Disney: Day 3

Disney: Day 3

Today we decided to take it somewhat easier. With such a late night last night, we wanted the boys to get as much sleep as possible, and also we wanted them in bed at a decent hour as tomorrow we have to get up early to go have breakfast with Stitch. After then we'll be heading back to the Magic Kingdom to finish the stuff we missed and round two of things we loved.
So today we decided on going to Hollywood Studios. Since there were a bunch of things we thought we wouldn't be terribly interested in, or two wimpy to go on (like the Tower of Terror) we thought we'd get the park done in a short amount of time. We pretty much did, but we missed out on the Toy Story attraction, as it as a 70 minute wait with no fast passes left.
We headed back to the condo at that point. All our feet were sore and I was seriously getting tired of the Nan. But I'll get back to that.
The boys really enjoyed the stunt shows, like Indiana Jones, and another one involving car chases. They also got a real kick out of the Honey I Shrunk The Kids play area. The best part for me was watching them in the Star Wars Padawan Jedi Training Academy. R was right into it, and I got some great video. Afterwards, we hit the gift shop and the boys each purchased a build-your-own lightsaber. I got my first, and likely only souvenir, a small stuffed ewok fridge magnet.
So back to the Nan. Despite the fact that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I will just say that I will never again accept a "free" trip from her. You all (or as they are fond of saying down here in the south, y'all) know how I've fretted and stressed over the expense and money for this trip. And despite all the assurances from DH, my worries are coming to fruition. The first night we were here, in the T-Rex restaurant, she asked the waitress for a separate bill! DH and I were privately shocked (but actually not too surprised after all), as she had promised to pay for food. While I hadn't expected her to pay for lunches or snacks, we did figure that at least while we were sitting down to eat that she'd offer to foot the bill. So that was my first realization. Second came when later that night after the boys were in bed and DH and I went shopping, we had to pay for groceries that we were ALL sharing. I've also ended up cooking dinner for her once, and making her the lunch we took day two.
Now comes my biggest shock and also a bit of a panic. I'm trying not to dwell on it right now, but once the credit card bill comes in, I'll be crying I know. DH purchased all the Disney passes on our credit card, because it was up to us how we wanted to do things, like where to go, how many days and so on. So we picked five five-day passes. It worked out to just over $1200! Yes, Disney ain't cheap. She had been asking DH about how much it was so she could reimburse us. DH gave her the receipt this evening as I was at the stove cooking. When I heard her say to DH that she would give him half and would that be alright, I swear I nearly dropped the glass jar of spaghetti sauce on the floor!
WHAT???!!!
We came on this trip because she told us she was going to pay for EVERYTHING!! Flight, hotel, tickets and food. I know this sounds selfish and ungrateful, but we really wouldn't have come had we known this trip would cost us so much. We really can't afford it. But here we are now, so I must put it out of my mind. I'm just a little pissed off. And it makes me want to ditch her even more. I'm very tired of waiting for her, because she's so slow and old and refuses thus far to get a wheelchair. I'm tired of having to curb my boys' (and my) eagerness to get to the next fun attraction because we have to wait for her. I'm tired of hearing her complain about her feet, back, hip, head, the heat, whatever, and smiling and trying to look sympathetic. I'm sorry. I know she's ancient, I mean elderly. I realize one day I will be too. And so far I've tried to constantly remind myself that we wouldn't be here if it weren't for her and to be nice. But now that I know I'm footing my own bill somewhat, it makes me want to get more of my money's worth! If I'm paying, I don't want to be held back and slowed down. I want to forge ahead and go at OUR pace, not hers.
And having her around is worse than taking a toddler to the park. Because with a toddler you can put them in a stroller, and tell them to stop whining, and ply them with treats and snacks. With her, she wanders off, butts in line, talks to and yells at strange children, and practically stamps her foot when she wants her own way. Do you know we had to take her to Walmart because she insisted? She wanted to buy new slippers! Who the F needs slippers in this god damn heat?? I was surprised they actually sold them, and at this time of year too.
((Deep breaths....in.....and out....))
Day 4, here we come.
God give me strength, as my mother would always say.

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Disney: Day Two

Disney: Day Two
What a busy day! I'm lying in bed awake this morning while the rest of the household sleeps. I don't know why I'm awake first, as I'm usually the best at sleeping in and the last to grudgingly wake up and get out of bed. I'm starving though, but I don't want to get breakfast as I'm loathe to do anything that'll wake the boys. We were out so late last night. It was after midnight by the time their little heads hit the pillows! But we had such a great time yesterday at the Magic Kingdom! Poor L was so tired that he fell asleep on DH on the tram ride back to the parking lot.
We did so many wonderful things and we haven't even finished the Magic Kingdom yet! We got totally soaked on Splash Mountain, which L hated and cried on after the final big drop, so now we know his limit for roller coaster type rides. Kind of glad now that Space Mountain was broken down, as we were almost on that one with him. I think he would have freaked out! I remember as a kid being really scared on it as my dad forced me and my sister N to go on with him.
I can't begin to tell you all the stuff that we did, so I'll tell you the favorites. The Haunted Mansion was definitely one of them, a ride that had to do with the character Stitch, the Laugh Floor by Monsters Inc., Mickey's Philharmagic, and for me, I loved the fireworks we saw at 10:00. We did take a break in the day to come back to the condo for a swim and supper, and it gave our feet a rest.
I'm loving that the boys have their own spending money. It's helping to teach them to spend more wisely, and they aren't asking me for everything they see!! No whining!! It also has really helped me to stop buying them everything I see, LOL!
So far, L has bought a Lego set from the big Lego store, a stuffed dino from T-Rex, a stuffed Stitch and a lanyard and two pins to go on it. He has a harder time not spending but he's doing very well for himself, I think. He considers more when he sees the prices if he really wants that or not, and he did choose the smaller, cheaper Stitch over the bigger one R bought.
R has purchased the Stitch, a set of three build-it-yourself Lego men, a geode you smash open to get crystals and that's it I believe. L also bought the geode.
We're not sure what park we're off to today, as we don't want another late night. We're off to a breakfast with some characters tomorrow morning, including Stitch, and we have to be there for 7:30 (yikes!) so definitely no late night!

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Disney: Day One

Disney: Day One

Today was loooooonnnngggg. After a very restless sleep, my alarm went off at two and up I got to go in the shower. DH followed shortly. Our flight left at 7:30, and we were told to be there three hours before, so 4:30, meaning we had to leave between 3:00 and 3:15. So in order for me to have enough time to shower, pack last minute stuff and whatnot, I got up at two. It was not fun, and made for a very long day. At that time of day, I don't think it's particularly necessary to be at the airport THAT early. We were sitting around for quite a bit.
The flight was ok, I was very nervous as I always am about flying. My stomach was in knots and I was going to the washroom quite frequently as a result. I know, TMI.
The flight went well though with no hitches. Orlando airport is insane! It's really big and we had to go through so many security checkpoints. We also had to retrieve our luggage, then put it on some conveyor belt, get on a shuttle to the main terminal, then wait for our bags again! Then we had to wait in a huge line for the car rental. It took us forever to get away from the airport!
Finally we had our vehicle and off we went. Of course, we couldn't find the condo at all, because we were given the wrong address! When we finally found it, the room wasn't ready, but we were told we could use the pool. After the boys took a dip the apt still wasn't ready but we had dinner reservations so off we went.
We had dinner at a dinosaur themed restaurant called T-Rex. It was just like Rainforest Cafe, only prehistoric. It was really cool! L went in the Build-a-Dino workshop there and got a spinosaurus. The restaurant was in Downtown Disney Marketplace. From there we walked around to the Lego store, which had big brick statues, and of course, lots and lots of Lego for sale!
When we returned to the hotel/condo, our room was finally ready. It is pretty nice, with three bedrooms, one with an ensuite and king bed which the nan promptly claimed, until DH nicely asked her if we could have it. The boys have a room together with two twin beds, and the nan has the third room which also has a king size bed. Every room has a tv in it, which means the whole place has four tv's! After we put the boys to bed, DH and I headed out to Walmart to do some grocery shopping. By the time we got to bed, it was after ten, and I was exhausted!!

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Gettin' Down To The Wire

So now we're less than 48 hours from being on the plane (or car) and leaving. And the reason I put "or car" I'll tell you in due time.
As you know, L had an ear infection last week. He's still finishing up his antibiotics, which are for ten days. On the weekend I had my mom, who is a registered nurse, take a look at his infected ear to see how it was coming along. She has one of those ear-looking-into-thingies (I think they may be called an otoscope? or autoscope? I'm too lazy to google it right now.) She said it looked red still. I'm not sure if that's to be expected or not, but it wasn't exactly good news to me.
This morning I had DH take L to the clinic to get his ear re-checked, and possibly more antibiotics if needed and advice on if we should fly or not. And here's why I put "or car". I said to DH that if L can't fly, we'll drive to Florida. I know it's a huge drive, but we actually have a few extra days to play with seeing as how we're supposed to be flying back on the Thursday, but we could technically not come home until the Sunday.
Anyhow, the clinic was a zoo apparently. We have two clinics near us, and they are both very busy a lot of the time. This is due to the fact that at least 35% of the population has no family doctor around here, and then on top of that, people like us that are on a doctor's list, can never obtain an appointment! And I'll get to that later...
So he took L in, and was told that the clinic was closed until noon today. Okaayy...So off he went to the other clinic which was of course, a mess. He said he stood in line for about 20 minutes and it NEVER MOVED! While in this line, he witnessed not one, but two different children vomit on the floor, while one of the mothers who was ahead of him in line, just stood there and watched her child. He guessed she was scared to leave the line. He also said (and I know, gross) that by the look of the vomit, the kid had been throwing up for quite some time, so my question is, why wouldn't you have come prepared for that?? Like with a bag, or bucket or something?
STUPID PARENTS!!
At that point, he turned around and left. And I'm glad. I don't want either of them sitting around waiting in that environment for hours on end.
So off he went next to our doctor's office. It's all the way on the other side of town, about a 15 minute drive if you catch some good lights. He knew that they don't answer the phone until 9:30, even though the office opens at 9:00, which is why he decided to drive over and present himself. He was hoping that perhaps they might squeeze him in. DH was basically told where to go, in a not-so-nice manner by the oh-so-pleasant staff there. And to try for an appointment in,
get this........
.........
.............
JUNE!!!

Yeah.
That is the state of our medical service here. Brilliant isn't it? And that is why our clinics are so busy all the time.
Plus, there seems to be some sort of vomiting flu bug going around. Gads.
L told me that there were about 7 or 8 kids away in his class yesterday!
O.
M.
G.
If we actually escape to Florida without any sort of virulent virus or bacteria, it will be a FREAKIN' MIRACLE!!

Quarantine??

I know you're probably all tired of listening to me whine and moan about my issues, and even my DH says I'm looking for trouble. So I'm trying to take advice of others to heart, and thank you all for your advice and comments (either through the blog, or emails). L's ear feels fine to him so far, after almost a week of being on cefzil (I think that was the name), but we will take him to the germ factory otherwise known as the clinic to get his ear looked at again on Monday. (And he will be instructed to NOT TOUCH ANYTHING while we're there!)
This weekend I'm hoping to accomplish a lot of my To Do list, providing no one gets sick, that is. And speaking of that, is it weird that I want to encase my family in a giant plastic bubble for the week? All I've heard lately is "this person is sick" or "my friend's kid is sick" or "we were all sick last week" from everyone I talk to as well as friends' postings on Facebook.
Ugh.
To top it off, one of the girls I look after, S, was up all night last night puking, dry heaving and crapping. Oh god. She was here, at my house, ALL DAY yesterday! It totally makes me want to go bleach my whole house. Instead, I'm sitting here blogging about it. Not that I have a choice, I have three kids under 3 today, so it's not like I can leave them unsupervised while I go upstairs and disinfect for the next two hours. But mark my words, I will be doing some of that for sure once they're in bed. Thank god for naptime!!
The three toddlers in question have colds now. I've been wiping their noses all week. I don't know if this is the cold I had the week before, or a new one. I wish there was someway to tell, like some sort of colour-coding to the snot pouring out of their noses.
"Oh I see J has blue snot, that's the same as M and me last week, but C's is purple so that's a different virus."
That would be kinda handy. At least I'd know I was either fairly safe from getting it again or quite likely to get another virus.
So the question is, what next? I seriously want to keep my kids away from all other children and dirty contaminated surfaces for the next week. It makes me want to pull them out of school for the start of next week. But considering they're already going to be missing a week of school already, I'm not so sure I should. Maybe the teachers could send their work home to me? Hmmm... However, I'd also need to close the daycare in order for us to truly be quarantined and that's not going to happen so ingress there's not much point. Only at home, I can nag them more about washing their hands. So, what to do, what to do…

Stressed!

I am so stressed out, I can't help it. I'm trying not to be, I'm trying not to see the negative and look for the positive, but it's not working and I'm failing miserably. Every day that the trip looms closer, my blood pressure goes up in direct relation. And what, exactly, is the problem you may ask?
Money.
What else but money? It's my stressor extrordinaire . Of course, I'm thinking about a million other things at the same time, and that isn't helping.
Like, how L developed a screaming ear infection on the weekend like no other he's had before, and just when I thought we were all on the mend. So now I'm stressed that all the fluid trapped in there won't be cleared out by the time we have to board a plane, especially since I asked the walk-in dr. guy if he was going to be alright to get on a plane in ten days and he just shrugged his shoulders.
What if we go get L's ear checked next week and the doctor says he'll be in extreme pain if we try to fly? How do
I crush my whole family's hearts by telling them we can't go on the trip of our lifetime ( so far, anyway)? What if he looks ok at the doctor's but upon descent the poor kid is in screaming agony?? I could barely stand listening to him crying for two solid hours on Sunday. I don't think my heart could take it knowing how much pain he would be in.
And then there is the constant running list of things to do/buy/pack before we go, running through my mind like endless movie credits on a screen. And yes, I've made lists but it doesn't help. Because even when I make lists for shopping, I always still seem to miss items. So I'm afraid I'll forget something.
Of course I'm worried about things I can't control, like the weather, and someone getting sick.
Sickness. That's a HUGE one, as you probably know.
And the weather, well, I'm just being a complainer I know, but it's bothering me that every time I look up the long term forecast for Orlando it says the week we're there is slightly colder and rainier than it has been there for the past month! Why? Why OUR week?
And back to the money.
God I hate money. I'm still worried that we're going to end up spending more money than we have (which is basically anything over a dollar) on food, even though we were told that we wouldn't have to. I mean, it kind of goes against the grain really, being that dependent on someone else. It's not like I'm 14 and telling my parents I'm hungry and can I have some money for a snack. We can't do that. It'll be too weird. And what if we split up most days, and end up on our own (sans grandma) for lunch? As if we're going to say, "Ok, we'll meet you back here at say, 4:00, and by the way, we'll need $40 for lunch please." Do you see where I'm going with this? Each day will still cost us money for food.
So I'm now thinking about that, and trying to plan grocery shopping when we get there so we can pack lunches and stuff. And then my mind starts me thinking about packing containers, ziploc baggies, etc, and here we go with the mind credits again.
I was sitting and trying to pay some bills online, when I opened our gas bill and it's over $400!!
WHAT?!?!?!
Upon closer inspection, and I still have yet to verify this, it appears that we didn't have a bill last month and that this is a bill for two months a la Powerstream (our hydro). So now they've adopted this awful awful plan of billing us only every two months so that I can have a small MCI every time I open a bill.
Fun.
But how did I miss that? I don't remember reading anything telling me they were doing this now. And why did I not notice the fact that we didn't have an Enbridge bill last month?
Oh yeah, because I was too busy hyperventilating over taxes, which we still haven't filed. And being stressed about an upcoming trip.
To top it all off, I'm basically a single mom these days due to the fact that DH is busy busy with studying for exams and schoolwork and stuff.
What stuff? I don't know.
I just know that if the roles were reversed and I was the one in school, I would still be having to do all the cooking and laundry and cleaning.
Just sayin'.

One Crazy Day

Yesterday was a crazy busy day. One of my kids, C, showed up at 7:30 in the morning and promptly went and laid on the couch. Since he normally doesn't come that early, I thought he may be tired, but when I asked him if he was ok, he said that he wasn't feeling well, and that the night before he had been sick to his stomach.
Great.
Here we go again...
You all know my policies by now I'm sure. And these parents are usually great. They pay me on time, they are really great about me taking time off if I need it, they are very personable and easy-going and we all get along great. So I knew this wasn't a case of the usual "my-kid-is-sick-but-I-don't-really-care-because-I-still-need-to-go-to-work". Besides, he was going to school in an hour anyway.
A phone call later to his mom determined that she believed he didn't want to go to school so he was faking, and that the issue last night was forced from coughing.
Ok.
I could go along with that because I know this guy, and he is a GREAT liar at times (although a sweet kid) and a bit on the dramatic side.
About 20 minutes later when I'd finished dealing with breakfast and my own kids, I checked on him and he was still on the couch, although he told me he'd been sick in my toilet twice.
Yikes!! And, poor guy.
So I told him I'd need to call his mom to come get him and that he shouldn't be going to school. That's when he tried to change his story. It became, "Well...it was only a little bit one time..."
Okaaaaayyyy.... I wasn't sure what to make of that. Was he afraid I was calling him out? Because I actually didn't hear or see him throwing up.
Another phone call to his mom and we decided to send him to school as he may or may not have been telling the truth, and she would alert his teacher.
A little bit later, I gathered all the kids and we started to get ready to leave for school. C started to get ready, stopped, and went into my powder room upstairs here. This time, I listened at the door, and sure enough I could hear him being sick. Poor kid!!
A very hasty third phone call later, and his mom decided that since I had to troop everyone to school anyway (I couldn't leave him alone at the house) that I would deliver him to the office, and her mother would pick him promptly up from there. Ok.
Strangely enough, C was still chipper and ran to school alongside the other kids. If that were me, I'd be dragging my butt!!
About 45 minutes later, I was getting crafts sorted out back at home for the non-school children, and I heard the door open upstairs and someone call out, "Hello?" It turned out to be C's grandma, who got it mixed up and thought that he was here! Poor Kid!! If I'd known she would take that long, I would have brought him home with me. At least he could have been laying on the couch and throwing up in privacy rather than be stuck in a stuffy school office sitting on a hard plastic chair!
So as it turns out, he was trying to downplay his illness because he WANTED to go to school! Apparently, he thought if he missed choir that he would get kicked out! Again, poor little guy!
So that was the first part of my morning. The rest of the day was also crazy and hectic, because I had to scour both bathrooms he was sick in (not that he missed the toilet, because he didn't, but I needed to eradicate the lingering germs!!), in between breaking up bickering 5/6 year-old girls, getting crafts/cleaning up crafts, making/cleaning up playdough, getting snack and trying to throw in the laundry the blanket and pillow C had been laying on (again, no spillage, I'm just a freak when it comes to germs). Oh, and Lysol-ing the heck out of every surface in the daycare.
The bickering girls were getting to me. So I packed everyone up and even though there wasn't much time left before lunch, we headed out to the park. I couldn't stand another second stuck in the house!!
Then after lunch, the two little kids went down for a nap and this used to be my own time, my quiet time. Not anymore.
I used to make the older kids go watch a movie downstairs so I could have a little peace. If they weren't going to nap anymore (and really, what five year old does?) I still needed a break. But now they don't want to watch a movie anymore. They want to play Wii (which is upstairs on my main tv) because I made the mistake of letting them play a couple of times as a treat before. So now they just hang around, staring at me as I'm trying to clean the kitchen and eat lunch. Ugh. I know I'm their sitter and this is my job, but seriously? Do I have to entertain you ALL the damn time?? Who else works for 10 hours a day and doesn't get a break? So it was a long, long afternoon. At one point, I even went upstairs to put laundry away just to have a few minutes to myself, because they're not allowed up there.
After school, I took nine kids to the park and tried to stay there as long as I could. Lately all the parents have been showing up right at five. Talk about stretching it to the last minute! (I close at five by the way.) So I didn't get rid of anyone early, and after they all left I went straight inside and started on dinner.
DH came home in time to eat with us, and I had to listen to him complain about how tired he was.
SERIOUSLY??
Not what I wanted to hear after the day I'd had. All he had to do was come home, plunk himself down at the table and pick up his fork. He was at school all day! It's not like that's physically taxing! To be fair, I do know it's mentally tiring, which is mostly what my day was too, but really? If you're going to complain on and on, at least ask the other person how their day was. Then I had to clean up dinner, wash the dishes, and start folding laundry. He didn't lift a finger.
MEN!! I seriously wanted to shove the laundry basket up his ass!
I'm hoping and praying today all the parents take pity on me and pick their kids up early so I can get started on my weekend!