Labwork and Artwork

 Morgan has been begging me to use the easel for weeks and since it finally stopped raining again I let her. We no longer use the easel in the house because the last time was... well, let's just say we don't use the easel inside anymore and leave it at that.

 Owen has some issues with patience. We've also noticed some obsessive-compulsive behaviors as we've increased his medications. The doctors say the meds don't cause those behaviors, but other parents say they've noticed it too. So, he doesn't wait very well when he's really focused on something. While I was busy putting clean paper on the easel for him, he painted Brenna.

I took the paintbrush away from him and finished putting up the paper. Then, I turned around and found Brenna with the paintbrush in her mouth. So, of course, I took a picture before removing the paintbrush. It is non-toxic paint after all.

 This morning I took Owen in for his FASTING lab work. Yes, I had to wake up my 3 year old and haul him into the lab without breakfast (and before his meds). Brenna decided that the best way to help mom out with a challenging morning was to wake up 3 times in the middle of the night to nurse instead of just one AND refuse to go back to sleep nicely each time. Sleep deprivation helps any challenging situation, right? We got to the lab about the time I normally wake Owen up for his medication. I figured at that time in the morning he'd be done in 15 minutes and I'd give him his medicine and juice in the car and feed him as soon as we got home. Instead they took the packet of tests from me, thumbed through it for about 5 minutes and told me to go wait. Yes, I've learned that I can drop off his paperwork the day before I bring him in, I just didn't think about it this time. We've never had this many labs to do before. Thirty minutes later they called us back. There was a row of vials about a foot wide on the counter. They looked at Owen and asked me how much he weighed. I said 32 pounds. The technician looked up a chart that showed how much blood is safe to remove at one time, then started thumbing through the paperwork and removing vials. Finally they figured out the least amount of blood they could remove and still do all the labs. Owen got poked in both arms, screaming the whole time. He usually barely reacts to blood draws. Basically they took enough blood to be the equivalent of a blood donation for an adult. Great start to the morning!

 We got home almost an hour after normal breakfast time with Owen wanting his cereal, Morgan wanting her cereal, and Brenna wanting cereal and nursing. Oh, and a baby bunny to feed, but that's another post. The big kids were at a friend's house working on their next film, so everyone had to wait in line for Mom's help. I poured cereal for everyone (except Duncan who had to fend for himself). Morgan was in the bathroom, so told her I was leaving her cereal on the counter and sat down to feed Owen and Brenna. Brenna wandered off after a few bites and I continued feeding Owen. Morgan came out and couldn't find her cereal bowl. I (rather frustrated by this time) got up to get it for her and it wasn't there. Owen, meanwhile had gone in the other room and called out "Look, Brenna is feeding herself!". Yeah, Brenna had managed to get Morgan's cereal bowl down from the counter and was sitting in a puddle of milk feeding herself.

 I'd like to say that my day went smoother after all that, but then I'd be a big, fat, liar! Maybe tomorrow?