Thursday, July 24, 2008

Now for the rest of the story...


Sometimes being a parent is stressful. I love to blog and in doing so I hope that others relate to this so I do not feel so alone. I do feel like though that maybe my husband and my parenting style is lacking. I say this because I feel like I repeat myself constantly to two little kids that just DO. NOT. LISTEN. To a word I say.
This was my Monday. (Currently we have Joey in “summer camp”) Really though this is the same place that he goes to preschool. We have him going to get out of the house and be around his friends, socialize and be around kids his own age. And I should add I love Tuesdays and Thursdays when he is out of the house because the fighting is nonexistent and Gabrielle can play with whatever she wants and do what she wants without being yelled at by her brother and vice versa.
Monday we got up and started our morning with cooking muffins and cupcakes. Soon a lady from Home Depot showed up to measure the floors on the main level of our home. Jeff was also coming home early because our garage door was broken and he wanted to talk with the repair man. When Jeff got home after lunch time I decided to use the opportunity to go to run some errands finding knick knacks and towels for the bathroom. When I returned from my outing, I found Jeff exhausted the house a disaster, and two kids that looked like they were in big trouble. Toys were all over the floor and the couch cushions and pillows were strewn about. I found that Gabrielle had gone potty twice on the couch and Joey decided that he wanted to use the couch as a trampoline and that the two of them were just being bad. Since Friday of last week Gabrielle has just been going pee wherever her little heart desires. If we are outside she will disrobe and pee on the deck, the grass, and the sidewalk. We do not know what the problem has been. Imagine being in the kitchen and knowing your daughter is in the room next to you where you can see her and she is playing or watching a movie and then says “I just pee”. What? Where? Oh all over the couch! All I can say is yuck. Who wants to sit on that? Also we are not happy she is doing this, but we are not like in LOVE with this couch it is old and we knew that soon we would be deep sixing it.
So I come in and am in the mood to start cleaning. I mean organizing, getting things ready for Goodwill, tossing things, rearranging things. So I went to town. We moved the couch outside. Jeff called and found out that the trash man would take it. We carried it to the curb. Two little kids followed us out and started jumping on the couch outside. All the while Joey is really upset that I am giving the couch to the trash man. He wants to know where he is going to sit. I think he was really wondering what he would use to jump on, do headstands on, and what he would throw on the floor so he could jump off the couch and have a soft landing when he falls. I explained to him that we will not have a couch until he and his sister decide that this is our home and we want our home to look nice and that he and Gabby need to understand that this costs money and they are ruining everything we try to do to make our home look nicer and not like a college dorm room. What a sight we must be! We did not get pictures of this but wanted to. We looked like some rednecks. We were going to sit out on the couch on the curb and watch cars pass, but we figured we had better things to do inside. Jeff and I were laughing hysterically at the sight of all of us. I continued cleaning and by dinner time had a whole van full of bags and boxes to take to Goodwill. Jeff got us dinner and we ate and then went to Goodwill and to Home Depot. While at Home Depot, Gabby went potty there. No problems. We were home in like 30 minutes after this and she walks into the family room and goes again all over the floor. Jeff and I were in the kitchen talking and putting things away when she announces that she just peed all over the floor. Jeff hands her a towels and says “your turn”. She knows better and she is a smart girl. By this point we are both beside ourselves as to what is going on with her.
We get the kids in the bath and into bed. We then kiss them goodnight and walk downstairs. A few minutes later we hear footsteps and running upstairs. Jeff goes upstairs to find Gabrielle naked and in Joey’s room talking to him. She sat on her bed and peed all over it. He gets her back into bed, changes sheets, and clothes and comes back downstairs. Now Joey is asleep and once again footsteps. He goes back upstairs and this time she gets spanked. He returns downstairs. Same thing happens again. This time he waits before going up because she may have went into our room to lie on our bed. At this point we don’t care where she sleeps as long as the next time we see her she is sleeping. About 10 minutes later he goes up and I heard him say something and I knew she was not asleep. She was in our room just not in our bed. She was really in our bathroom cutting her hair!!
Gabby showing her hair cut to us and her real personality for the camera. All that hair was the same length as the hair behind it. Enjoy the next few photos of my little trouble maker. She is lucky she is so cute.

I got on the computer and started looking up urinary tract infections in children. I decide that maybe I should have her urine looked at. I asked her earlier in the day if anything hurt. She said no. I called my mom and she agreed that just having her urine looked at would not hurt and plus if she did have a UTI then we would have some sort of explanation to her behavior.
We called it a night. Tuesday the man from Lowe’s showed up to measure. I got in the shower and then went to my doctor’s appointment. We then took some urine to the doctor. He checked it and she did NOT have a UTI. So he had a little talk with her. “Gabrielle, you are three you are a big girl you need to stop peeing on the floor and having accidents.” She looks at him picks up her hand and puts it to his face and says “do you like my fingernails”? That went over really well!!
I ran home went to the vet tried to get there before they closed and then we had dinner and went to Lowe’s and to pick up my prescriptions. Afterwards while Jeff and Joey were in the pet store I walked next door with Gabby to the Great Clips. I showed the girl her hair and asked what can we do?
This is what we got. She did such a job on herself that this was all they could do to fix it and even out her hair and make it look like a normal person cut it and not a three year old.

So my days of pony tails, ribbons, and bows will have to wait. I was so upset when I watched her hair fall to the floor. This is my life with a three year old and I am really hoping that this does not just happen to me!

17 comments:

Jaime said...

Oh, that so sucks!! I have had to do many haircuts like that! Luckily not on any of my kids. One of my cousins kids has actually cut her own hair twice!
Short hair can be cute, too, though. You can still do bow or flower clips or barrettes.
Sorry you had such a crappy day. Hope tomorrow's better...

Unknown said...

Let Gabby know we love the ultra chic cut....but, perhaps next time she should leave it to the professionals!
Laurie, I was reading about the hospital experience.....after Gabrielle was born....did you ever get anything resembling an apology?....anything...it makes me really mad, what you went through...it is totally unacceptable that they put you through all that...
talk soon, Bianca

Jocasta said...

Oh no! She still looks really cute but Jaime is right that really sucks!!

As for the peeing what can you do!

Carissa(GoodnCrazy) said...

Wow those are two very large child issues going on at your house! The hair thing most kids do at least once right? The potty issues though if it's not the UTI thing, I would at least ask the Ped. about?
After several classes for foster care certification (and I certainly am not comparing your child to a kid in foster care!), several times they mentioned that bathroom stuff is VERY often a cry for something totally different than actual peeing/pooping physical things? They also followed up with BE VERY CAREFUL how you attempt to work this problem out as you can make it much worse...so not really help, but I certainly wouldn't ignore it?

Connie said...

Oh no! Mine cut hers at 3, her brothers at 5 and again hers at 7. It never ends.
Thanks for stopping by the other day!

MamaGeek @ Works For Us said...

Oh no, say it ain't so! That truly does suck a duck. I guess it's just one of those things that is bound to happen. OY.

Claremont First Ward said...

My kids are selective listeners too. Most people just don't like to admit it! :) I think after your day I would have sunk onto the ground and just cried. The pictures that capture Gabbies personality are so great though. How can you be angry with a child like that? I love that she put her hand up to the doctor and asked him a question of her own in response to his pep talk. I love her cute new do. My daughter and her friend cut her hair when she was 3. It was to her scalp in some areas and cut all the way around her head. I cried and cried, but her new hair cut ended up looking really cute, just like hers.

Jeff said...

Thanks for the great story, honey! Look on the bright side; Gabby does look really cute with short hair! I Love you, JAZ

Connie said...

In all honesty I am not sure how I was selected for SITS other than being there for all my SITStas when I can as well as commenting on the creators blogs when I can. Hang in there, play along, make sure you check your email settings so you know when you've been selected, enjoy meeting all your SITStas and keep writing those fantastic posts! Have a great weekend!

I am Arizona; a person, not a place. said...

I think your daughter is probably just going through a phase with the peeing. She sounds like she's fascinated by the peeing process and the fact that she can leave puddles. LOL! Sounds pretty normal to me, but I imagine you don't need the aggravation! Luke has peed on our couch a few times and we just recently got rid of it since it was starting to stink.

Gabby's hair is cute short! She seems to have a lot of spunk. So cute!

Glad the remodeling is going well!

Will Piper said...

I'm sorry- maybe it's the dad in me, but the pictures of Gabby cutting her hair made me crack up. That is a great story- thanks for sharing it. You have adorable kids who I'm sure are full of life!

Take care,
Will

Tiffany said...

Oh my!! Well, she is definitely cute enough to pull it off.

Came over through Blarney... saw you comment about SITS. The key to getting featured is to roll call and participate. We choose from the blogger who are regularly supporting the others.

If you emailed us links, you were put in line, but possible skipped over if you haven't been participating.

We'd love to have you join us!

Court said...

If only the readers knew Gabby's Mommy! They would appreciate this story so much more!! Hang in there, Cakes! You are doing a great job. There is an African Proverb that says "it takes a whole village to raise a child" You are only one person doing this during the day! Being a stay-at-home mom is the HARDEST yet most rewarding job out there! Just think, in a matter of months, Gabby will be in school peeing on the classroom floor and you DON'T have to clean it up!!! Miss ya!! PS Gabby looks adorable!!!

Rooney's Little Musings said...

Oh My Gosh! I don't know how you are so calm!

Genny said...

She is a cutie! Too funny about the hair cut. I did that when I was little, too. I think I chopped my bangs. LOL.

Anyway, sounds like you had a FULL day!

Thanks for your sweet words today over at my site,

Genny

Will Piper said...

I have to leave a totally unrelated comment re: Manny. I, too, am a fan of his, and there is a rumor going around amongst some baseball nerds in MilTown that the Crew might be interested in his services. That would really be awesome if we landed him, although after the CC trade, I don't want to give up the whole farm system.

If a Brewers/Tribe series isn't in the cards, I wouldn't at all mind seeing a Brewers/Red Sox rematch. I remember listening to the games earlier this spring as I kangarooed the girls.

Cheers,
Will

Mrs. Yonally said...

What a funny story! We've all been through days and phases like that. Jocelyn use to smack me in the face whenever she was tired/upset. Eventually, Keith and I thought the phase had passed...until we discovered she was hitting her teacher at school! Apparently, it had been occurring for approximately a month. I was mortified!! Now, I can't even recall the last time she has hit me.
Gabby's hair looks adorable, though. She looks just like a pixie fairy.

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