"You're not a bad mom.... You're not a bad mom...."

Repeat after me.... "You are not a bad mom...."

I know I'm not a bad mom.  I think I'm pretty standard when it comes to the scale.  But for a few hours today I questioned myself, just a little...

The whole family is battling or recovering from a mean cold - and currently it's taking its toll on the hubs and myself.  We went for a little drive around lunch time to just get out of the house and on our way home from our drive, Charlie and Wyatt both fell asleep in the truck.  Since they only slept about 15-20 minutes, when we got home, I let Charlie play around for a little bit, have a snack and then I planned to put him down for a nap.

Charlie had different plans.  :)  Of course, 15-20 minutes of sleep is PLENTY for a little boy recovering from a cold.... In his mind.  Nonetheless, I put Charlie in bed and sat in his room like I always do, just giving a little company and waiting for him to fall asleep. 

**I've thought about leaving this portion of the story I'm about to tell out, but it's the truth and I know I'm not the only one this could happen to...**

Today, however, I decided it was time for momma to get a little catnap herself - maybe it'll help me recover from this cold...  So I laid down on Wyatt's bed and told Charlie I was going to take a nap, too.  I dozed off...

Ten minutes. Ten minutes is all.  That's all the time that passed.  But when I woke up, Charlie wasn't in his bed.  Sigh.......... Where is that little rascal....

He wasn't in the living room.  He wasn't in the bathroom.  He wasn't in my bedroom.  Then I heard him in the kitchen.... Probably just getting a snack.

I walked in to discover Charlie had pulled the kitchen table chair all the way across the kitchen and had climbed up and opened the medicine cabinet.........................

OHMYGOODNESS!!!!  CHARLES!

He had opened a bottle of chewable antacids and had chewed up but spit out three or four of them.  Then I noticed on the kitchen floor was an open bottle of allergy medicine.  Open.  Pills all over the floor.  Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.

"Charlie, did you eat any of these?"  "Yes!"  "Charlie, how many did you eat?"  Charlie starts counting "One, two, three!"

Now.... Charlie answer yes to a lot of things... and he starts counting to a lot of things.... You can't always trust a two year old.... Obviously.

I cleaned up the mess.  Gave him a cup of milk, took him to the living room and turned on a show.  I sat and wondered what to do.... Surely he didn't eat that medicine.... it's hard and I'm sure tastes awful.... Maybe I'll just give him 30 minutes and see how he's doing......  Maybe...

I decided I'd go on and call Poison Control.  I explained the situation to a wonderful nurse, Rachel, and she explained that the allergy medicine he had isn't necessarily a dangerous medicine.  IF Charlie did ingest any of it, it would sort of amp him up - he might get a bit hyper or even irritable or start shaking.  Keep an eye on him and she's going to call and check on us in an hour and probably again later in the evening.

Thank the good Lord, Mr. Charlie is JUST fine.  He has been my normal wonderful little Charlie and I could not be more relieved.  I really have no idea what I would do if something ever happened to either of these boys.

Wonderful Rachel at Poison Control called to check about an hour or so later and then again a few hours after that.  She explained the time frame for any possible side effects would be about two and a half hours after ingesting so she is very certain that we are in the clear.

I called my mom in the midst of the waiting and we tried to decide if I needed to relocate my medicine cabinet....  It has all been cleaned out - old meds trashed - condensed and placed on the highest shelf in the cabinet.

"You're not a bad mom....."  If I hadn't dozed off..........  But me falling asleep isn't the reason Charlie was able to get in the medicine cabinet.  I could have just as easily been using the restroom.  We can't have our eyes on our children 110% of the time... But we can try to eliminate the dangers.  I really didn't imagine Charlie could get into the cabinet.  But clearly, I was wrong.  Also surprising, the allergy medicine he had gotten into had a "childproof" cap on it.  I've seen stories before showing children opening all sorts of "childproof" caps.... and Charlie clearly has this ability as well.  So, don't trust childproof caps, parents.... Put the stuff up HIGH! 

And in case anyone else gets in this pickle.... do not be afraid to call Poison Control.  I've called them twice now in my time as a parent and I have been completely pleased with my experience both times.  They are always so sweet and caring and definitely not judgmental at all.

I hated the experience this afternoon but the outcome was everything I could have hoped for.  I have my handsome, happy little Charlie being his normal sweet self.  And........ that ten minute nap seemed to help.  Either that or the adrenaline after discovering my little rascal in potential danger.... 

Tomorrow is a new day.  Hug your kids.  Hide your meds.  Even better than you think you need to hide them.

BLOG: MIA

Hello Friends and Family!  Well, where has the time gone?!  My last post was October 15th.... It's March 19th...  I hate that I let this thing fall off the face of the Earth again!

A lot of things were happening when I left Poop and Hiccups last... My sweet Annie dog had just had a little incident that left her unable to use her back legs.  :(  The vet so graciously offered to keep her free of charge for as long as it took to get her back together.  He really believes that she will be able to use her legs again, with time and healing!  After Annie's accident, I wrote a long, long post about this sweet dog - almost a little obituary for her.... Well, she's still very much alive and I have that post just saved in the dashboard of my blog.  Something about that unpublished post has kept me away from the blog.

Almost a week ago, I got to attend the Women in Ag conference in Marshall and listened to Jolene Brown speak and share stories and humor of life on the farm.  She said you always need to find the humor in things!  I scribbled on my little note pad "Write more.  BLOG!"  I knew I HAD to get back to this.  Finding the humor in the craziness that is life is so important and I'm going to forget it all if I don't get back to sharing these stories! 

So.  Here I am!  Hopefully I can take the time to sit down and share the funny stories of our crazy, beautiful life!

Now, let's see if I can remember some stories that I've missed.....

Here are a few nuggets I found thanks to the always available Facebook...

"Just picked up a small brown crumb-looking item off the living room floor and smelled it to make sure it wasn't poop.... Sometimes you just can't trust Charlie! ‪#‎tmi‬ ‪#‎momproblems‬ ‪#‎poophappens "

"Seth called and said he finally found a good use for the chain link fence. I knew exactly what I was going to find back there.... the bottle calf. I actually enjoy it and it's a great experience for the kids! Wyatt wants to bring it in the house.... :| "  - This was an interesting little moment in time.  We had a bottle calf in our backyard.  We all enjoyed the experience until it became clear that the calf was only pooping on the deck or the sidewalk... And it was starting to scratch the deck.  It has since been relocated to the comfort of the barn.

"What is this "tax refund" everyone speaks of.....? ‪#‎farmlife "

"Lovely little family night in the barn. Then Wyatt says 'I didn't know you could throw hay so far, Dad!' 'Hey, Mom, guess what I have...? Hay in my pockets...!' "

"Mom, I love you." "I love you, too, Wyatt...!" "But I don't like the girls in my class because they're too girly..."

"Our Valentine's Day tradition.... heart-shaped meatloaf...  I hope my boys remember this forever and end up wanting their wives to do this for them because that's what their mom always did.... "

"My kids haven't officially been weighed in for their 4 and 2 year check-ups.... (I know, I'm slacking...) but I feel like they're huge! According to our scale, Wyatt and Charlie weigh in at 42 and 36 pounds, respectively... Wyatt wears a 4 snuggly... Charlie wears a 2 or 3.... These boys are so awesome. They make me smile and melt my heart every single day.... They also infuriate me nearly every day.... but hey, such is life. And I cannot imagine it without them. ‪#‎proudmomma‬ ‪#‎sappymomma‬ All that's missing here is an adorable photo.... I'll share one soon"

"Ummmm, yikes..? Just found this in Wyatt's take home folder from school.... I'm a little surprised I didn't get pulled aside and asked about this. In case you can't see it - "It's a firepit hospital... it burns people". ‪#‎creepythingskidssay "

"'Uh-Oh!! Hey Mommmma! Sponge-sposby's on!!!'  Spongebobby isn't allowed in the Tyre House. Charlie knows the rules..."

"Hello! My name is Lindsey and I'm turning 30 in a few days. I went to Vegas and all I bought was this big drink and insoles for my high arches.... ‪#‎imgettingold‬ ‪#‎gobigorgohome‬ ‪#‎vegas "

"'Hey mom... can I have some juice..?'  'What kind of juice do you want..?'  'Whatever kind of juice that makes poop come out.'  Hahahah. Maybe he's a little bound up... ‪#‎fouryearolds "

"My good ol' husband is working today - he says it's the first day of the year, you have to do what you're going to do all year. If that's the case, I'll be cleaning the house and picking up toys while diffusing petty toy sharing arguments all year. I guess that'll do... :)  ‪#‎happynewyear "

"Little moments that make our hearts so happy... Tonight we were about to pray at dinner and Wyatt asked if he could say his prayer first - of course! "Come Lord Jesus be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed. All my exes live in Texas. Texas is the place I really love to be." Nothing like singing a little song to wrap it up. This boy..... "

"Wyatt is full of it this morning. The other day I gave him a carrot and told him it was good for his eyes so he needed to eat it. Last night, we had cooked carrots out of our roast - of which he wasn't so much a fan. This morning he came right up to me and said "Coooooked carrots, aren't good for your eyes.... NOT cooked carrots, are......." He also told me he wanted me to start growing his baby sister in my belly. I told him to go tell his daddy.  Haha!"

Well I think that about wraps it up!  I'll try to do better...... :) ‬