Sir Boots is climbing out of his crib (so the poor guy is sleep-deprived), has a lingering cough and is climbing out of his timeout porta-crib (so a previously effective consequence is completely useless).

And the crib tent I ordered with one-day shipping to keep Boots in his crib and getting all the sleep he needs again was delayed by the Phoenix sandstorm and did not arrive. :(

This is what he did instead of taking his morning nap. And this is what he was doing when we went in at 6:30 am to get him. He was silent the whole time, so who knows how long he’d been awake!

Because he was so tired after all his missed sleep, he wasn’t nearly as jovial and well-behaved as he usually is.

One time when he got upset in the morning, he scared the pants off me by running to the front door, unbolting it and trying to leave!

And at one point in the afternoon he didn’t want to put clothes back on after getting cleaned up from a blow-out messy diaper. I kept telling him he needed a diaper on so he wouldn’t go to the bathroom on the floor. And he just stood there and kept refusing. And then he urinated right on my legs. It was so classic I felt like I was in a movie!

—-

Reason Number Two:

The Little Prince had a really hard time falling asleep for most of the day.  The only place he would sleep was in my arms.  So that’s where I let him sleep.  Which was so wonderful and cozy.  :)  But did make it hard to take care of the other boys and manage poor, tired Boots.  Fortunately, I was not holding him when Boots urinated on me!  :)

—-

Reason Number Three:

Boots and Bubbers only slept one meager hour for their afternoon nap (which is usually at least twice that long).  It wasn’t nearly long enough for all of us.

But!  During that one hour nap, I held the Little Prince and researched nasal aspirators on Amazon.

You see, the Little Prince has been congested for a couple weeks now and our little blue bulb just isn’t cutting it.

So, I started looking at other products and found this: The Nosefrida.  You actually suck out the gunk yourself with a tube in your mouth!

Well, I finally decided to order a similar product, but not before I guffawed up a storm at this review for the Nosefrida.  And with the exhausting day I was having yesterday, it was a welcome moment of light-hearted humor!   Thank you, Mr. Moobs!  :)

By Moobs (New York, NY) – See all my reviews

 

my wife has tiny nostrils. i can’t fit any of my fingers in her nose…it’s amazing she can breathe through her nose at all. consequently, our son is also lacking in the nostril-diameter department. he gets boogies…he can’t breathe very well…he gets upset. it’s been like that since he was born, whenever that was…recently. i forget, but i digress. we came home from the hospital with a pretty decent nose-sucking bulb…it did a reasonably OK job of sucking out boogers…and was reasonably firm and springy. but then our dog ate it. so, i tried to find a replacement. not all bulbs are created equal, i soon found out. some were too hard to squeeze and didn’t spring back quickly enough. others were too soft to suck anything out and just sat there, mocking me. i tried at least four different replacement bulbs, none of which were as good as the one from the hospital. we even tried a fancy battery powered nose vacuum that made a whirring sound but produced nary a single lump of green gold. while ordering the various, useless bulbs i also ordered this thing – the nosefrida – on a whim thinking i was probably wasting $13.

BOY WAS I WRONG.

this thing works. it sucks boogers out of noses. it even stores them in a little tube to eat later. or, you can just wash them out in the sink. anyway…it works better than any of the other things we tried…and we tried pretty much everything. there’s a technique to it:

- suck in quick short bursts with your mouth muscles first…to loosen things up
- then, suck in long hoover-style bursts to get those boogies out
- if the boogies get stuck near the surface, try pulling the end of the thing out a little mid-suck a few times
- use a tissue or q-tip to get any nose goblins that are loitering anywhere accessible
- repeat

if i was a professional booger sucker…and it was my job to suck the snot out of noses 8 hours a day, i would insist on using this thing. but i would want a longer tube, and a holster.

—

And then later when Daddy came home—more fun in the snow!

The Bad News:

• Scooters caught the stomach bug.
• Mommy caught the stomach bug.
• The worms hated their new home and did everything possible to escape.

The Good News:

• Daddy stayed home from work and took great care of Scooters, Bubbers and Mommy.  (Thank you!!!)
• Mommy found other articles online about how to do worm composting.
• She made a new home for them and moved them all into it.

The Current News:

• The bug is lingering, but Bubbers, Scooters and Mommy are very close to being okay again.
• We have really enjoyed clearing our entire schedule and just hanging out and healing for the last four days.
• Poor Daddy has caught the stomach bug.  :(
• The worms are staying inside their new home!!

While he didn’t throw up at all yesterday, he did tell me, “I’m kind of miserable just like Satan. He’s miserable, but I’m not as miserable as him.”

Then he told me he was going to build the tallest wall in the world to keep Satan from getting to him and tempting him when he turns eight years old and reaches the age of accountability.  I smiled and said that was such a great idea! And then I said that’s what it’s like when you obey God’s commandments.  He gives you the power to resist Satan–like a big wall to keep him out. He thought that was pretty neat. :)

Then I thought he was very close to being back to normal– until he gave me a vomit shower at 6:30 am this morning.  I yelped with such absolute shock and horror that it scared poor Scooters who started crying.  (It’s kind of cute how sensitive these little guys are to when Mommy gets upset).

But we all survived and got cleaned up.  And by 11:00 am, the Bubbers King was feeling so chipper that he went to the mailbox with Scooters (who is also a bit under the weather) and I.

And we were so excited!!  We finally got the package we’ve been waiting for!!

Worms!!!

(And they were still alive after five days in the mail– I’m so glad!!)

I read an article about using worms for composting (click here to read it) and immediately fell in love with it.

So I got some 10 gallon containers at Walmart and drilled a bunch of holes in them.

Then we put in our damp shredded paper, dirt and beloved worms.

Then we added all the kitchen scraps I’ve been saving up for them.  And then on top of all the stinky stuff, we put in a bunch of old bread.  The boys helped me break it into pieces.

Bubbers was so cute and kept telling them, “I love you, worms! Here’s your food, worms! This is your new home, worms!”  He was sad when they were all covered and he couldn’t see them anymore.

But then two adventurous worms kept trying to crawl out and Bubbers loved it!

Scooters helped us fill, too!

And boy oh boy…

Did he take his job seriously!

“Whatchu talkin’ bout, Willis?”

But never fear!

With the Scooters-toopa-man, it’s only a matter of time before…

**KA-BLING!!**

After that, we put on the lid and I moved them into their new location in the garage.

Now all we have to do is wait.  Add more food.  Wait some more.  And then PRESTO!  We’ll have super dirt and more worms to put in our garden!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask Bubbers.  He knows all about this stuff now.  “Worms eat the food we don’t want anymore and then their POO-POOS are DIRT for our GARDEN!!”

So, there you have it, folks!  Bubbers (and Scooters) are close to being the picture of health again.  And we have new pet worms in the garage!

Behold the poor Bubbers King.

Right when his nose didn’t bleed for a good two days, he woke up this morning at 3:30 am and calmly told us, “There’s a bug in my stomach.” The evidence of said bug had been vomited inside and around the perimeter of his crib.

I pulled out the stomach virus instructions I wrote down from a great nurse a while back and I’ve been having a nice mellow day washing multiple loads of his sheets and blankets while nursing our sweet invalid back to health.

He’s been such a good sport–running to the toilet on his own and laying around with hardly a complaint. When he walked out of his room with his favorite “bone shirt” on backwards and told me in a pitifully weak voice, “I prefer it this way,” I didn’t have the heart to press the matter.

And even though he requested hot chocolate and told me, “I can drink hot chocolate because it will be so hot that it will kill the bug in my stomach,” he has obediently and happily stuck to his water (marked with masking tape) and his pedialyte (marked with no masking tape). And he even said, “I’m trying to drink a lot of my salt drink so I get better faster.”

I couldn’t ask for a sweeter patient. :)

You know the toughest thing about vertical mobility?

When you get a new bruise before your old ones have finished healing!

(14 months old)

You know the toughest thing about erupting teeth?

When you get four eye teeth and four molars fighting for eruption–at the same time!!

(Right now!! 15 months old)

You know one of my favorite things ever?

Listening to one of Mommy’s stories!

You know one of Mommy’s favorite things ever?

Seeing my eyes sparkle!