What did you do today?

Today I finally set up a simple recycle center in my kitchen. I have been dying to stop giving our local trash company a nickel for every soda, energy drink, bottled water or beer we drink. I think if I'm putting down that deposit I should be getting it back. We have seven people worth of beverage and I'm sue we can at least get a couple bucks back in a month or more. I'll have to tell you how it goes.

Wordless Wednesday

Parvo is not just for dogs

This week my nephew came home to something like this.  Don't watch the video if you have a weak stomach. His best friend had Parvo.

My boys got Parvo too. The good news is that people don't get the same Parvo as dogs do, and it's not transmitted between animals and humans.  Never the less Parvo sucks.

This is how it starts. You child starts with flu like symptoms.

Lazy, achy, fever and miserable. Very sad when you see a baby/child this way. My four year old vomited. All the kids had a cough. This lasted about three to five days.

Then you get a lovely rash on your face that looks like someone slapped you. Parvo is sometimes called Slap Cheek because of this syptom. This is also when you are no longer contagious.

The rash starts in the face and falls down the body. Almost like gravity is pulling it. The face begins to heal and then the arms get blotchy, followed by the legs. It can itch but my kids where itch free.

Parvovirus/SlapCheek/Fifth disease is a common childhood illness. Your Child will not have symptoms of your dog with pools of blood and will go back to normal as soon as their body finishes fighting off the virus. However it can be dangerous to people with compromised immune systems or woman that are pregnant. My poor sweet pregnant baby sitter had to have two blood tests. The first one she already has done and she has to have a second in two weeks. I guess it's going around since we were not the only family she has been around that has had it recently. About 50% of adults don't get this illness since they most-likely were exposed as a child.

Here's a link to the official website in case you wanted more than a Mom's version of this rotten childhood illness.

http://www.fifthdisease.org/

Bed Wetting

One of my children can not hold their bladder while they sleep. I am going to try as hard as possible not to hint to what child it is.

I suppose the reason I wanted to bring this up is because they have started picking on my four year old who can hold his bladder over night. It's kind of strange to me. We know the reason they can't keep it in is most-likely hereditary. They have started trying to convince us  there is no longer a problem by getting dressed quickly in the morning and making their bed up over the wet spot. For about a week I was so proud until I started to smell their room and I had to inspect.

This mother thing is hard. We have seen a doctor, a nutritionist and a therapist and basically have given up. We changed the diet. We attempted to wake our child in the middle of the night but they are violent hitting and punch and refusing to go and standing behind the door telling us they where done. We have used pull ups and told to stop using them because it makes our child lazy.

The most recent is the most challenging to deal with. Our four year old hardly ever has an accident even over night. Now our older child keeps trying to blame him. Asking us to check him for poop or change his diaper. It's almost an obsession. As a mother who tries to foster independence in her children and encourages her children to be who they be, this one has me floored. My instinct is to protect my four year old from being picked on. How is that possible with out embarrassing my older child?