Learning About Finland: The Winter Holiday Edition

Here is a list of almost everything I can think of that is related to winter and Finland.
Ready?

1. It can be really cold - especially in northern Finland!
1. It can be extra dark outside when there isn't any snow - be sure to take vitamin D!
2. Make sure you wear layers.
3. Make sure you moisturize - the dryness can really damage skin and cracked skin isn't pleasant for anyone.
4. Be sure to have a reflector on your coat or bag.  At least a couple...
5. Walking a dog or cat?  Same goes for them and yes, people walk cats in Finland.
6. If there's snow on the ground or by December 1st - it's mandatory to have winter/snow tires (depends on what term you want to use) if you have a car.
2. Shops are closed on:
1. 6th of December for Finnish Independence Day (some small shops like Sale or Siwa may be opened).
2. 24th of December - Christmas Eve - by 12pm.  Buses in JKL at least, are done driving at 1pm.
3. 25th of December - Christmas Day - all day.
4. 26th of December - Boxing Day to North Americans - all day. Some smaller shops may be opened.
5. 31st of December - New Year's Eve -Fireworks are allowed to be set off from 6pm-about 2am.
6.  1st of January - New Year's Day
7. 6th of January - Epiphany - also the day where everyone tosses away their Christmas tree.  So do be careful and look up - so one doesn't fall on you.  It's much easier to toss a tree over your balcony than drag it down the stairs.
3. Christmas
1.  If you're shipping packages - do so as early as possible because the line ups can be quite long and tedious.  Bring a book for while you're waiting.
2. You can hire a Santa to come deliver presents and sing songs with your children but it can be pricey!  You can even find advertisements for "sober Santas with own vehicle"....
1. With that said, yes - children see Santa on Christmas Eve and generally presents are opened on that day too. 
3. There is even a Santa's village in Lapland! 
1. Sorry, he is not considered from the North Pole. 
4. Finnish Christmas food is typically ham (a massive roasted piece of pork), vegetable casseroles (that quite often look like baby food), glöggi (drink it warm and never heat it in a water kettle!  Or be freaky like me and drink it cold or mix some 7Up in there for a cold fizzy drink!), joulutorttu (Christmas tart - a star-shaped flaky pastry with plum jam in the center) and Christmas porridge in the morning.  If you get the almond in the Christmas porridge - it's said to be very lucky. :)
5. Santa's are usually in the bigger grocery stores and sometimes a mall - there doesn't seem to be a photography service included.  Be sure to bring your own camera or use your cell phone.
6. It's alright to get a real Christmas tree - even in apartment buildings! (In Canada there tends to be more restrictions.)
1. It's illegal to just go out and chop down a tree wherever you please.
7. Finns don't do Christmas stockings - so they might be hard to come by.  You're better off making your own or using a real sock! :)
4. New Year's Eve
1. Don't drink and drive - it's illegal here too.
2. Fireworks may be publicly set off from 6pm-2am in Finland.  Your city will have ones at midnight to welcome in the new year.  The reason for allowing them so early - is for those with children who don't want to keep their children awake so late.  Best to walk the terrified dogs beforehand if you can!
3. You may get some tin metal horse shoes....and according to Finns - you melt them in a pot of boiling water then toss them in the snow or somewhere cold and whatever shape they take determines your following year.  Friend of mine got one that looked like sperm...still hasn't had a baby and this was 3 years ago at least.

As usual - I'm super late getting this out and posted. 
Well, happy holidays!  I'm back to cleaning and cooking - as we're going to celebrate Christmas tomorrow with friends visiting! :)

Happy Holidays!
BIMU

Awesome Gift Ideas for a Crafter

Rushing around last minute for your holiday shopping?
Oh and you have one of those friends or family members with a birthday so close to Christmas (or actually ON Christmas) that you'd hate to leave out one or the other?
I'm sure I'm missing a lot of ideas but here's the ones I can think of!
Here's a list of awesome gifts for crafters in your life:

• Any craft:
• Organizing boxes for craft supplies
• Labels for boxes
• Notebooks 
• Magazine subscription (or e-magazine subscription) to their favourite magazine.
• Gift card or vouchers:
• Etsy
• Zibbet (similar to Etsy)
• Local craft supply or yarn shops
• Tickets to a craft exhibition or event
• Art or handcrafted item made locally or from a favourite artist.
• Baby-sitting time so if the crafter is a parent - they can actually craft! :)
• Seamstress (sewing): 
• Voucher to fix or tweak sewing machine
• Or a gift card to the local fabric shop
• A new sewing machine or serger
• Thread
• Fabric
• Patterns or books filled with patterns
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Chalk or washable/fading marker
• Pattern paper (I hear this stuff is pretty expensive - so most people use baking paper or newspaper to trace patterns.)
• Pin cushion or magnet for pins
• Pins 
• Seam ripper
• Pinking shears (they're the scissors with zig-zag edges to prevent fraying)
• Container for haberdashery
• Knitter:
• Needles 
• Interchangeables
• Circular
• Straight sets
• Double-Pointed Needles (DPNs)
• There's different materials too!
• Bamboo
• Wood
• Plastic
• Metal
• Stainless steel
• Yarn
• Or a gift card to the LYS (local yarn shop)
• Patterns - printed and put in a binder or paper-free and e-mail them to him/her.
•  Books - either full of patterns of techniques
• Knitting kit - something you could put together yourself (and also applies to a crocheter):
• Stitch markers
• Measuring tape
• Stitch holders (moreso for knitting than crocheting)
• Row counter
• Gauge and/or needle measuring tool
•  Pouch for needles/hooks for travelling 
• Pencil
• Notebook
• Small crochet hook for picking up dropped stitches
• Little toppers so stitches don't slide off the needles.
• Needle holders - come in a wide variety. 
• Crocheter (Many gift ideas are applicable from the Knitter):
• Hooks
• Tunisian crochet hooks
• Double-ended Tunisian crochet hook
• Sets
• You could buy cheap metal ones and use polymer clay and bake creative handles for them.
• Patterns, books or technique books 
• Yarn
• Gift card to a local yarn shop or online shop
• Drawing tools:
• Paints
• Cleaning products
• Sketch books
• Brushes
• Sponges
• Pastels
• Pens
• Paper
• Pencils
• Erasers
• Canvases
• Frames
• Markers
• Carrying case for portfolio work or finished pieces
• Carrying case for drawing utensils
• Refills (i.e. Copic Ciao Refills) 
• Scrapbooker:
• Paper
• Scrapbook albums
• Plastic refill cover pages (these are used to protect the individual scrapbook pages - usually 12x12 inches (30cm x 30cm) )
• Inks
• Stamps
• Washi Tape or other decorative tapes
• Gloss paint
• Crackle Paint
• Embossing folders
• Stickers
• Rub-on Transfers
• Embellishments
• Hole punch of various shapes
• Embossing powder
• Embossing heater
• Glue
• Double-sided sticky tape/squares
• Pens, markers, water-colour pencils, pencils
• Die cuts
• Gift card
• Cosmetics Maker:
• Essential oils
• Silicone molds for soap shapes
• Jars with lids for lotions/body butter
• Little tins or tubes for lip balm/salves
• Digital scale for weighing ingredients
• Gift card to purchase other ingredients
   

Enjoy and I'll try to update this every now and again! :)
BIMU

Ikea Road Trip!

I should be:

• Knitting/crocheting/sewing gifts
• Cleaning
• Organizing
• Menu planning
• Changing diapers
• Writing Christmas cards
• Paying bills

Instead - I went to Ikea today with a friend!  It was quite spur of the moment - as another friend had to postpone the trip to Ikea with her family and van - and with the holidays being in 4 days - I had to replace some cracked dining room chairs soon.

So the lovely Lise (of Lise Richardson Art)- graciously offered her driving skills to Tampere Ikea and off we went!  (I'll be interviewing her again for this blog soon...I've previously interviewed her for my old blog - but anyways!  I'm working on it!)
Please remember - last time we went to Ikea - I became a Highway Warrior Princess!

And we even packed up two kids.

I opted for M-Girl and A-Man.  Mostly because if the shopping carts aren't big enough for V-Man (without wearing a one-piece snow suit) - he won't walk the full hour we planned to be there for.  SO - as much as I would have loved to bring V-Man, especially with his odd temper at the taxi ride last Friday - it was just easier and gave everyone better peace of mind to bring the other two kids.

I have heard of the Ikea day-care for customers and wasn't sure how A-Man would feel - so we had a big lunch of meatballs and fries (the Ikea class meatballs) and dropped him off.
I had a paper to fill out, which asked the following things:

• Child's name
• Child's age (Child must be 3-7 years old I believe.)
• Child's clothing being worn
• Adult allowed to pick him up
• A box number (keep reading)
• Their phone number
• A signature from the adult promising to be available at all times (aka be in the store and have your phone on and the volume at a reasonable level to hear them calling in case of emergency)

A-Man was given a big plastic tub with a number on it and we filled it with his snow pants and coat, boots, hat, scarf and his favourite bus toy.  He was given a sticky label on his shirt with name on it and the box number.
Both of us got our hands stamped with a matching number - so they can confirm the parent's identity when the child is being picked up - and he was asked to disinfect his hands and then he was allowed inside.

I had 1 hour to shop without a running child.  (I've never used this service before - and yes, it is free to customers.)
I waited and he waited and stared at me.  Then he ran off and we bolted around the corner to ensure no screams came from the day-care - and there weren't any.

I repeat - I had 1 hour to shop without a running child.
SH asked if in future I could consider bringing V-Man and dropping him off there - but I'm not sure how they'd do with an autistic child...they did ask me what language A-Man speaks and understands...

So off we went.  We by-passed most of the furniture - as I really just needed those 3 or 4 dining room chairs (found one different than my current black Ikea chairs for half the price and just as comfortable) - and little bits and bobs.

The funniest thing was this stuffed wolf - that's well, a plush toy and you can stuff him with Grandma.
The coolest thing - probably this crank-yourself-flashlight.  A-Man hates falling asleep in the dark but hopefully this will help and thanks to little human energy - no batteries are needed.
(Links are to the Canadian Ikea site...)

I got some Christmas gifts for some of the guests coming - as I really don't have time to knit or crochet everyone something...may have to dig into my fabric stash to sew some other things I think!

Anyways, I'll try to be more productive (almost wrote "reproductive"...oh dear!) on this blog and I do have some posts lined up - they just need to be tweaked...

And I'm proud to announce that A-Man was the one that did the falling this trip - as the parking lot was quite icy!  Nobody was hurt seriously.

BIMU

My Escape Artist & Ass Fudge

Like the title of this post?
It's not to catch your attention - it's the shortest way to describe this morning.

Today is the last day of day-care/school for most kids.  This means that V-Man has 1 day left of day-care and then he can sleep in and hopefully allow us to sleep in too for the next two and a half weeks or so.
Last night he ended up waking up after 2 hours and crashed on the sofa - after his first dose of melatonin.  He slept most of the night and crawled onto our new sofa with hubby and stayed quiet for most of the night!  We have to try it for 2 weeks straight and hopefully his body accepts it - but last night was a huge step!
I, of course, was up by 3am, in preparation for being woken by screams, yells and light bulbs...but it didn't happen!

Anyway, this morning - he didn't want to go to day-care.  This has been normal for the past month.  It's gotten darker and colder outside - so of course it's nice to just stay in bed ALL day.  I agree!
But it's against his schedule system!  So this morning we wrestled him into his clothing - screams and all - and I ran downstairs with him, his backpack, his booster seat and a plate holding some prettily wrapped up fudge for the teachers.
*Cue insta-scream.

There was no way he would stay seated.  I finally got the seat belt clicked in and we closed the door and as always, I waited to see him drive away safely.
The driver didn't even close his door.  Taxi drivers here are super polite and open the door for you and help to put your groceries in the trunk if needed.  They also open the door for you if you're un-able to - once you arrive to your destination!  I just open the door myself usually and plop the booster seat and V-Man in myself.  
V-Man opted for yanking hard at his seat belt and standing up in his booster seat and screaming.
The driver looked at me and I sighed.  I apologized for wasting his time and I'll take him by bus.

We ran upstairs so I could grab my bus card and coat and we had less than 5 minutes to get up a huge hill with my arms full of stuff and holding his hand - and we made it.  Mostly because the bus was 7 minutes late.  Huzzah!
This also meant that we missed our connecting bus downtown and had to wait 20 minutes.
I refused to let him see my phone or watch Youtube because I consider that to be a real treat - and by this point - I'm exhausted and he just keeps wanting to drag me to the shops and McDonald's.  Tough - they're not open at 8am.

24 minutes later - we're boarding the second bus with him screaming and trying to assume his boulder position - refusing to lift a foot onto the bus.
GREAT.
I haul him onto the bus and as I'm re-arranging my arms full of stuff so I can press my wallet on the electronic panel reader thing - he's off.
Yeah - he's running to the back door and about to jump off the damn bus like James Bond.

Thankfully it's a 7 minutes long bus ride.  He screamed for 6 and then tossed his hat at me, I bend down to pick it up (he's standing) and THEN decides to sit beside me and onto the plate of prettily wrapped fudge.

We get off the bus and cross the street - we have a 2 minutes-long walk to his day-care.  1 minute if he co-operates!
Then he opts for the boulder position.  Absolutely will not budge - as I'm clasping his hand and leaning at a 45-degree angle trying to get him to move.  Also - I don't want to drop that fudge!
Nope - not happening.  Eventually - we get there and the teachers sense my nerves are splitting in half by the handful.  They're excited about the fudge and I got a lift close to home from the speech therapist.
 
I don't mean to brag - but the V-Man and I raised a fuckton of autism awareness this morning.

BIMU

Let's Be Honest: Parenting

A mini series I'll do in my blog regarding various topics, in which I will be 100% honest and not sugar-coat anything (I rarely do but try to be as "nice as possible").
I'll do a separate one regarding raising an autistic child - because really - that's a whole other league on its own!

• Pregnancy and pushing a kid out the hoo-ha is another whole other league of its own.  Same with C-Sections (not that I've had one - but from what I've heard)!
• I love my kids and don't always tell them this everyday.  But I hope the happier moments show them that although they drive me up the flipping wall on some days - I do love them to bits and pieces.
• My home is never clean.  It wasn't before I had children and now - it's just disturbing.
• There are tampons all over my kitchen floor...not used ones - just again, my kids get into everything.
• I don't remember the last time our place was spotless with everything in place.  It could be when my husband and I were dating and living separately.  Almost 9 years ago.  Yep.
• I can't find the little Tupperware salad dressing container because my kids got in the drawers and toss out my CLEAN pots, pans and utensils everyday.  It's some sick game they have in common.  
• *Update:  It was found four days later.
• M-Girl can walk (10 months old) and pull stuff down...including the clean laundry hanging on the drying racks.  Then she tries to wrap herself up in them.  She'll probably be a fashion designer or at least craftier than me when she gets older.
• V-Man has discovered the knife block - which doesn't bother me as much it should.  The only problem is when he leaves the knives on the counter instead of putting them back.
• Regularly when I'm trying to blog or write an e-mail - I hear A-Man stirring whatever I forgot on the stove for a couple minutes. 
• I have mastered the ninja/yoga/sneak-away technique after breast-feeding a baby and needing to escape the bed without making a sound.
• "Night Life" for me is going knitting and maybe for a drink with a friend (when V-Man is at overnight care)  - ALONE.  I'm home by 9-10pm.
• Date nights are few and far between...
• We collect DVDs because we can watch them at home and pause when a kid wakes up and use subtitles and minimum volume.  Just finished season 3 of Breaking Bad!
• When 1 kid wakes up - usually all the others do too.  Unfortunately.
• None of the kids I baby-sat (not that I baby-sat a lot as a teenager) have prepared me for my own children.  
• Having 3 kids also means always having an excuse to leave a party or event early.
• I've tried to catch a full bladder of pee once from the (at the time) 4-year old V-Man.  Yeah - tried to catch as in ...WITH MY BARE HANDS.
• I take my kids out in public so I don't disturb the neighbours with my kids screaming and so I won't scream back.
• Except for purple - I have seen every colour and shade of poop and diarrhea possible.
• V-Man took a few coins and tried to shove them into the Xbox One.  
• I might kill my husband for leaving it out again, and getting mad at V-Man for climbing onto it.  I probably won't tell him about the "piggy bank" incident either.
• We're on our 2nd copy of Shrek, Shrek 2, Cars and Madagascar /Madagascar 2.
• I've had a good chunk of melt-downs since having kids that seem to worsen with pregnancy hormones or period hormones.
• It's really hard to keep a straight face when A-Man says stuff that means something else - but sound like swear words or totally different words.  I.e. : "Hei hei poop." (Good bye moon).
• It's kind of a relief having all the kids sick at once or one after another (i.e. chicken pox) - then it's done and over with.
• It's also true that I'm the last one to get sick and my body lets me crash for 1 day tops - whereas everyone else gets a few days to a week off.  I clearly need to fake it.
• I also have had my fair share of stares and lecturing grannies on the bus and in the shops and honestly - I want to punch about 90% of them in the face.  I wouldn't criticize someone to their face and child's about how to raise them - why do it to a complete stranger?!
• I'm excited for when they're a bit more independent - diaper-free, can speak clearly and help out/learn how to do things independently.  Like cooking, baking and doing more intensive crafts or hobbies.
• I'm also terrified of the teenager phase.  Absolutely dreading it.  The dating, the hormones, the broken hearts, the bullying, the attitude, the sneaking out, the rejecting of EVERYTHING...
• I look forward to sleep-overs, birthday parties (still hope the boys will enjoy having a joint party for the rest of their lives...), school trips and stuff like that.  Yep - Mama-Nerd - right here.
• Yep - even boyfriends and girlfriends over for dinner.  And watching SH grill them all.
• The idea of travelling with my kids sounds great in about 5-10 years.
• I'm pretty sure we've said "No" in various forms and languages at least 4 million times - among the three kids.  Half of that alone is for V-Man alone.
• I don't know what a weekend is anymore.
• The best part of the day has become bed time. 
• I've been crapped on, peed on, puked on and had boogers displayed to me with pride and wiped onto MY shirt.  
• This just doesn't happen with cats or dogs.
• Bonus of holidays?  Not having to get up AS early...
• We're terrible at keeping a strict schedule with the kids.

I'm sure I'll update this every now and again.
Enjoy,
BIMU

Zzzz - Oh What IS That?

Zzzz - the typical symbol of snoring...of sleep...of peace and quiet.

Something we haven't had in at least a month - at least when the V-Man is home. 
Remember my nasty doctor appointment from awhile ago?
Well, today - right before I crashed for a nap - a nurse from the overnight care called me and asked if we had seen the doctor and what her suggestions were for V-Man to sleep better at night.  Because apparently he hasn't slept a wink at overnight care these past few days! (4 hours a night...ouch.)
Oh dear...
So I told her my quick-version of the story above (in the link) and she quickly translated to the doctor that was present.  Well, it turns out this doctor is a specialized doctor.  One that actually specializes in treatment of children WITH autism and mental retardation.
She asked why I wasn't prescribed Melatonin - I explained as kindly (but as bluntly) as possible that the district doctor felt that it wasn't necessary and that pain meds would solve everything. 
Well, it didn't work. 

So I'm going today to pick up the A-Man and a new prescription of melatonin - which is in pill form and somehow we have to shove that down V-Man's throat with water an hour before bedtime.  It doesn't come in liquid form unfortunately she said - so we'll try anything to get a solid 6-8 hours of sleep...10 from him would be awesome.
I'll update as we try it out - she wants to try it for 2 weeks to see if it makes a difference and if it works - she said to keep using it.

I apologize I haven't been a frequent blogger here!  I'm swamped with a week to Christmas - loads of knitting to do and card-sending...and cleaning - I don't even want to talk about the mess my home is in currently. 
And to top it all off - little M-Girl is now my little pet cheetah  as she's caked in chicken pox but seems to be quite cheery about it all.  (No - you can't adopt her...she balances the boys out rather nicely!)

But I'll be writing up a post soon regarding my new year's resolutions.  Which I desperately need.
I'm sure I'll also be updating my Instagram on the regular as well!
Did you notice my advent calendar posts/photos on Instagram?!  My lovely and talented knitting group created me an advent calendar in a pretty shoe box and every night before bed - I treat myself with opening up a match box to see what goody I have!  It's been so amazing and exciting as I have never had one before!
I'm contemplating MAKING one for my kids next year...yeah long shot but I have a bit over 12 months to do it - right?

BIMU

PS Thankfully I was able to buy chewable melatonin!  Let's see how it goes!

Noro Virus, Chicken Pox, No Sleep & A Flu

Some cursing involved...oh do I feel so grown up now!

This past month or so - has been awful.
Ready?
About a month ago - A-Man came down with a fever and for a week straight he vomited, had a fever go up and down and pretty much had Norovirus.  We thought he was done mid-week and the day-care called as soon as the last spoon of lunch was being devoured by the little ones because A-Man displayed what chewed up lunch looked like for the rest of the class...
Then it was V-Man's turn for a week...then it was my husband's turn for about 3 days...I had half a day of sickness - vomit, diarrhea, cramps galore...it wasn't fun.  M-Girl had diarrhea for a week straight...
We had half a week of calm before the chicken pox decided to visit.

A-Man thankfully had it first and didn't have a fever - but we kept him home for a week from day-care and that was alright.
Now it's V-Man's turn and I'm ready to choke someone.  I'm going out of my fucking mind right now being cooped up inside for the better part of 2 weeks. 
Yes, I've had some sneaky outings like going to get groceries and one knitting meeting (had to miss last night's) - but really - I am done.
Because guess what?  M-Girl still hasn't shown signs of chicken pox and maybe that's due to the super magical powers of breast milk (which we're not doing much of but mostly at night) or because the week is still young and she's going to be my polka-dotted baby by next week.

I realize - it can be worse.  I totally do.  I could be in school right now and missing classes and notes and such.  It could be much worse than the chicken pox.  And I'm thankful that SH and I both had it as kids and the kids are really young and having it now.

I'm bitching and exhausted because V-Man's "newest" thing is to wake me up by turning on the lights before 5:30am (I consider anything before 6am pure evil - especially on a weekend) and crawling into my bed...which already houses A-Man, M-Girl and two dogs and if I'm lucky - I'm in there clinging to the edge of the bed.
A-Man manages to sleep right through this - my grumbling and cursing of my eye lids being boiled by an early light bulb being turned on...and M-Girl is like me.  Not impressed at her beauty rest being disturbed at such a wicked hour.
The first morning this happened was at 4:30....the Momster was released pretty quickly.

I even managed to squeeze in a doctor's appointment, where I decided the doctor for my district is not for me.
I've spoken to other friends that live in the area and they've all said she's "weird and un-professional" and "doesn't know what she's talking about".
I called the doctor's switch board last Monday morning because V-Man wasn't sleeping or pooping - so it was time to face the reality of him needing to visit the doctor.
Well, I luckily got an appointment that Monday afternoon and the doctor didn't take me seriously.
I told her he hasn't been sleeping at overnight care (go to bed by 8pm, awake by 11pm and staying awake until 5am the next day), his stomach is overflowing with food and he hasn't had a crap there and he has been smacking his ears - so perhaps a tube is loose?
The nurse at overnight care had written the doctor a note in the central system and she couldn't find it for whatever reason.  So of course, I'm coming off as the "overly concerned" parent.
I got a lot of phony smiles and "mm-hmm" and the attitude was clearly she didn't take me seriously.
By this point, I'm exhausted with fighting him to stay in the room and I whip out my phone, call overnight care and ask if they can tell the doctor what they had the joy of experiencing the past three days.
As she's listening, the doctor's tone takes on a different tune.  One of concern, one of seriousness, one of a doctor that actually cares.
So after she hangs up she agrees that it sounds quite serious and we attempt to get her to check his ears.
"1 tube is loose and not in position.  The other is in place but it's red inside," she advises.
"Should we schedule another surgery and get that tube replaced?" I ask - because that makes the most sense to me and obviously the tube in the fitted ear isn't working because it sounds infected if it's red inside...
"No, we'll leave it be and just give him pain killers."
So let's leave a piece of rubber/plastic/tube roll around in my kid's ear for the better sake of saving her a request for surgery...and doping my kid up on strong pain meds is the way to go.  And hope the tube falls out on its own soon.  Right...
Yes, it's been almost a year since he had the second successful surgery - and I guess they don't last as long as I thought (2 years) but still!
The first time V-Man had the tubes surgery - it wasn't successful.  Within a month we had a check-up and she determined that the tubes didn't open up properly and had come loose and he was in a great deal of pain and immediately requested a surgery to fix this.
So, now we're supposed to wait until they fall out and at the expense of everyone in this household not getting any sleep?!
Now, regarding his constipation - she prescribed two types of laxatives.  Since he's been home, he's back to his poop streaked diapers but nothing solid.  Even on the laxatives.  We're still going through 8-12 diapers a day.
When I advised her that this isn't my first time asking about his stomach and bowels - she asked if we gave him laxatives before. 
"Yes, of course - you prescribed us to.  I don't remember the amount because it's been over a year."- me clearly confused as to why she's asking me a relatively stupid question (only because his full profile is sitting electronically in front of her).
"Well, perhaps you didn't give him the right amount."
Funny enough, we followed her instructions and this has been an ongoing issue for almost a year - if not more.  For fuck's sake...
 
I've been advised to request for another doctor.  But in fact, I think I'm going to book another appointment to confirm that he needs to see a specialist regarding his bowels and stomach.  I'm not going to budge or leave her office until my son gets an appointment regarding his ears and his stomach...
I don't think I should have to ask and complain about my son's shit stained-diapers three times or more, in order to get a specialist to check his insides out.  She knows full well that this has been an on-going issue and that we have some digestive issues in the family history (SH has crohn's disease for example).  Plus it's super common in Autistic kids that their insides are a bit on the funky side.
I also suspect that she doesn't have many autistic patients like V-Man because she didn't know a place like overnight care existed. 
Alright - I'm done venting about that hideous doctor's appointment...

Oh and my body has been so go-go-go that now it's shutting down.  I'm burnt out, I'm not getting enough sleep, I have a hard touch (more like a bitch slap worth) of a flu,  and I'm trying to eat super healthy (loads of fruit and veggies etc.) and yesterday I just crashed.  The SH stayed home and I blissfully slept all day.  I woke up for a sandwich and then crashed again until it was time for A-Man to be picked up.
I made home-made chicken and veggie soup, home-made tea (boiled lemon peel and lemon segments with massive chunks of ginger root) and felt like 150 bucks.  I can't say a million entirely because I woke up with a killer headache.

I've already cancelled day-care and taxi drives for the week - so I'm trying to tough it out as best as I can.
SH went to work today - which he should - and I'm thinking that all of the chicken pox spots are now hideous little scabs...so I'm going to try and drag out my spotless M-Girl and my scabby-polka-dotted V-Man to get some grocery shopping and other stuff done.

I have two Christmas parties to organize this week (one is tomorrow night)...so you probably won't hear from me until next week...

Wish me luck.  Loads of it.
BIMU

And there goes my laundry rack full of freshly hung clothes and dry ones folded on top....my nerves...