My life as a.... MOM

This morning the school called to tell me that Shelby had thrown up on the bus and that I needed to meet the bus to pick her up... I have had to do this several times in the past because with Shelby's sensory issues and allergies (the two don't mix) once she starts to cough she will also gag and unless you are right beside her to say "Take a a deep breath, calm down, you don't have to puke" she will puke. I asked if I could just pick her up at the school and you could tell they were hesitant to agree to this but they did. I completely feel for her bus driver and his helper... I mean the poor guy already has to hear my kid scream 9 mornings out of 10 to get on the bus and has had to deal with her vomit more times than he has probably had to deal with his own kids' puke....but anyways...

I pick up Shelby and Avery also because they both start to freak out...(dang that close twin bond the two of them have)... so we go home for awhile and Shelby seems fine and I begin to think that it really is just the "Snot spu" as Chad refers to it. So I load the kids up to go to Target and get some errands down. We accomplish all of the errands with minimal issues other than 3 potty breaks and one small tantrum. So we are on our way home when from the back seat Shelby yells "mom I'm gonna puke"... - Yep... the kid is THAT good when it comes to her vomit spells--- so I quickly look around - she normally gives a 30 second warning- and I see the brand new water bottle that I had just bought quickly took the cover off and handed it to her... she no sooner had it in her hands and she promptly threw up in it... After she was done throwing up, she instantly started getting really anxious and I said "Shelby whats wrong"... she responded with "I ruined your water bottle with my puke"... to which I calmly said "its ok Shel...we can wash it out with hot water and soap and it will be just fine"...

This of course is when my friend (whom I was talking on the phone with at the time) says... "if that's not a "you know your a mom when" moment..." to which of course I responded with "I feel a blog post coming on"... :)

And just so you know, Shelby seems fine other than random moments of vomit which I really think is from her coughing because of her nose etc.... other wise she is fine :)

Totally Ticks Me Off Tuesday round two...

Yep... this Tuesday has sucked so freaking much that it calls for a second (and probably third--later) installment of Totally Ticks Me off Tuesday... but I've got to get this out or I may just explode.

I am so stinking tired of bending over backwards to help people with whatever they need... so much in fact that I often get in 'trouble' with my husband for not putting our own family first... and today for the first time in MONTHS that I have asked anyone for anything for a little bit of help so I can get some homework done that I forgot about I was blown off or just was just plain rude to for even asking...

Thanks people...thanks alot!

Totally Ticks Me Off Tuesday....

It's been awhile since I needed to steal this venting tool from my amazing blogging mama friend Midwest Mama but after the morning I have had (yes and its only 8:55am) I need it so I can clear my head and try to start over....

My children have Medicaid as a secondary insurance (no I am not ashamed of that fact...) and every 6 months we have to go through a recertification process to keep that in place. Well March was our 'recert' month so I had to get our paperwork all turned in and got the letter stating the date/time for our 'face to face' appointment it was this morning at 8:30am. On the letter it also states what you are supposed to bring so that your file is complete and the worker can process you case as at her leisure as quickly as possible. The spot on my letter was BLANK, so I did not bring any information with me to our meeting this morning, because one would think if anything was missing from my 'application' it would have been on that spot specifically created on the form for situations just like this....

So I get to the appointment at 8:20am (YES!!! I was early) and get called up right away...- all the while thinking to myself, wow... this may just go well for once-- she comes to the waiting area to get us and just says my name, I say "good morning" and she just continues to hold the door open and stare at me. So I bring Brody and go along like a little child. We get into her office and we sit down... she starts going over our file and then it starts... "oh I see you don't have your current class schedule" to which I respond with "It is in the file I gave it to you at the end of the fall semester when I registered for classes"... her response " I need one dated current"... umm hello??? I have the degree to do your job... you do not need that for medical assistance as it is an income based program... but whatever. I respond with "oh.. ok." she goes on to the next page and says "oh I need all of Chad's pay stubs for Feb"... I respond "Oh when I called you said I only needed the most recent one with year to date one it"... her response "well the form asks for all the stubs so I am writing it down and you need to bring it in before I can process your application". again I reply with "oh... ok".

As the meeting was winding down I said "well I will go home and print off this documentation and bring it in this morning yet. Will that be soon enough to get everything in order for the kids' coverage to continue?" Her response in her normal snarky better than you chipper voice was "Well because you didn't get everything in by the 15th of the month I can not promise that it will get done before the end of the month...so there may be a small lapse but it shouldn't be to big of a problem"... I then asked when I turned my paper work in "you got it to me the 17th"... my response "oh.. ok".

I always feel bad complaining about people who work for county services because being a future helper in a very similar field I know that they are over worked and underpaid, I know that they have moments where they are burnt out and have just had enough... I know this... but in this case it makes me so very angry because she USED TO BE an awesome worker... but that all changed when she asked what I was going to school for when I was still at BSC... you see I have my two year degree in human services with the eligibility worker concentration.... so what I am getting out of her sudden attitude change is that I am a threat... strictly on paper, but still a threat to her.

I know some of you are going to comment that I should report her... I HAVE and all it did was come back to bite me... but what can I do... my kids need the coverage, especially Shelby. We can't afford her therapies with out the secondary coverage... we just can't. So I will continue to 'take it' from this lady and keep telling myself that someday ... SOON I will be HER boss and then the table will be turned and it will not be ME jumping through the hoops....

Hopefully everyone else can have a good day.. because frankly.. my day is SHOT!!!

'not me" Monday...

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.






And to make 'not me" Monday even more fun MckMama is doing an AWESOME give-away for those who participate. So once you are done reading about the things that I most certainly did not do this week, you can pop over HERE and read about the things that she most certainly did not do, get the INSTRUCTIONS and join in on the fun. So here goes... here is my "not me" Monday...

This past weekend were were in Minot for the Minot March for Babies event... I had set my alarm for 5:30am because we were driving up that morning so that we didn't have hotel costs etc. Well it certainly was NOT ME who thought it would be a good idea to hit snooze on the alarm clock...and it most certainly was not me who hit snooze 3 times... Nope.. most certainly NOT ME

I have shared the story of our family and our experiences with premature birth countless times and I know I could tell our story in my sleep... so it certainly was not me who standing in front of the Minot March for Babies crowd forget every single word I had planned to say.... nope... not me.


Have a great Monday everyone...

Minot March for Babies...

I wasn't able to get the details of the funds raised etc for the Minot March for Babies but I can tell you there were alot of people there.... so that in my mind makes it a HUGE success. We were able to meet a family who were in the NICU with our cousins Ryan and Taryn and their daughter Ella. It was wonderful to meet them and get to visit for a short time.

I hope to be able to update with some numbers later this week...

It wouldn't be a Krumwiede event with out at least one of our children saying something that made us want to laugh so hard we peed our pants, and we will let you guess which kidlet it was..... "Mommy... We forgot the jumpy castle... they are COUNTING on us"....

Sensory Integration (SI) & Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT) Conference

Wordless Wednesday.... OUCH

Random and Interesting...

The past few weeks our family has had several cases of the sickies (RSV, colds, coughs, flu....you name it we have had it) so we have been making some pretty good use of our Netflix and the option in which you can watch streaming video using your PlayStation 3... (yes...the PS3 has finally served its purpose as a 'family friendly' gaming system...to bad we just use it to watch movies)...it has also been during this time that I have been able to catch up on the movies that I wanted to watch and it seems that alot of the movies that I have been wanting to see are those 'typical' chick flicks like Blindside, He's Not that Into You, and also the Proposal. In watching these movies I have noticed a common thread...and that is that families now days are broken... even when they are 'together' they are broken.

But what I mean by that statement is that I have always 'known' of a family were certain relatives didn't get along or where father/son or mother/daughter etc but it seems that it is become more and more common for even Hollywood to put it into play...Heck I know of specific situations where people can literally go months without talking to each other and everyone involved is just fine with it...

It was just interesting to see how often Hollywood shows these situations... Do you think it is because it is no longer 'taboo' to talk about issues in families or do you think it is just because it sells tickets???

Volunteers and Buddies Needed....

Yesterday during an awesome lunch with my other "warrior mother" friends I learned of a benefit being held for a local family, the Larsons. When I heard more about their story I wanted to do anything I could to help so I asked my friend to send me the flyer and I would do all I could to help... Here is the information for the event's helpers... if you can help in any ways shape or form any and all help is greatly appreciated.

if you would like to know more about Gracie Larson's story you can visit her Caringbridge site:
www.caringbridge.org/visit/gracielarson

"not me" Monday...

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.



Well it is Monday and that means that it is time for "not me" Monday... Please join me in the fun of this and do your own "not me" Monday post and don't forget to head over to MckMama's blog and link it up :) So without further ado....

It certainly was NOT ME who after weeks of illness that seemed to be circulating among my children did I wish that they weren't doing 'quite' so well. I mean they went from laying around the house sick as dogs to running around the house screaming with way more energy than before they were ill...

It was NOT ME who in a moment of serious rebellion contemplated throwing away the "Census" packet when it came in the mail... not because I don't think it is important... IT IS... but because the days preceeding the packet arriving at my house everywhere I went myself or my kids were slapped with stickers that stated "Have YOU been counted".... I mean come on... the freaking packet hadn't even been mail for goodness sakes.

It CERTAINLY WAS NOT ME who after listening to my grandmother rant and rave about how our country is turning into a communist nation did I ask her what exactly she 'thought' communism was....it also was not me who after listening to my grandmother's definition of communism did I ask what she 'thinks' organized religion is.... Not that couldn't have been me because there is no way I would ever compare organized religion and communism... ok so maybe it was me... BUT she totally had it coming... all I wanted was to sew on two damn buttons and I had to listen to her rant for 2 stinking hours.... * I do not think that organized religion and communism have ANYTHING to do with one another... it was just a way to make her stop...and it worked*

It certainly was not me who came home from the above situation and yelled at my husband for NOT CALLING to see where I was... I mean come on... I had left to sew on two buttons... you let me sit there for two hours... ugh...

Here's to a happy Monday for everyone... ENJOY!!!

What the F......riday

Hello... it's Friday and that means that it is time for this week's lovely installment of "What the Friday ?!?!? " that was lovingly created by Sarah. Please join us in the fun....I had planned on having a few not so good ones, but thankfully after tonight I can leave this post with one really good WTFriday.... Enjoy!

This evening I had a party and upon arriving one guest looked at me and said "Do you have room deodorizer spray".... I of course looked at said guest with at "WTF" look and she calmly and quite seriously responded with "I am not saying your house is gross, it just smells..... off". I not so calmly responded with "Thanks for telling my house stinks".... this then of course started the conversation about how it HAS to be the dogs (our dogs are in the house) so I interjected "Right... because my dogs who are bathed regularly and such are going to smell worse than your dog that randomly pisses and shits all over your house".... this then started the discussion of how big dogs smell worse than little dogs.... WTF?!?!? and honestly... not so sure I mean What the FRIDAY with that one...

...

Yep...its been one of THOSE days....

A productive day... sort of

Today was a 'no school' day for the kiddos and like most SAHMs that often translates to and 'interesting' day. The kids were able to have a friend come over and spend sometime today which was nice because I had planned to organize all the huge piles of laundry that had over taken my basement and was going to hit the laundry and hard. I also had a presentation that my class group and myself had to give this morning, so it was a crazy day.

The presentation went off without a hitch *WE ROCKED IT*... this means that our project for the class is almost completed other than presenting it again to our class mates and also writing out papers, but honestly, at least for me that will be the 'easy' part.


I came home to find that my children had trashed the living room and the toy room in the time that I was gone, so that only added to the list of crap to do for the day. So I got the kids set up for breakfast (which they should have already had) and started in on cleaning the kitchen....--- side note: Does anyone else have ANY idea why exactly dishwashers do NOT hold the dishes from an entire meal for a family of six?? I mean I could kind of understand if we were the Duggars but for goodness sake, we are only 6 people.!!!!--- Once the kids were done with their breakfast their friend arrived and the day of 'kid fun' began.

Since the kids were all being entertained by one another I thought it would be a good idea to go and start the laundry.... well long story short... Laundry is on hold until the Appliance repair man can come tomorrow to take a look at my washing machine * It is only 3 years old and it is making some serious scary noises and is SUPPPPER loud--- *... wish me luck that it is an affordable fix since we certainly can not afford a new machine at this time... I was able to do some of my 'other' cleaning, but not near as much as I wanted to. Thankfully it is Spring Break from college this week so I will hopefully be getting more and more checked off my to do list...

This evening I was able to join some friends and make a few meals that will be in the freezer to be used at a later date. We made White Chicken Chili, Cheddar Cheese Meatloaf, Chicken Taco Bake, and White Chicken Lasagna. We also made Baked Corn Casserole for a side dish.

Came home to yet again a trashed house * can someone explain to me why I bother... just curious*, the kids not quite in bed and am about ready to fall int bed exhausted in a few moments. And you know what... I am glad to do it all again tomorrow... well minus the cranky kids hopefully.

'not me" Monday....

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

It's the time of the week in which the other 'grown up' at my house goes back to work and 3 of the 4 kids go back to school and its the day in which I normally get to get my head on straight and get my life back on track...except THIS MONDAY is a no school day, so that makes it all go right down the drain.... so here is my 'not me' Monday...

It is NOT ME who is waiting on the appliance repairman to come and take a look at my washing machine that is less than 3 years old...with a basement FULL of laundry.... nope not me

It is NOT ME who has a headache and all I want to do is take a nap, but can't.... nope not me.

Have fun with YOUR Monday....

What the Friday....

My good friend Sarah has been doing this fun thing called "What the Friday!?!"... so you know me gotta join in. So here are my WTF moments for this week:

• How is it that dinner can be done and everyone eating when I leave the house but yet the kitchen is TRASHED when I get home... I mean seriously WTF!?!?
  
• How do these whole 'sick day' things work for everyone else? I have been sicker than a dog going on week two right now and haven't gotten a break...but yet for other people they are sick and they get to sleep till noon.... WTF?!?!?
  
• Yesterday in my evening class my professor mentioned that our Mid-term grades had been reported to the college and I asked if we could find out what they were. She said we could find them through the campus website, so this morning I looked at my grades. I HAVE A 4.0!!!! I have NEVER in my life had grades like that!!!! WTF?!?!?

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!

Wordless Wednesday.... one sick little boy...

Thank you...

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota for extending Shelby to be 'allowed' to have her OT visits once a week again.... and just think... all it took was her ALMOST GETTING HIT BY THE SCHOOL BUS.....

Understanding...

I recently came into a period of major understanding in my life. For too long I have continued to try when I thought I was doing the right things, but no longer....because you see I now understand.

No longer will I go with the game of 'nice to my face but talk shit when I'm gone" aspect of life... I deserve better than that... and honestly.... so do you. Because you see... I now understand.

No longer am I going to go out of my way to make things easier for you... because you see I now understand that you are spiteful and mean and think you are better than me... you see... I now understand.

No longer am I going to make excuses for or defend your behavior when it is obvious that you were never in my corner... I should have learned my lesson the first time... I now understand.

No longer will I care what you think about me or my husband...we may not be perfect, but at least we are not fake...I now understand.

No longer will I go out of my way to make others happy when it pains others... I was caring about the wrong peoples' feelings...but I now understand.

No longer will I force my family to be part of things that they want nothing to do with...I understand now that I was not helping them at all...just making their hurt worse.

I know that I can not change how you feel about me or my family and honestly... I don't care anymore because I now understand.

I know that what I do care about is how you mean so much to my children...and in the end they mean nothing to you...but I can only hope that one day they too will understand.

I now understand that time changes nothing...and it is exactly the same now as it was then... but what I need for you to understand is that now that I understand... I just don't care anymore.

One day can change your life forever....

and today is that day for me.

Today I have my social work program entrance interview to be 'officially' allowed to enter the social work program through Minot State University on the Bismarck State campus. I have been taking classes that are need to be taken prior to being accepted into the program but I am not an 'official' social work student.

Today at 2:30pm I will be having my interview... Several people have said that this isn't that big of a deal or that it isn't any problem and they just fly through it, or that it is just like a job interview...well I haven't had a lot of 'grown-up' job interviews so I am not the most confident when in those situations. I am freaking out... I am hoping that being able to get together with some of my amazing friends this morning will help calm some of my fears and I will get through it.

But it has been hard for me today because I have been talking about how important this process is to me and how it can literally change my life forever and I am not getting a lot of feedback/support from my family... they really truly do not understand just how big of a deal this is...but thankfully my friends have been there for me.

Wish me (and all the other students interviewing today) luck on getting into the program and being one step closer to achieving their dreams of being future social workers.

SPREAD THE WORD.....

I have always hated the "R" word... even as a child I would say (I was a loud mouth even then) "THEY ARE SPECIAL"... or "That's not a nice word" when I would hear someone say that horrible word....EVEN AS A CHILD I knew that the "r" was bad and wrong, so this isn't a 'new' cause that I am bringing out or up. I have always felt it was important to discourage this...

A few months ago at a family function we were discussing some of the things that Shelby has to go through with her sensory issues and her other conditions... it was during what my husband and I felt was a good conversation that another relative who wasn't even listening to the conversation came into the room and  stated  loudly (in a room FULL of relatives, in front of our children and mostly in front of Shelby) " So she really is a r****d"... I have never seen my husband so mad in the entire 10 years that we have been together (and there have been some doozies in our past) as I saw him that moment... Things were said that can't be taken back and feelings have forever been changed about that relative...even in the eyes of Shelby, who now asks what that horrible word means. We have also had to explain what this horrible word means to our other children...

Join us... not only for our family or for other families like ours... BUT FOR YOURSELF!!!!!

You may be one person... but even one person can change the world if they try...

www.R-word.org

Weigh in Wednesday Spring Fling Challenge Weigh-in #1

Last week was the start of the new challenge over at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I joined in the challenge but I wasn't able to post about it last week so here are my starting information for the challenge from last week;

Starting Weight 2/24: 243.6 lbs
 I think that it is really apparent that I do not as well with my weight loss when I am not part of a 'challenge' per say. I let it go and kind of forget about it if I am not HAVING to put it online for the world to see. So for myself I think even if the sisterhood isn't having a challenge I am going to still do weigh in Wednesdays from now on.

My weight this week is 241.2 so I have a loss of 2.4lbs.

My goals for the challenge are:

• stay on track with my points and report them online at www.weightwatchers.com
• Drink 200ozs of water each day
• exercise at least 3 times/week
• no late night snacking, except for Thursday

With the new challenge at the Sisterhood we have been given teams so I have an even bigger support system than I have had in the past :) Good luck everyone!!!

I'm the mommy moment

Shelby has yet again begun the cycle of her mysterious illness and it goes something like this:
Day One: takes an unexpected nap
Day Two: cough which leads to vomiting, super high fever and constant sleeping
Day Three-Five: same as day three
Day Six: Starts to improve and then BAMN all better.

Well tonight I have changed MY bed's sheets 3 times, once for vomit, once for pee, and the third time was for vomit and pee... and rather than be mad or disgusted that my child peed in my bed not once but twice I was just glad that she was peeing because that means she didn't have to go to the Emergency Room.

ahhhh....all in the day of the life of a mommy....AND I LOVE IT!!! Well not the vomit, pee or the sick kid...oh you know what I meant.

You KNOW you want one (or five)

 

I placed the order for our March of Dimes bracelets today... here's hoping that I can sell them all.... if you are interested in buying one (or five) let me know please... kckrumwiede@bis.midco.net  

Thanks Team Krumwiede Kids

'not me' Monday...

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

 YAY!!! It's MONDAY... we all know that Monday is one of my favorite days of the week because the husband goes back to work, the kids go back to school (except for today when one is home coughing - and therefor puking-) and I can get my life back under control for a few hours. Here is my 'Not Me" Monday... I hope that you will join in.

My husband and I spent hours cleaning on Friday so that the local paper could come and do a small story of our family for our March of Dimes team and our Ambassador family status for the year of 2010. It most certainly was NOT ME who got kind of icky about the fact that the photographer was literally here for a few minutes when we spent hours clean. It also was not me who after the photographer left said "Seriously...the house could have been trashed and he wouldn't have noticed"... and since that was not me, my husband certainly did not respond with "are you kidding me"...

Last night one of our kiddos was having a rough time falling asleep so I offered to lay down with said child so that they could calm down... it certainly was not me who may have fallen asleep before said child.

It is NOT ME who was kind of upset this morning when my child threw up all over my freshly laundered couch cover...nope I wouldn't do that... nope not me.

It also was NOT ME who was only thinking about the things that I wouldn't be able to get accomplished this morning when said child threw up... nope not me because you know that I would ALWAYS put my child's needs before my wants...

If you want to join in on the fun of 'not me' Monday go right ahead, but don't forget to head over to MckMama's Blog and link up.

HAPPY MONDAY everyone :)