The germ-ridden paradise?

So, since we've moved to San Diego, we've all had at least 2-3 colds that last like weeks, sore throats that never go away, then Lydia and her weird rash and then to top it all off, today Maya's been sick with a fever and then barfed tonight.

Seriously, our immune systems are a bunch of pansies.

I'm every woman!

On Thursday, Lydia got this rash on her chin out of nowhere so I called the doctor and got an appointment. (Luckily, my bestie, Kelly, offered to watch Maya...THANK YOU KELLY! and haha, I said 'bestie', is that gay? I was just trying it out.) She looked her over and had no idea what it was. The girls' doctor even called in the other doctor and asked her for a "second opinion". Doctor #2 was just as clueless. So just to cover some bases, they said they wanted to do a few blood tests. Great. Needles. Lydia, like most children HATES needles. She screams at the top of her lungs before, during and after shots. So it was 5pm and the closest lab was open until 530. The receptionist called the lab and asked politely if they'd wait for us to get there, then when she hung up said, "Woah...so she said 'They better get here before 530, because we lock our doors at 530.'" Nice.

So finally 10 minutes later they give me a lab order form and google directions that say it takes 17 minutes to get there. Crap! It's 510 and I have to drive in traffic to get there to a ticked off needle wielder and a scared 4 year old and try not to waste 3 minutes. So, we rush out the door, follow the directions as best as I can in these crazy California roads and their crazy California road signs and I make a wrong turn. Crap again. So I called the after hours line and asked for plan B.

She said, "Oh, just go to Balboa."

Me: "What's Balboa?"

"The Naval Hospital."

"Oh, how do I get there?"

"Where are you?"

"I have no idea."

"......"

So I drove around a little and found a highway and she told me directions....sorta. She told me how to get to the zoo. "You'll see the hospital," she said. I was not so confident. Luckily, the doctor happened to call and stayed on the line until I got to the gate of the Naval base. So I look around on base and find what I'm hoping is the hospital, which is broken up into I think at least 4 buildings. COME ON! So I finally find a directory and it's slightly vague, so I park and hope someone is around to ask. Then I look in the back seat...Lydia is asleep. Seriously? So I'm supposed to wake her up to get poked with a needle? Wow, this is not going to be fun.

We go in, look around, ask a guy who I think was trying to speak English, ask some ladies, get pointed to an elevator, go through a maze and find the lab. Ugh, the lab. Since it was 6pm, there was no one waiting. Thank. God.

I tried reasoning with Lydia and telling her she was going to get a little poke and to please not scream, "Just take a deep breath and blow it out instead of screaming."

She replied back, "But Mom, sometimes when I get a shot, I have to cry and scream."

"I'll get you a toy if you try not to scream."

"Well...I'll try..."

I was not convinced.

So we sat down and I held her in my lap and she got all nervous and when I held her tighter so the lady could take her blood, she started screaming, "NO, DOCTOR! PLEASE DON'T! DOCTOR, NO! I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS! DOCTOR PLESE DON'T! AHHHHHHH! NO DOCTOR!"

Then when it was over, she cried and cried and said, "I'm ready to go to Target."

I got her a Barbie wedding dress.

The doctor called within an hour to tell us that her blood counts were good, so luckily it wasn't that causing the rash. But now they have no idea. They don't think it's anything serious, just mysterious.

So we went to Kelly's, got Maya, who was sleeping and came home. (Thank you again, Kelly!) Lydia was a little hyped up, so I told her she could lay in my bed while I took a shower. That's where I do my thinking and praying.

So, la-dee-da, I'm thinking and I start praying, "Dear Lord, please don't let anything be wrong with her...please let it get better...please just let it go awa---I'm every woman!...I'm every woman! What? Where did that come from? Sorry, God...thank you for my girls, I love and adore them so mu--I'm every woman...WOOOOoooo..I'm every woman!" Yes, I started singing a Whitney Houston song in the middle of praying. What is wrong with me? I hope God understands A.D.D.

"Mom, what's in this?"

As some of you may know, I put all tons of crap in my kids' food (and ours, too, but mostly theirs). Crap, meaning veggies. I've been known to put fresh spinach in their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and grilled cheeses and whatever else I can hide it in. I put tons of veggies in our spaghetti (Scott will refuse to eat it if he knows what's in it, so I quit telling him what I've done. I use spaghetti squash instead of pasta, too. But I'm the only one who likes it that way.). Last night, I made pizza and put shredded zucchini and yellow squash in the sauce. They were none the wiser. Occasionally, Lydia will ask me what's in her food and I just tell her because I figure if she likes what she's been eating, then maybe she'll think that veggies aren't so bad. Maya, on the other hand, resists my attemps at times. She'll actually disect her food and pick out the veggies and tell me, "Dat's 'sgusting!" But I still forge on trying to get some vegetables in them in whatever way I can.

I always wonder if they'll grow up to love or hate vegetables or if they'll pick up the weird cooking I've been doing and think it's normal...until they eat at their friend's house and think, "Wait a minute! I thought pancakes were supposed to have peas in them!"

A side note, lately Lydia has been wanting to make her own recipes. One of her latest inventions was, "Jelly-Marshmallow Sandwiches". I think maybe she's starting to turn on me!

Gone, Baby, Gone.

So, it's almost been a week since Scott left. I couldn't find the camera cord for a few days, plus I was being totally lazy and didn't feel like posting anything.
The night before Scott left, we went to Outback and then to Sunset Cliffs to watch the sunset. It was a good night. Then he had to be on the ship in the morning, so we got to go on for a few minutes. We didn't stay to watch them pull out because it was gonna be a few hours.
The week since he's been gone has gone pretty good. I'm not jumping for joy, but it's a state of mind you have to put yourself in to deal with being apart for so long and just be cool with it. But, the week has actually flown by. I got some end tables, went to Mom & Tots time, made some pillows and walked to the grocery store for a few things. Not bad, I guess. Here are a few pics from the week...

Ok, that's all for now. I better get some dinner going before the kids turn savage.

Save Tonight....

Remember that Eagle Eye Cherry song? Well, it just popped into my head. Scott's leaving tomorrow morning to go on his 6 month deployment. It sucks. I'm a little stressed because I know how much we'll miss him and how hard it'll be on the girls. And how much it'll suck for him to not get to do any normal things for 6 months.

I'm trying to be cool about it, but of course, then I start thinking about how big Lydia and Maya will be when he gets back and most of all how much he'll miss. Then I start bawling. It's hard because I don't want the girls to think their Daddy is making me sad or whatever. So I try to stop as quickly as I started. Bleh! But the best part is when he comes home, it's all new and exciting. Decorating the house, making welcome home presents and everything, it's so fun. I've done it once before, but now with kids, it seems so much more important to focus on the fun stuff we can do when he's home than before when it was just me. At least the days seem to go by very quickly nowadays. Never a dull moment, really!

For our last night together, our plans are to go out to eat, then watch the sunset at Sunset Cliffs or the beach or somewhere. It doesn't really matter to me, just seeing it together will make me happy. Ok, Scott's off the phone, time to go!

The San Diego Zoo!

I've been waiting my whole life to go to the wonderful world-famous San Diego Zoo and on Tuesday, we finally went. We had a good time, pretty much. It was fun except that Lydia said she wanted to go home the whole time...well, until it was time to go home, then she changed her mind. Go figure. (And I think it's completely accurate that Lydia talks in pink speech bubbles.)

The weather was pretty good, not too hot and kindof cloudy. It wasn't a beautiful day or anything, but we were happy to not be sweating profusely. It's a very hilly zoo and pretty large. There were parts that I had to push the wagon while Scott pulled. We were really tired by the end of the day.

We saw some cute animals, though! I love love love the monkeys and my favorite animals ever are the Meerkats. But sadly, we ran out of memory on our camera and I didn't get any pictures of the Meerkats. Plus we didn't see any giraffes, which was one animal I really wanted to see. I have this vision of a postcard or some souvenir I saw years ago that had giraffes on it from there and I assumed they were one of the the main attractions or something, but we couldn't find them. Scott said he thought they were in the section that had been closed off for some reason. Boo. But here are a few of the cute animals:

P.S. The monkey laying down looks so pathetic, but I think it was not depressed or anything, it was just taking a rest because it perked up a minute later for a nice big treat of raw onions. Yum!

So, that was our Zoo-riffic day.