Family life out of whack

Thankfully no one is sick enough to stay home from school, but the coughing and runny noses aren't giving up the fight just yet. The kids are upbeat and running around with occasional pitstops for a tissue. I, on the other hand, have been dealing with headaches and fatigue since last week. I'm not sure if it's Brandon's virus that kept me in bed for 3 days, or if I'm just mentally exhausted from Russ rarely being home these days. I missed him so much today I called asking him to come home sooner than later. With Russ gone, I feel like I'm just drifting without direction or just plain drowning, depending on the day. I'm sure that sounds ridiculous since I have the moms' help. I just need to call, and they are there asking what they can do. If it wasn't for them getting the kids to and from school, I wouldn't be able to work much while Russ is gone. I'm sure I'd be far more exhausted and bordering on insanity without them, too. It's just that when Russ is gone I feel like part of me is missing and nothing feels right until he comes home again. And yet when he is home, I'm comforted for only those first few moments I see him, because I know that he'll be leaving again in just a few days. I feel like I'm getting ready to crack, and I'm doing all I can to hold it together.

Is the week over yet?

We at the Fuller household have been dealing with varying degrees of sickness this whole week. On Monday, the beginning of it all, Russ was kind of enough to delay leaving for Santa Cruz until the kids' naptime so I could get some rest before he left me all on my own. Kind of sucked though, considering he was the only well person here. Sucked even more when all three kids decided they weren't going to actually nap that afternoon. I refused help from the family because I didn't know what kind of illness we were dealing with, and therefore was a miserable, cranky excuse of a mommy.


Deets and O have been home all week dealing with colds and projectile snot everytime they sneeze. Brandon has the same symptoms plus a sore throat and low grade fever. My poor stir-crazy kids so badly wanted to go to school today. 2 of the 3 made it. Brandon was prepared to spend the day at school, sick or not. I said "not" and took him to the doctor instead since he's still fighting his fever. The doctor says he's just dealing with a virus that just needs to run its course. So now he's at my mom's house today eating popsicles on the couch watching movies. Being stuck in our house was just killing him. Brandon is so tired to being sick. Who can blame him?

Russ is home. Now what do we do?

Russ has been in Santa Cruz so much for the last 4 months, that when he's home, we're not sure what to do when we have a kid free evening anymore. We no longer go out to dinner or anything remotely date-like. We're usually both so tired that we find it hard to make an effort to do anything beyond vegging in front of the tv or computer. We do spend a lot more time just sitting and talking if the boys wind down at a decent hour, but that's rare.

Tonight we were blessed with one of those kid free nights. What did we end up doing? Ordering Chinese take-out and having a quiet dinner at our kitchen table. No screaming, crying or fighting emanating from the living room. No wondering what they hit each other with to make a mark like that. No "Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy...." Nothing crazy, frenzied or out of control. Just peace and quiet. Just the sound of forks tinging on plates, the thud of beers being lowered back onto the table. Just enjoying being together and talking and listening to each other. May seem boring to most, but when life is as crazy as ours feels, boring is just right.

We survived

If you live in the area, you know about the crazy ass storm that blew through here at 60 miles an hour and dumped a crazy amount of rain. We survived, but our trees barely did. We lost 4 good sized limbs off of our liquid amber, three of which hit the house. One other limb took out half of another of our trees and landed in the street. Instead of calling the city like a normal person, I stupidly put on my snow jacket and hiking boots, grabbed our Christmas tree saw and set to work on the mess in the street. I managed to clear half of the roadway. The neighbor came home while I was out there and kindly helped me cut through the larger pieces and pull those out of the road as well. I was a drippy, miserable mess by the time I headed back to the house. The next day I got a good clear view of the mess Russ was going to come home to:

Random Church Fall Festival

Brandon shocked Diane and I with wanting to ride pony today. His very first pony ride! He has never wanted to go near a horse, much less want to climb on top of one. I'm totally disappointed that I missed it. We were at a free church fall festival, so I was busy helping Deets play games, when Brandon agreed to a pony ride. I didn't actually think he'd get on the horse. Why would he if he's never wanted to go near a horse in the past, right? So wrong! That's what I get for not believing that Brandon would be brave enough to finally try.

Stunned silence, then laughter

Owen is such a character. For those of you who know him, know exactly what I'm talking about. He sings in the shower (no baths for my boys). He dances to the songs in his head, and even sometimes hums along. Well, today was another great Owen moment.

My always hungry 2 year-old told me he was hungry and wanted to eat. So I ask him if he wanted me to make dinner. Oh boy did he! He grabbed my hand and led me to the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator and started rambling off all the things I could make for dinner. Nothing was sounding good, so he decided he was blowing off dinner and moving straight to snack time. He's pointing at snacks in the pantry. Well, I put a stop to that, and open the freezer. I'm pointing at chicken nuggets, mini corn dogs, french fries. He's pointing at ice cream, frozen go-gurts and Popsicles. Well, that didn't work out too well. So I have to tell him we can eat those yummy treats after dinner. He's insisting on dessert, so I tell him, "That's not how it works." Instead of being a normal 2 year-old and throwing himself on the floor, he calmly responds with, "That is how it works." I just stare at him because that's all I can do. Then when my brain is done processing what he said, I just laugh and compromise with him. He has salami, crackers, pretzels, cheese and apple juice for dinner. Yes, I let him win. How could he not?

Back to School Night Results

A few weeks ago was Back to School Night for Brandon's school. Based on some of his school work and a little talk with Brandon, I'd become concerned that my daydreamer was daydreaming in class. I should have know the first day of school he was doomed, because he sat down at his desk in the back row right next to the windows and toys. The absolute worst place for a daydreamer. This theory was made more real when I sat down at his desk that night. The puppet theater was slammed up against his desk so he couldn't see outside.

I asked Ms. Aguirre about my hunch. She verified the daydreaming and the lack of focus. I suggested moving him to the front row, and she'd actually considered it already. I think she was fearful of offending me with this thought, because she actually looked relieved when I made the suggestion first. The very next morning Brandon was sitting in the front row. Brandon came home excited to tell me that he got to move to the front row. He said he can hear so much better now. Huge smile on his face. It was great! Since the move, Brandon has not brought home a single sheet of school work unfinished or incomplete. I'm not worrying about him at school anymore.