with. I promise. Plus she had a fever, so she was cold and wanted a blanket, and it was STILL 77 degrees in the house!

Then Matt walks in the room, he is mad because Brett is not cleaning. He wasnt even in there. So I hollered for him and asked what he was doing. Come to find out, he was making Rayley a pallet on her floor so she could go in there and watch a movie. AAAAAAWWWWWWW how sweet.
Sometimes I see my kids do sweet things for each other, and all I can think is "oh hell, who stole them and replaced them with this alien...."
Of course Rayley didnt want to watch a movie alone, so Brett nicely offered to watch it with her.
UHHHH how will the room get cleaned that way?
Now at this point we are on hour 6 of the room cleaning. And there is not much progress. So more threats and more bellyache'n...
By Hour seven Rayley's fever was rageing, but she was in there getting sympothy from her older brothers, I could hear them in there playing, and Bow was draped over my lap like a sack of taters knocked out and snoring.

I knew I needed to get them in the tub. Since I couldnt holler for fear of waking up the poor baby, they were ignoring my spoken pleas to hurry.

There is only one alternative. It doesnt help me loose this weight, but moms must do what moms must do. Out comes the candy and with the first crinkle of the wrapper I hear silence. I test it, I ask for one of them to come here. Nope, still deaf as a post. I rip open the only fudge brownie left in the house...

AHA! all 3 kids, right here.. I LOVE predictablity!

Except when you can set your clock by a colicy baby, a kid with hunger pangs when the going get to cleaning, and a little girl with a fever falling asleep as soon as you get her what she wanted.

But the weekend is over, we are starting a new school week. with Colic, with a feverish princess, with clean kids, a clean room and 6 loads of laundry! I am SO glad I cancelled that dentist appointment for the kids in the morning.